한식 · The Korean Table

Korean Cooking Without Vegetable Oil

Sit down to the hansik table, where a pot of jjigae bubbles red at the center, bowls of rice steam beside a spread of banchan, and gochujang, doenjang, and aged kimchi carry the deep flavor that only time can build. Honest ingredients, patient fermentation, and a finishing drizzle of toasted sesame, the way home kitchens have always cooked.

Explore the Recipes
Gochujang❋ Doenjang❋ Chamgireum
A warmly plated Korean dish set on a dark table
맛 Dolsot Bibimbap
From the recipe collection
Chamgireum

Toasted Sesame to Finish

We cook in butter and ghee, then add a few drops of toasted sesame oil at the very end for its warm, nutty aroma. It is a finishing oil in this kitchen, never the oil we fry in.

Balhyo

Fermented with Patience

Kimchi, doenjang, and gochujang are built by time, not by shortcuts. The soul of hansik lives in fermentation, in the slow tang and depth that a jar quietly develops over weeks.

Jeoldae

Never Vegetable Oil

No seed oils, no compromises. Only butter, ghee, rendered fat, and a little coconut oil for the crispest edges, the honest fats that have always belonged on the Korean table.

❋
From Our Kitchen

Korean Home Recipes

Six beloved dishes from the everyday Korean table, each cooked with the honest fats that let every ingredient taste of itself.

Bap Dolsot bibimbap, a warm rice bowl crowned with seasoned vegetables and an egg

Dolsot Bibimbap

Warm rice bowl with seasoned vegetables

55 min·4 servings·Medium

The most generous bowl in Korean cooking. Warm rice crowned with bright, separately seasoned vegetables, tender beef, and a soft egg, all folded together at the table with a glossy spoon of gochujang.

Ingredients

  • 3 cups cooked short grain rice, kept warm
  • 200 g beef sirloin, thinly sliced
  • 1 carrot and 1 small zucchini, cut into fine matchsticks
  • 150 g spinach, blanched and squeezed dry
  • 150 g soybean sprouts, briefly boiled
  • 100 g shiitake mushrooms, sliced
  • 4 eggs
  • 3 tbsp butter or ghee, for the pan
  • For the sauce: 3 tbsp gochujang, 1 tbsp honey, 1 grated garlic clove, 1 tsp toasted sesame oil
  • Toasted sesame oil, toasted sesame seeds, and fine salt, to finish

Instructions

  1. Stir the gochujang, honey, garlic, and sesame oil into a smooth sauce and set it aside.
  2. Season each vegetable lightly with salt, then cook them one kind at a time in a little butter over medium heat, keeping every color bright.
  3. Turn the beef in the hot pan with a knob of butter until just cooked, season, and finish with a few drops of toasted sesame oil.
  4. Fry the eggs in butter until the whites are set but the yolks stay soft.
  5. Warm the rice in a heavy bowl or stone pot and arrange the vegetables and beef in bright sections on top.
  6. Slide an egg onto each bowl, scatter with sesame seeds, and add a generous spoon of the gochujang sauce.
  7. Bring it to the table and let everyone fold it all together at the first bite.
Jjigae Kimchi jjigae, a deep red stew of aged kimchi, pork, and tofu

Kimchi Jjigae

Aged kimchi and pork belly stew

45 min·4 servings·Easy

The stew that turns a jar of well aged kimchi into a whole meal. Pork belly and kimchi simmered until the broth runs deep and red, softened with tofu and finished with spring onion. This is the taste of fermentation at its best.

Ingredients

  • 300 g well fermented napa kimchi, roughly chopped, with its juices
  • 250 g pork belly, cut into bite sized pieces
  • 1 tbsp butter, for the base
  • 1 onion, sliced
  • 3 garlic cloves, minced
  • 1 tbsp gochugaru (Korean chili flakes)
  • 1 tbsp gochujang and 1 tsp doenjang
  • 200 g firm tofu, sliced
  • 500 ml water or anchovy stock
  • 2 spring onions and toasted sesame oil, to finish

Instructions

  1. Melt the butter in a heavy pot and render the pork belly over medium heat until its edges turn golden.
  2. Add the onion and garlic and cook until soft and fragrant.
  3. Stir in the kimchi with its juices and cook for 5 minutes so it deepens in color and aroma.
  4. Add the gochugaru, gochujang, and doenjang, then pour in the stock and bring to a simmer.
  5. Simmer gently for 20 minutes until the pork is tender and the broth is rich and red.
  6. Lay the tofu on top and simmer 5 minutes more without stirring hard.
  7. Scatter with spring onion, finish with a few drops of toasted sesame oil, and serve bubbling with rice.
Myeon Japchae, glossy sweet potato glass noodles tossed with beef and vegetables

Japchae

Sweet potato glass noodles with beef

50 min·6 servings·Medium

The celebration noodle of every Korean feast. Springy sweet potato glass noodles tossed with beef and a rainbow of vegetables, each cooked on its own, then dressed in a glossy soy and toasted sesame sauce.

Ingredients

  • 200 g dangmyeon (sweet potato glass noodles)
  • 200 g beef sirloin, cut into thin strips
  • 1 carrot, julienned
  • 1 red bell pepper, sliced
  • 150 g spinach, blanched
  • 100 g shiitake mushrooms, sliced
  • 1 onion, sliced
  • 3 tbsp butter or ghee, for cooking the vegetables
  • For the sauce: 4 tbsp soy sauce, 2 tbsp honey, 1 grated garlic clove, 2 tbsp toasted sesame oil
  • Toasted sesame seeds and a pinch of salt, to finish

Instructions

  1. Boil the glass noodles until tender and springy, drain them, and snip a few times with scissors.
  2. Whisk the soy sauce, honey, garlic, and toasted sesame oil into a glossy sauce.
  3. Turn the beef in a little butter until cooked, seasoning it with a spoon of the sauce.
  4. Cook the onion, carrot, pepper, and mushrooms separately in butter so each keeps its bite and color.
  5. Fold the drained noodles into a wide bowl with the beef, vegetables, and the remaining sauce.
  6. Toss everything together, adding the blanched spinach at the end so it stays green.
  7. Finish with toasted sesame seeds and serve warm or at room temperature.
Gui Bulgogi, thin slices of marinated beef caramelizing in a hot pan

Bulgogi

Marinated grilled beef

40 min plus marinating·4 servings·Easy

Fire meat, the dish that made Korean barbecue famous. Paper thin beef steeped in a marinade of pear, garlic, and toasted sesame, then seared hot and fast until the edges char and turn glossy and sweet.

Ingredients

  • 600 g rib eye or sirloin, sliced paper thin
  • Half an Asian pear, grated
  • 1 onion grated, plus 1 onion sliced
  • 4 garlic cloves, minced
  • 1 tsp grated fresh ginger
  • 4 tbsp soy sauce
  • 2 tbsp honey
  • 2 tbsp toasted sesame oil
  • 2 tbsp ghee, for searing
  • Spring onions, toasted sesame seeds, and lettuce leaves, to serve

Instructions

  1. Mix the grated pear, grated onion, garlic, ginger, soy sauce, honey, and toasted sesame oil into a marinade.
  2. Turn the sliced beef through the marinade, cover, and chill for at least 30 minutes or overnight.
  3. Heat a heavy pan or grill until very hot and add a little ghee.
  4. Sear the beef in batches so it caramelizes rather than steams, adding the sliced onion partway through.
  5. Cook just until the edges char and the meat turns glossy and tender.
  6. Pile onto a warm platter and scatter with spring onion and sesame seeds.
  7. Serve with lettuce leaves and warm rice so everyone can wrap their own.
Jeon Haemul pajeon, a crisp golden scallion and seafood pancake cut into pieces

Haemul Pajeon

Seafood and scallion griddle pancake

35 min·3 servings·Medium

The pancake that belongs to rainy afternoons. A lacy batter poured over a bed of whole scallions and studded with seafood, crisped until the edges shatter and served with a sharp sesame soy dip.

Ingredients

  • 1 large bunch of scallions, trimmed to fit the pan
  • 200 g mixed seafood (squid, shrimp, and clams), chopped
  • 150 g plain flour
  • 2 tbsp rice flour, for crispness
  • 1 egg
  • 200 ml cold water
  • 1 tsp fine salt
  • Coconut oil, for shallow frying
  • 1 tbsp ghee, to finish the edges
  • For the dip: 2 tbsp soy sauce, 1 tsp vinegar, 1 tsp toasted sesame oil, a pinch of gochugaru

Instructions

  1. Whisk the plain flour, rice flour, egg, cold water, and salt into a loose, pourable batter.
  2. Stir the chopped seafood through the batter and season it lightly.
  3. Heat a good layer of coconut oil in a wide pan until it shimmers.
  4. Lay the scallions flat in the pan, pour the batter over them, and spread it thin and even.
  5. Fry over medium high heat until the underside is deep gold and lacy, pressing gently so it crisps.
  6. Slide it onto a plate, flip it back into the pan with a little ghee, and crisp the second side.
  7. Cut into pieces and serve hot with the sesame soy dip.
Gil-geori Hotteok, sweet stuffed griddle cakes golden and pressed flat

Hotteok

Sweet stuffed griddle cakes

2 hr with rising·Makes 8·Medium

The winter street sweet everyone waits in line for. A soft yeasted dough hiding a molten heart of brown sugar, cinnamon, and walnuts, pressed flat on the griddle until deep gold and crisp at the rim.

Ingredients

  • 300 g plain flour
  • 1 tbsp sugar
  • 7 g instant yeast
  • Half a tsp salt
  • 180 ml warm milk
  • 2 tbsp melted butter, plus more for the griddle
  • For the filling: 4 tbsp brown sugar
  • 1 tsp ground cinnamon
  • 3 tbsp chopped walnuts
  • Coconut oil, for the griddle (optional, for extra crisp)

Instructions

  1. Whisk the flour, sugar, yeast, and salt, then stir in the warm milk and melted butter to a soft, sticky dough.
  2. Cover and let it rise in a warm place for about 1 hour until doubled.
  3. Stir the brown sugar, cinnamon, and walnuts together for the filling.
  4. With buttered hands, flatten a piece of dough, spoon in some filling, and pinch it closed into a sealed ball.
  5. Warm a little butter (or coconut oil) on a griddle over medium heat and lay the balls seam side down.
  6. Press each one flat with a spatula and cook until deep gold, then flip and cook until the sugar melts inside.
  7. Rest a minute so the molten filling settles, then eat them warm.
A rustic table set with warm home cooked dishes
Our Kitchen

The Kitchen Behind Josrib

Josrib is a small home kitchen devoted to hansik, the everyday cooking of the Korean table, where a meal arrives all at once: rice at the center, a bubbling pot of jjigae, and a spread of little banchan around it. We write these recipes down the way they are still cooked at home, patiently, precisely, and with real respect for the jars of kimchi and paste that give them their soul.

Our one house rule is a simple one. Butter and ghee for the pan, rendered fat where a dish asks for it, coconut oil for the crispest edges, and toasted sesame oil saved for the very last drizzle. Vegetable oil never comes through our door, because it never sat on the tables we learned from.

Masitge deuseyo, and may your table be full.