Thursday 4 November 2010

Yook Hwei 육회

I'm often asked why I started blogging. The answer is that I wanted to remember. I've been privileged over the years to sample great food from all over the world. But there's only so much that the mind can store and that's why I started taking photos and writing inelegant prose.


And it's just as well I do blog, as a few short months after being introduced to yook hwei (육회) by Catty, I nearly forgot all about it. It's a bit crap when you have to refer to your own blog archives to remember to order such a magnificent dish! Anyway, I reacquainted myself with the Korean version of steak tatare at Koba recently.

Before it's mixed at the table, this dish looks pretty scary with a raw egg perched on top of raw beef and nashi pear (bae 배). Once mixed though, the contrast between the textures of the beef and the crunchy pear combined with the sesame oil marinade is amazing. Here's a link to a recipe if you fancy making it at home.

10 comments:

  1. That sounds very tasty. I love the idea of mixing the beef and nishi pear - i bet the textures alone make for an interesting dish. Is there any other sauce than the sesame added?

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  2. Gworm - I think there's a bit of soy sauce in there. When looking at recipes, sugar and/or pear juice is also added for sweetness. You must try this dish, the next time you go for a Korean.

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  3. I agree one of the very handy side effects of a blog is a back up for your short/ long-term memory - sometimes it is the only way I remember anything!

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  4. Ooh. I must look out for this — sounds brilliant. Thank you for including the Hangul too!

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  5. This is strange. This is one of those dishes I am sure I have had before but I don't think at a Korean restaurant? Maybe a Japanese... or in the US... Argh I wish I had been blogging back then.

    Now I just need to learn how to order it in Cantonese (or I'll do my picture on iphone trick : )

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  6. GC - I'm so glad that I have my blog (and other people's) to rely on, when it comes to ordering!

    Kake - no worries on the Hangul, it's the only way to document the 'proper' name of the dish. Like many Asian languages, there are different methods of romanisation and transliteration of Korean.

    TomEats - that's why we blog! It's possible that you can find it in a Japanese place, as there's much cross-over between Korean and Japanese cuisine but I wouldn't know.

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  7. I commented on this a little while ago - did it not go through?

    Ah well - gist of it was:

    That's exactly why I blog too. Considering most of my entertainment surrounds food, it's the perfect way to recount good times :)

    And also, I LOVE Koba. One of my favourite restaurants in London, and just around the corner from my office!

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  8. Melanie - Koba is one of my faves too.

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  9. I'm SOOOOO proud to have introduced you to yook hwei. It's still one of my fave dishes across any cuisine and one that I could eat over and over and over!

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  10. Catty - thanks again for introducing me to this dish and for also convincing me that Koba is a top rate restaurant. It's firmly established as one of my faves and is somewhere I always love visiting.

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