Besides Korean barbecue and bibimbap, I think the other Korean food that could be a breakout international hit is Korean seafood. I know that many people don’t equate Korean cuisine with seafood, but I really think they should. The flavors, the style of eating, and methods of cooking are unique to the world. Korean seafood just needs a nudge and I think it would just take off.
I think the first dish to do that would be Korean crab soup or kkotgaetang. This translates to flower crab soup cause the shape of the body is like a full flower. With Korean crabs, the body tends to be bigger and claws not so large as other crabs. They look similar to dungeness crabs but with a more oval shape. The flesh tends to be a bit fuller and sweeter in flavor. Koreans prefer to eat the female crabs and if they are picked at the right times of the year they will be full of orange eggs.
The crabs can be simply steamed and eaten, but I think the best way to eat it is in a stew. For the soup, the crabs are cleaned and put in a broth that is made with dried anchovy, daikon radish, seaweed, large onions, bean paste and red chili powder. The crabs are added and cooked until the soup is bubbling hot. The crabs add a rich flavor to the soup and also they stay nice and hot. This is one of my main annoyances with eating crabs in America. Sure, they come to the table hot, but the crabs get cold by the time you pick out all the meat. It’s one of my pet peeves that are remedied by the hot soup.
The broth of the soup is outstanding. I love the turnip in it for they get nice and soft and soak up the all broth. I also think the Korean way of eating crabs could catch on as well. They use tongs to pull the hot crabs out of the soup, scissors to cut them up, and chopsticks to push out the meat. Also instead of having french fries or potato salad, hot rice is a perfect pairing with the soup and the crabs for they sop up all the flavors. When you get rice they usually serve some additional banchan or side dishes as well, so you will sure to eat, drink, and be merry.
Other than the flower crabs, there are also some of the large local crabs from Yeongdeok, these crabs have little spiky hairs on the shell. These usually only come to the market in February and they go for quite a premium. Oh, you can also get the famous soy marinated crabs, but I will talk about them in a feature episode.