Recently I was invited to participate in a Korean Culture Program. Actually, the official name of the event was the Korean Culture Program for Gangnam Foreign English Teachers. Sure the title wasn’t all that snazzy but it definitely got to the point.
Twenty four Gangnam teachers were presented with an opportunity to learn how to cook several Korean dishes as well as try on and learn about traditional Korean dress. Sounded like fun to me. On the day in question I met up with our directors as well as the other teachers and bussed it over to an all boys school where the program was scheduled to take place.
The facilities included a seminar room as well as a kitchen with six tables set up for us. After a brief introduction to some city and program officials we donned our aprons and we’re directed to follow the directions of a chef who spoke little English. Luckily, one of our directors jumped in to translate and with that I was off and running in my attempt to not burn anything.
My group of four seemed somewhat competent around the utensils despite being handicapped by my total lack of culinary skills. Our first dish was the galbi skewers which involved prepping the meat with soy sauce and green onions, and then pounding it with our fists as if we were kneading bread. Then next step for that dish was shaping the meat into finger sized potions to stick on the skewers. The five skewers then all went into to the frying pan.
Japchae, a noodle dish, was next. We put the water on to boil. We had to slice the mushrooms, green peppers, and onions into very thin strips. The chef would roam the room ensuring that everyone properly carried out her instructions to perfection. She would jump in and help if necessary. We then fried the vegetables, and cut up the beef while that was cooking. The noodles soon went into the pot and before long we were mixing it all together in one big bowl.
Our time was running out so thankfully they had prepared most of the steps for the Pan Fried meat patties beforehand. We basically just had to shape it into little flat pancake patties and then fry it up on the stove. With that out of the way the only thing left was the group photo and to grab a seat and chow down. Unfortunately, I had to leave to get back to work in order to teach after school classes. Happily, though, a plate was made for me so I could take some of our hard work to go.
The others, after eating, had an extra treat of traditional Korean clothing and a dress up session. Next time, I guess. All in all it was a great morning.
