Question: Do you like dokkbukki?

Dear Germy; ‘Dokkbukki’ is one of the most favorite Korean snack. I heard ‘Dokkbukki’ was served as a snack to the king in the palace but somehow it is often found in the snack shops on the street rather than in the big restaurants. Young people like it burning hot spicy while older generations like it mild hot. I like it mild hot and my mouth get watery by just mentioning of it. It is good in any season but the best in winter time as the hot spice can make you even persperate with sweat.

I will describe what ‘Dokkbukki’ is by explaining how I make the dish. The main raw material is ‘Dokk’ in Korean, which is the rice cake in the shape of sausage, thickness of adult finger. ‘Bukki’ means a cooking style. It is not frying but kind of roasting by tossing around the material with small amount of cooking oil. I bet you also have this cooking style. The red pepper paste(traditional Korean fermented storage food) along with minced garlic, little bit of sugar, sliced onion are placed on a pan and ‘bukked’, then put the Dokk cut in length of about 5 cm, along with one or two hard boiled egg. Toss them around for a while for the mixture of the sauce to be absorbed into the dokk. The saltness is adjusted with soy sauce or salt and finished with sesame seed oil, black pepper, chopped green onion, etc.

If you come to Korea or have Korean friends, try it for sure. ‘Kimchi’ and ‘Bulgogi’ are the international food nowadays, however I am surprised to get this quesion in here. As I mentioned earlier in my profile, food and kitchen science is a science of every day life and your mother is the most wonderful scientist you come to meet in your life. Thank you for asking about ‘Dokkbukki’.