A note to my friend Lisa who checks my blog every morning at 5.30am.
Li, you don’t want to read this post. Trust me.
Dan, that goes for you too.
. . . . .
I’ve been on a quest!
It all started when Maude’s oldest daughter made kim chee, a traditional Korean cabbage pickle, and brought me some to taste (photo above). This in turn led to a discussion about Korean pickles in general, and I thought it might be fun to explore the different varieties on offer.
So off I went, with my family chanting “Ni! Ni! Ni!” in the background (obscure Monty Python reference there), to the nearby suburb of Strathfield, enclave of Korean stores and food supplies.
Inside Strathfield Mall, I found a fascinating store, simply named Food World, selling all sorts of wonderful and bizarre pickled offerings…
It was like uncovering treasure! I bought a few samples to try, then went back and bought a few more. These aren’t “pickles” as most of us know them – they’re unusual and spicy and, to me, very delicious. Pete won’t go near them with a barge pole.
It’s difficult to discern from the photo above, but the offerings ranged from the more mundane seaweed pickles to pickled pollack tripe (raw fish stomach) and salted pollack roe (raw fish eggs). I must admit the tripe wasn’t to my liking, but the others have been tasty and sooo interesting!
These sesame leaf pickles are in a hot red pepper sauce – each one unfolds like a large vine leaf. Maude and I both found them a little salty…
All the pickles seemed to be either hot and spicy, or sweet – these lotus root pickles, dusted in sesame seed, were the latter…
Spicy dried pollack in red pepper paste and sesame was chewy in a beef jerky kind of way…
An interesting duo here – both were hot and crunchy! On the left is bamboo flower root, and on the right is radish pickle..
My very favourite of them all – a hot and spicy dried anchovy pickle in red pepper sauce – just the best thing on a bowl of steamed rice!
The almost fluorescent green of this seaweed pickle made me wonder if it had been artificially coloured…
Finally, another one of my favourites, raw squid pickle. It’s chewy (in an edible rubber band kind of way), hot and very moreish. Pete, however, refused to be in the same room when I was eating this…
I love trying new flavours, and these were certainly different from anything I’d tasted before, although I do apologise if I’ve grossed anyone out too much. For what it’s worth, Pete’s on your side.
Pete: “I’m not giving you a kiss unless you’ve drunk a bottle of mouthwash”
Me: “You can’t say that, you took a vow to smooch me!”
Pete: “I didn’t take a vow to kiss a squid-mouth!”
Sigh…at least Maude was willing to taste these with me!
Fig Jam and Lime Cordial 
You are so adventurous!
When i was a little girl they had food fairs at our grade school to encourage us to try other foods. I was always a little cautious but still WANTED to at least try the different offerings.
I’m thanking God they didn’t have you in charge. :)
Some of those look good- others I would try- but all in all- I kind of agree with Pete!
LOL! I’m so glad you are there to report back- so I DON’T Have to try them myself.
Hahaha! Heidi, you would have hated it if I was in charge! “Go on, it’s only a fried grasshopper, it can’t hurt you!”. ;-)
Food World sounds like a find! Did they only sell pickled things? Glad you did the first round of tasting!!
Anna, they sold pickled things on the right hand side, and believe it or not, what looked like takeaway fish and chips on the other side…
LOL so now I’m curious as to why you had to warn your friends about this post. Do tell! :P
Ha! You don’t know my friends Lisa and Dan. The photos of raw squid would have been enough to put them both off their food for the entire day. ;-)
Squid-mouth…haha!! Seriously you’re brave to try all those varieties. Fish stomach?! Raw fish eggs?! *shudder*
The sesame leaf pickle reminds me of Dolma. I might try the radish pickle. I’m with Pete on the rest.
Sandy, sigh, everyone’s with Pete. Unfortunately all these comments have done is vindicate his position.. ;-)
What a great and very interesting post! As a sauerkraut lover, I of course love Kim Chi, but the other Korean pickles I was not aware of and unfortunately I don’t have access to that here in the town where I live. Thanks for the food lesson! ;-)
Thank you, Cindy! If you love kim chee, you’d find most of these fascinating – it’s a very similar red pepper paste in most of them…
Are some of these fermented pickles? You should talk to Drfugawe about these, they’re right up his street I’m sure, he was writing about fermenting cucumbers only this week. I would love to try the squid or any of them providing they are not too scorchingly hot. Your photos make them look sooo appetising :)
Jo, not sure if they’re all fermented – I know the kim chee is supposed to be buried in the backyard for four months! They’re quite hot, but not too hot – I wish you could come over and try them with me! :)
Well some of these I scooted over pretty quickly, but some of it sounds fascinating- pickled seaweed is a new one for me. We’ve been meaning to make kim chi forever, but still haven’t managed it.
Choc, they had about three kinds of pickled seaweed and lots of vegetable pickles. One I didn’t get a photo of was pickled garlic shoots, which was very nice indeed.
That is so interesting. I am impressed that you tried the raw fish stomach!! Those anchovies would be my favourite too. Lots of differnt cultures seem to make a similar sort of spicy pickle withdried anchovies, don’t they? Always yummy I think.
SG, I did try the fish stomach, but I didn’t like it. It was too chewy to eat! And yes my convergent other, bring on the dried anchovies, whatever the culture! :) (PS. I got an email from Lisa this morning saying, “Why would I want to read about tripe and anchovy pickles this early in the morning?” hahaha)
OK I like Kimchi too but to make my own? never thought that far however I do always make my own bases for just about everything else. But now I am going to feel like I am lazy if I even contemplate buying it.
Roz, I’ve never made it, but apparently it was very easy. Homemade is delicious too – a little less sour and spicy.
Great post Celia! I love kimchi, but haven’t had it for many moons. I’d try the rest of them… but may find myself on Pete’s side of the camp as well ;-)
Pickled raw fish stomach eh?….
Well Celia for the first time ever you have completely grossed me out! And sorry to vindicate Pete’s view but hey really – raw fish stomach! And it’s far too early in the day for thoughts like that, I work on a visual level which great most of the time but every now and then I end up in trouble! he hee
hahhah I love it and your hubby’s reaction… classic. Good for you
How exciting Celia to find a whole new world of tastes you’ve got going on here. I’d definatly put my hand up to taste the dried anchovy pickle in red pepper sauce, that sounds amazing.
Boo to Pete though, (although I’m the adventurous taste traveller with my guy too who sticks to well trodden path when it comes to taste testings), so great thing you’ve got Maude to share these fab finds huh.
Thanks for sharing, great photos BTW.
Those look fascinating. My husband and I are very adventurous with different foods. We’re lucky that there is a wide variety of ethnic food available here. We try to eat from a different cultural palette at least once a month. I don’t know if my stomach could handle the hot & spicy stuff, but I do like it. I’d at least be willing to try them. I think if I can handle eating Rocky Mountain Oysters, then I think these would be a cinch. :)
ETA: Rocky Mountain Oysters = Prairie Oysters
You are very adventurous – hats off to you for trying so many fascinating flavours and kudos for making everything look so appetising with your photography.
:-) Mandy
Brydie, Keri, Pete will feel very vindicated! Hehe..
Keri, sorry to gross you out so early in the morning. I should have been more specific in my warning! :)
Sasha, thank you – kind words from the super adventurous food explorer! :)
Anna, could you imagine if you lived closer – we’d be heading out on quests all the time! :) And not boo to Pete, not really, he’s completely lovely and most of the time he’s quite adventurous. But he came from a very conservative family (foodwise) – when we first met, his sister couldn’t even bear to look at a fish with its head on! He didn’t know what to think at our first family Chinese banquet when everyone started chewing on the pigeons’ heads..hahaha
Mandy, thank you! It was great fun! :)
Cat..oooh, you’ve tried bull’s testicles? I’ve never had the opportunity…that IS very adventurous! :)
I’ll come on a quest with you anytime Celia! Pickled fish stomach IS very brave, I had duck brain last night, does that count as brave too? I like the look of the seaweed pickle, Yumm…
Hmm most of these things are pretty tame compared with snails which have acquired some respectablility somehow. I don’t think I could come at deep fried grasshopper but I know it’s on the menu somewhere. I have tried all these Korean offerings and very much like lotus stem pickles. Whoever that model is on TV ( is it Cindy Crawford) touting the benefits of the extract of a special french melon which does not go mouldy as quickly as an ordinary rock melon should look at doing a lotus facepack. Lotus seed is the longest lasting seed in the world. Lotus seed has been found buried in the earth and sprouted after hundreds, nigh on a thousand years I think. Lotus seed is what’s in good moon cakes. I’m wondering where to buy really good lotus seed paste or lotus seed to make paste. I’m willing to process it. I’d like to try making my own moon cakes. Please Celia next time you go to Strathfield ask them if they have lotus paste. I know where to get the Kim Chee near the station in Strathfield and to ask for the home made one which is less coarse than the others. I have tried to make Kim Chee myself but it went off. Buying Kim Chee is something I used to do when waiting for a train connection at Strathfield. Because City Rail are antsy about you breaking your trip you will need to say you cannot wait on the platform as you are about to throw up and must get out to use the bathroom.
Chef, duck brain definitely counts as brave! :)
Frances, I didn’t see anything paste-like for sale, but I’ll ask for you next time. There are a lot of Korean food supply stores in Strathfield, including a quite good one inside the plaza. It might be worth a visit, although I suspect you could also buy lotus seed paste at Chinese food stores?
Squid-mouth?? The boy likes living dangerously!
Ha! Not dangerously enough to try eating raw squid…
Celia – the anchovies on steamed rice – yeah! that made my tummy rumble and I’ve only just had brekkie. What is pollack? Thanks for the trip around that amazing store.
Oh I love Korean banchan! How strathfield mall has changed since I went to school around there 10 years ago.
I haven’t been back since, so I might have to take a trip to Food World!
Sarah, you’re a lady after my own heart – I could happily eat anchovies on steamed rice for breakfast! Pollack is a type of fish – there’s some info here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pollock
Susan, thank you! I didn’t know that’s what they were called…
How did I miss this one, Celia? That’s the kind of store I love, but I have to go to the Big City to have an adventure – my wife won’t go with me, ’cause I stay for many hours!
I’ll bet Pete’s parents were cautious eaters – we raised our kids to be “tasters” – they didn’t have to like things, but they did have to taste them – now they are probably more adventurous eaters than I.
In the US, for the last 5 years or so, we’ve had a lot of TV shows that featured the more unusual foods of the world – and there is no doubt that the US is home to most of the world’s timid eaters. The biggie is a guy named Andrew Zimmern, who does a show called, Bizarre Foods – do you guys get that? In all the years I’ve watched it, the only thing he couldn’t eat was Durian!
I chuckle when I read on the various Fish Sauce labels that it’s made from “anchovies” – Ha! They put that on the label to sooth anxious users who’d not even taste it if they knew what it was really made of. (the best Fish Sauce is made from fish stomachs – who knows what the cheap ones are made from?). The Asians were far too practical to make a condiment out of something that could be an entree!
I believe pollack to be the world’s current less respected but still available school fish. In the US, pollack is almost solely used for surimi – which personally I love (the better kinds only). Pollock fillets show occasionally in the fish markets, but not often – perhaps as we grown into a third world country, it will become more popular.
Congrats on a great post and on your adventurous attitude – I hope your kids take after you – Tell Pete he’d fit in quite well with American food culture.
Doc, my Pete is pretty adventurous, given that he was raised on meat and three veg every night. But he has a “gamey food” radar and doesn’t like anything too gristley or unidentifiable. Still, marrying into a Chinese family meant he’s learnt to eat some more unusual things over the years, although he still grimaces when Small Man chomps on a pigeon’s head and spits out the beak, or when we’re all oohing and aahing over a pig’s intestine hotpot. ;-)
Really, I couldn’t eat the pickled pollack tripe – just too chewy – but most of the other pickles were great. We haven’t had the Bizarre Foods show here, but I’ll watch out for it, thanks!