Dishes of the Hamgyong Provincial Area
The Hamgyong provincial area was comprised of the present Ryanggang, North and South Hamgyong provinces, featured by alpine areas of the Great Paektu Mountains and others and the coastal regions along the East Sea of Korea.
As the people in the area were largely engaged in farming and fishing, a large portion of local dishes included those made of such crops as foxtail millet, oats, soy bean, potato and others of early maturing strains, and a variety of fish dishes.
The local people processed all the local materials that could be used as foodstuffs, thus creating dishes peculiar to the area.
The local dishes are also highly seasoned with garlic, pepper and others, fairly large in shape and with not so much embellishment.
Staple dishes included mainly boiled cereals, noodles and cakes made of foxtail millet, oats and potato.
Samsu, Kapsan and Paegam area of the Hamgyong Province, called the first villages under the sky, planted oats as the only crop and, therefore, oats were used in making boiled rice, noodles, cakes and porridge.
The oat cake is made by kneading the oat flour with hot water into flat round pieces of dough, steaming and dressing them with mashed adzuki bean. The oat flour is kneaded with hot water and shaped into half moons, stuffed with adzuki bean, put in boiling water and served coated with oil.
Oat cakes were specially prepared on holidays or for guests. They were so slippery that people in Samsu and Kapsan areas said that “the cakes often slipped out of the chopsticks and flew over the Huchi Pass.”
Potatoes grown in the present Ryanggang area were especially big and tasty, so they were widely used in making various dishes, such as boiled rice mixed with potato, cake made of potato, potato starch noodles and taffy.
Hamhung starch noodles were very famous among potato starch noodles.
Hamhung rib soup, tangogi soup and yonggye-jjim (steamed chicken) were also known as special meat dishes of the area.
A chicken, a little bigger than a chick, is disembowelled, stuffed with glutinous rice, various ingredients and spices, and steamed as a whole. Just as tangogi soup was largely served on the hottest midsummer days, so the people in this area enjoyed the yonggye-jjim in the hottest period.
Dishes made of Pollack, flatfish, hard-finned sandfish and octopus were delicious.
People in the areas of Chongjin, Kimchaek, Myongchon, Kyongsong, Kilju, Puryong, Hongwon, Sinpho, Riwon and Pukchong, which were main fishing grounds for Pollack, cooked, pickled and processed the fish into various dishes.
Flatfish, hard-finned sandfish, squid and octopus were fermented, and fermented flatfish, steamed crab and minnow soup with bean paste of the Pukchong area were widely known.
Boiled rice and congee cooked with mussel, steamed crab, dish of herring, and soup of seaweed and crab meat and seasoned kelp of the Myongchon and Sonbong areas were also well known from long ago.
There were also dishes of vegetables and edible herbs, including leaf-mustard kimchi and fried fern, and such sweet foods and drinks as fried cake made of wheat flour and honey and sweet drink prepared with rice and malt.
As the people in the area were largely engaged in farming and fishing, a large portion of local dishes included those made of such crops as foxtail millet, oats, soy bean, potato and others of early maturing strains, and a variety of fish dishes.
The local people processed all the local materials that could be used as foodstuffs, thus creating dishes peculiar to the area.
The local dishes are also highly seasoned with garlic, pepper and others, fairly large in shape and with not so much embellishment.
Staple dishes included mainly boiled cereals, noodles and cakes made of foxtail millet, oats and potato.
Samsu, Kapsan and Paegam area of the Hamgyong Province, called the first villages under the sky, planted oats as the only crop and, therefore, oats were used in making boiled rice, noodles, cakes and porridge.
The oat cake is made by kneading the oat flour with hot water into flat round pieces of dough, steaming and dressing them with mashed adzuki bean. The oat flour is kneaded with hot water and shaped into half moons, stuffed with adzuki bean, put in boiling water and served coated with oil.
Oat cakes were specially prepared on holidays or for guests. They were so slippery that people in Samsu and Kapsan areas said that “the cakes often slipped out of the chopsticks and flew over the Huchi Pass.”
Potatoes grown in the present Ryanggang area were especially big and tasty, so they were widely used in making various dishes, such as boiled rice mixed with potato, cake made of potato, potato starch noodles and taffy.
Hamhung starch noodles were very famous among potato starch noodles.
Hamhung rib soup, tangogi soup and yonggye-jjim (steamed chicken) were also known as special meat dishes of the area.
A chicken, a little bigger than a chick, is disembowelled, stuffed with glutinous rice, various ingredients and spices, and steamed as a whole. Just as tangogi soup was largely served on the hottest midsummer days, so the people in this area enjoyed the yonggye-jjim in the hottest period.
Dishes made of Pollack, flatfish, hard-finned sandfish and octopus were delicious.
People in the areas of Chongjin, Kimchaek, Myongchon, Kyongsong, Kilju, Puryong, Hongwon, Sinpho, Riwon and Pukchong, which were main fishing grounds for Pollack, cooked, pickled and processed the fish into various dishes.
Flatfish, hard-finned sandfish, squid and octopus were fermented, and fermented flatfish, steamed crab and minnow soup with bean paste of the Pukchong area were widely known.
Boiled rice and congee cooked with mussel, steamed crab, dish of herring, and soup of seaweed and crab meat and seasoned kelp of the Myongchon and Sonbong areas were also well known from long ago.
There were also dishes of vegetables and edible herbs, including leaf-mustard kimchi and fried fern, and such sweet foods and drinks as fried cake made of wheat flour and honey and sweet drink prepared with rice and malt.