KF 101(Korean food intro)-6 “Naeng-myeon”
Hello~!
So today, I will talk about the Naeng-Myeon (냉면) which is cold noodle literally. Yes, summer in Korea is really boiling and humid which exhausts you. And this noodle is ready for you.
Typically, people choose between Mul(water)-Naengmyeon or Bibim(stired)-Naengmyeon. Also we have one famous one from Pyeongyang Naengmyeon. Yes, it is the city now in North Korea. But before the country was divided into two different countries, it was just Korea, so we can eat that food in South Korea too. Anyway Pyeongyang Naengmyeon will be posted later for KF 201 (Korean food intermediate level hehe). It is very tasty and quite popular in South Korea too, but it has very subtle flavor and subtle scent, so people call it as “stage to become a real taster.”
Anyway back to regular Naengmyeon, let’s take a look.
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So first picture is bibim Naengmyeon. As you can see there is no base water. Sometimes they put a tiny bit of the water or bit of waterly sauce. Anyway you can mix with the sauce and eat it. They usually put sliced cucumber, salted radish, pear, some boiled beef slice and boiled egg as toppings for both type of Naengmyeon. For bibim one, they usually put sauce which is sweet, sour. Ah you would love it, if you can handle some spicy taste.
Second picture is Mul Naengmyeon. This one is all about the water. They usually boil the brisket part of the beef very long time and cool down. And here the sauce which was used in the bibim one is not applied since the soup itself is very important for the flavor. I think a lot of foreigners really enjoy this noodle.
Whichever type you choose you would love it and your stomach also would love it. hehe. One thing I really love about Korean food is that you feel comfortable in your stomach after eating. Most of (especially traditional) Korean food is designed to take consideration of digestion and health. So as long as you don’t eat tooooo much portion, it is usually comfortable in belly.
I generally like Mul-naengmyeon more, because I can taste the nice soup (water). Many restaurant also kind of mix the bibim sauce on the mul naengmyeon, but I don’t like it that much. It is tasty, but it kills the scent and flavour of the soup itself.
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Anyway hope this was also interesting to read, and next post will be about Bibimbob!
Especially I will talk about some special bibimbob too. So you can look forward to it!
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