Third Time's a Charm...I think.

My third attempt at making homemade kimchi definitely was my best. At first, I thought that it still wasn't quite to the standard I would hope it would be, but since its been fermenting for a little more than a week, it is better than it was before. 

My first attempt was too spicy and my second attempt too salty. I used about half the amount of fish sauce and salt for my third time. It tasted a little bland after just a couple days of fermenting, but yesterday, I took the lid off and tried the kimchi and it taste's pretty good. The ginger and garlic have a large part in the kimchi's flavor, which I'm pretty happy about. I love ginger and garlic. 

If I make kimchi again in the future, which I probably will, I would like to add carrot and maybe some other vegetable to give it more character. 

One thing that I was really happy to see when I opened the lid to my fermenting kimchi, was seeing bubbles come from the bottom of the jar, a sure sign that fermentation is going as planned. I hope that everyone in class really enjoys what I bring to class. 

Worse the Second Time

It has been a little over a week since my second attempt at making delicious kimchi, and my second time attempt was much worse than the first. The finished project is extremely salty, so much so that it is almost impossible to eat. I'm going to throw this batch out and hope for the third time to be a charm. The second attempt kimchi looks good and smells good, but is far from good. I must have done at least one of these three things wrong: I let the cabbage soak in brine for more than 24 hours, I added too much fish sauce, and/or I added to much salt when mixing together the ingredients. 

When I attempt to make kimchi for the third time around, I will make sure to not let the cabbage soak in its brine for too long, and instead of adding the amount the recipe calls for, I will add how much fish sauce and salt I feel is appropriate and hope for the best. I would really like to be able to come to class with something that I am proud of. 

Second Time Around

It has been about two weeks since I have made my first attempt at making kimchi. It has been fermenting, and smells like garlic goodness. The red cabbage has died the kimchi a beet-like red, and I don't know how fond of it I am. I also definitely added too much hot ceyenne pepper. It has good flavor, but the hot pepper is overwhelming. 

Tomorrow, I will start my second attempt. I have decided to stick with plain napa cabbage, leaving out the red cabbage. I would like to add carrot to it, and possibly something sweet, like apple or pear. As of now, I am going to start with letting the cabbage sit in it's brine for 24 hours, starting tomorrow. 

Day Three of Making Kimchi

Today I brought kimchi up from the basement and opened the lid to release any gases that would have built up. When I opened the jar, I didn't see any bubbles, but it smelled good, so hopefully it will taste good in a couple days.

Day Two of Making Kimchi

Now that I let the cabbage sit in a brine of salt and water for 24 hours, I had to rinse the cabbage under cold water and squeeze out any excess water that the cabbage would have retained. The next step to making the Kimchi is to throw the rest of the ingredients into a bowl, mix it all together, and let it sit in a 2qt glass container tightly sealed and tightly packed for 24 hours in a dark cool place...the basement.

The photo above is the all the ingredients combined to make the Kimchi! All that is left, is to let at all ferment.  When preparing all the ingredients to add to the mixing bowl, the smell of fresh produce and spices like the ginger, garlic, and ceyenne pepper were amazing. The cabbage that I let sit in the brine did smell a little funny, but after it was rinsed and drained, it smelt like, well, wet cabbage. The mix of all the ingredients together that I need to let sit in the basement for a day smelled good enough to eat without fermenting. It looked like sort of coleslaw. I'm hoping that the fermentation goes well. 

Tomorrow, I need to bring the Kimchi up from the basement, release the pressure, and set in the refrigerator for 2 days to a week, and then it should be good to eat. When the product is ready to eat, I will have an idea on what I need to do different and what should stay the same the second time around. 

 

Day One of Making Hopefully Delicious KimChi
The Recipe I will be following can be found at: http://www.chow.com/recipes/29505-basic-napa-cabbage-kimchi-kimchee 

Today is the first day that I decided to make KimChi, a Korean staple. I went online to find a simple recipe and decided to add what I thought would be nice and omit what wouldn't. I went to City Market in Burlington and purchased what I would need to start the project. This is what the recipe calls for:

-1 Napa Cabbage (I added a 1/2 Head of Red Cabbage too)
-1/2 Cup of Kosher Salt
-12 Cups of Cold Water
-8 oz. of Daikon Raddish (I substituted Watermelon Radish, it's all I could find)
-4 Medium Scallions
-1/3 Cup of Korean Red Pepper Powder (I substituted Spicy Ceyenne Powder instead)
-1/4 Cup of Fish Sauce
-1/4 Cup of Minced Ginger
-1 Tablespoon of Minced Garlic
-2 Tablespoons of Fermented Shrimp (I decided to omit this)
-1 1/2 teaspoons of Sugar

The first step to making the KimChi, is to cut the Cabbage into two inch sections, throwing away the core. I cut the Red Cabbage a little smaller. After cutting the cabbage to its right size, I placed the leaves in a bowl with the salt, and tossed the leaves to be covered in the salt. After the leaves were covered in salt, I added the water and covered the mixing bowl that holds the cabbage and salt water brine. I need to let the cabbage sit in this brine for 12-24 hours. I will check the beginning stages of the KimChi when I get out of work tomorrow, Feb. 8th at 3:30 to start the next step in making the KimChi!