October
Welcome to October! In South Korea this year, the first two weeks of October happens to be studded with holidays:
October 3rd, Gae Chun Jeol (National Foundation Day)
This is a National holiday commemorating the foundation of the very first kingdom on the Korean peninsula to ever exist. This nation was called Ko-Chosun, established in year 108 by the king Dan-Gun Wang-Gum (단군왕검) and is considered the very origin of Korea.
As ancient as the kingdom was, it also has a myth and legend about the birth of the DanGun WangGum King. The story went like this:
In Korean Mythology (who knew?! this is a thing), there was a god called Hwanin and his son, Hwan-Oong. Hwan-Oong was always interested in earthly matters, and with his father’s permission, came down to reign as king of the earth.
During his reign, there was a bear and a tiger that lived in a cave. The bear and tiger prayed and begged Hwan-Oong to transform them into humans. In response, Hwan-Oong gave the tiger and bear a pile of mugwort leaves (ssook, in Korean) and 20 heads of garlic and told them, “if you endure 100 days in the cave only eating mugworts and garlic, without seeing any sunlight, I will grant you your wish.” So the bear and tiger went into this awful cave diet with no sunlight. Which one do you think made it out, human? The tiger gave up along the way, and the bear actually was rewarded for its endurance and was granted its wish much earlier (21 day) than what Hwan-Oong offered. And the bear became a woman, named Oong-Nyuh (meaning, bear-woman).
Oong-Nyuh’s wish didn’t stop there though, because she realized no one would marry her, and she wanted a child. So she prayed for a child, and Hwan-Oong himself descended and temporarily became human to conceive the baby that would become the king of Ko-Chosun: Dan-Gun Wang-Gum.
What is the meaning behind this myth and legend? First, it reflects the virtue (bear) that Ko-Chosun prioritized over belligerence (tiger). Second, the “temptation period” with garlic and mugwort, in the cave shows their belief that all important things comes at the end of suffering and pain.
in modern Korea, there is no particular custom or ritual that remains for this day, except for recognizing the significance of the day, and recounting the origin story to children.
October 5th-7th, Chuseok (추석)
Along with Seollal (Lunar New Years), Chuseok is one of the biggest holidays of South Korea. falling on the the lunar date of august 15th each year, it’s a national holiday celebrated for 3 days: a day before and after the main holiday. Historically, this was a time just before harvest season in the fall. On Chuseok, Korean people gathered the few and early crops and prayed to our ancestors for the start of an abundant harvest season. It was also a celebration of wrapping up the most labor intensive summertime farming. So although Chusoek is sometimes known as a Korean version of Thanksgiving, the meaning and timing is quite different from the American tradition. One of the foods eaten on Chuseok is a half-moon shaped rice cake filled with honey and sesame called Songpyun. Even this Songpyun was originally known for being made with unripe rice, as it was part of the pre-harvest season. Now in modern Korea, The Chuseok dinner spread looks much more abundant than those farming days. Chuseok remains a holiday where everyone leaves to visit their hometown- so much so that the traffic all over korea becomes so bad, and we call is a national “migration period.”
October 9th, Hangul Nal (한글날)
Did you know that the written Korean language is the only language in the world that was invented by a king? Hangul Day is an official holiday in South Korea that commemorates the creation of Korea’s written language, called Hangul. Hangul was invented by Sejong the Great in 1446. Prior to the distribution of Hangul, the majority of Chosun (Korea’s old name) was illiterate due to the language involving Chinese characters that required education in an established family. This was a significant hindrance among the people since illiteracy meant that they could not understand the law, and their ignorance often led to wrongful incarceration. To increase the literacy among the commoners, and, allegedly, to claim a significant political power and unity over his nation, Sejong in 1443 personally invented the Hangul system. After going through 3 years of revisions within the royal scholar team, Hangul was officially distributed in 1446 through a book called HoonMin JeongEum. Thanks to its easy and scientific language system, Hangul successfully spread across all of Chosun, rich and poor (although met with some resistance from the rich) and became the official language. Today Hangul is used both in South and North Korea, and Hangul Day is celebrated in both nations (although different dates. North Korea celebrates it on January 15th).
Today, you can see Sejong the Great printed on the 10,000 won bills in South Korea today.
Gam Gook Flower
The name of this flower reflects the sweet flavor of its petals (‘gam’ means sweet, and ‘gook’ is the family of this type of flowers). This flower is often used to infuse into alcohol, and its roots used in Eastern medicine. In South Korea, can see the Gam Gook flower starting to bloom in the fall.
GALBIJJIM RECIPE (FOR THE COMMUNAL CHUSEOK DINNER)
Ingredients (4-5 servings)
4 lb Short Ribs, bone-in
2 carrots (medium sized)
2 yukon potatoes
1/2 Korean Radish
2 onion, cut into quarters
1 cup shishito peppers
Sauce
1.5 onion, yellow or red
two thumb-sized pieces of ginger
10 cloves of garlic
2/3 cup brown sugar (120g)
1 kiwi, peeled
5-6 whole black peppercorns
1.5 cup soysauce
4 Tbsp mirin
3 Tbsp sesame oil
[[[links]]]
Korean-style Short Ribs or, you can also use this cut
My favorite Soysauce (sorry this is a whooping $37 on amazon… but try to find it at Hmart or other Asian grocery stores, it should be around $10!)
Premium Sesame Oil this is worth the price. If I spend money on anything, it’s premium sesame oil- the flavor makes a huge difference
Recipe
Look at the Short Ribs. You’ll see the fibers running horizontal to the length of the bone. make 2-3 cuts perpendicular to these fibers.
to be honest with you, the direction of the cut is not a huge deal. but it does make a small difference. make sure when you make these cuts, cut just before you hit the bone. the purpose of this is to let the marinade permeate throughout the meat and tenderize it better by increasing the surface area.
Blend all the sauce ingredients until completely smooth. (Now, if you have an Instant Pot, skip all the way to 8)
put on a pair of food-safe gloves, and coat the short ribs with the marinade. make sure to rub the marinade into the crevices.
transfer the meat into a large airtight container. pour the rest of the marinade into the container so the meat is submerged and leave it in the fridge overnight (minimum of 4 hours and up to 2 days*
if you have a pressure cooker, no need to marinade the meat. the pressure will tenderize and help the flavors seep through. see instructions under 6.
prep the carrots, radish, and potatoes by cutting them into about 2 inch cube sizes. If you want to be extra traditional, use a peeler to round the edges of the potatoes and carrots. cut the onions into quarters.
rounding edges can preserve the shapes of he veggies as they cook, and also make the galbijjim dish more presentable.
the next day, pour all the contents in the meat container into a dutch oven or large pot. pour just enough water to submerge the meat.
our cook time from this point will be about 4 hours. boil on high for 20 minutes, then on medium heat for the rest of the cook time.
This is for everyone with an Instant Pot who skipped from 2). dump all the meat, carrots, potatoes, onions into the Instant pot and pour the blended sauce over. close the instant pot, make sure the vent is in the “sealed” position and pressure cook for 40 minutes. then allow the pressure cooker to naturally vent for 15 minutes. lastly, quick release the vent and wait until the seal pops up, indicating it’s safe to open the lid. these instructions are from My Korean Kitchen and comes in so handy!
If you don’t have an Instant pot, at the 3 hour mark, remove all the grease that floats to the top with either a ladle or a turkey baster
add the prepped carrots, potatoes, onions, and radish. close the lid and simmer for 1 more hour.
in the end, add the shishito peppers and close the lid for another 10 miutes.
enjoy with rice! happy chuseok!
