Korean culture has been growing in influence here in North America for many years, from music (K-pop!) to TV (Squid game!) and movies (Parasite!). All the while, our tastes for Korean food has grown too. It’s all led to why the trend experts at Carbonate pegged Korean as their Cuisine of the Year. Find out which Korean flavors should be on your menu now, and how to up your Korean game in the kitchen.
Signs of Korean food’s rise are in the data – searches for gochujang hit a 5-year high last April, according to google. And 4 times as many Korean restaurants made the NY Michelin guide in 2022 compared to 2006. From Atomix in NYC to the latest outlet of Baekjeong in San Jose, new Korean establishments have been some of the hottest openings around.
It makes sense too when you consider the core elements and popular dishes are all new takes on foods we already love – grilled meats like bulgogi, the sweet-spicy Korean fried chicken, and bowls like bibimbap. Add in the heavy umami undercurrent, lots of fermented ingredients like kimchi, and the acidic balance from pickled and preserved garnishes, and you might realize…what’s not to love?
It doesn’t hurt that Aussie meats and Korean flavors are dynamite together. Here are two of our fave dishes from US Chefs using Aussie grassfed beef for your inspiration. Sorry not sorry if it makes you hungry!
This one’s from our mate Chef Jae Lee of Nowon in NYC – more from him here! He took grassfed Aussie striploin and combined it with a Korean japchae noodle dish from the nowon menu. It’s originally vegan, but all the mushrooms and umami go to another level with grassfed beef.
Here chef Kevin Felice does an Italian-American’s take on bimbimbap, the superpopular Korean rice bowls. The grassfed striploin is marinated in honey and gochujiang, then skewered and grilled. The base is farro instead of rice, topped with an assortment of veggies and pickled cucumbers.