Careful knife work for bibimbap
- Scott Daniels: We Ate Well and Cheaply
- March 27, 2022
- 734
Wait, it’s spring? I have to call foul on the approaching warm weather; I didn’t get my fill of heavy winter dishes, and now I’ll have to either hurry up and pile on the calories or surrender until fall.
I didn’t even get corned beef and cabbage for St. Patrick’s Day. Over the winter I didn’t make sauerbraten or really any beef stew, or a fat roasted chunk of pork. There was no glazed ham, no sauerkraut, not even a big pile of fried chicken.
Part of the problem over the past year was our surroundings. We made a rather hasty decision to move to a different house last spring and regretted it almost immediately.
I believe houses have personalities, and this is especially true of old houses like the one we’ve occupied since last April. Just as humans have varying personalities, not all old houses are as charming as Beatrix Potter’s favorite teatime guest.
This house, with 16 steps just to reach the front door, a torn-down garage that once witnessed a suicide, and all the sagging floors and cracking walls one would expect from a missing load bearing wall, has a dark, heavy nature that is palpable.
We are anxious to move again, even as we dread the process. Some things won’t need to be packed as we never bothered to unpack them because it has never felt like we were home.
It’s hard to blame the house as it seems like it has endured several insensitive owners intent on wrecking its identity. If you take an 1880 center hall Italianate house and yank it this way and that, into Colonial Williamsburg and then into sleek black and white modern and gut it and DIY patch things and try for open concept and tack on closet bathrooms, you’re asking for trouble. There are phantom footsteps, missing and reappearing personal items, and nights of things going bump.
Who wants to cook a lot of fun things when the air around you is suppressive and dark?
The mood was lightened considerably over the weekend as my wife braved our cluttered, ragtag kitchen to make a version of Korean bibimbap she plucked out of the air.
Bibimbap is a dish of rice covered in various toppings like bean sprouts, peppers, carrots and often a fried egg. It was a lot of fussing and careful knife work, but from the humming coming from the kitchen, it must have been therapeutic.
She began with a broth early in the day that eventually came to be spooned by bits into the bowl of rice, vegetables and thinly sliced beef we ate later. The broth was so delicious and simple that I thought it would serve for a number of soups, vegetable bowls and noodle dishes. Remember that fish sauce goes a very long way. Be careful about exceeding the small amount here. There is no salt included, but you should carefully add salt after the straining and when you’re ready to use it.
2 quarts water
1 half yellow onion, peeled
1 small can anchovies in oil, patted dry (about 5)
1/2 cup dried shiitake mushrooms, rehydrated in water
1 tablespoon fish sauce
2 scallions, chopped
4 cloves garlic, crushed
1 thumb-sized piece of fresh ginger, sliced
Combine all ingredients and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to a soft simmer and let bubble gently for a half-hour. Allow to cool completely, then strain out the solids in a sieve. Line the sieve with cheesecloth, paper towels or coffee filters and strain twice more to arrive at a liquid that is no longer cloudy.
This broth is a good base for a simple egg drop soup. Just add a well-beaten egg to a cup of the heated broth and stir gently.