Friday, January 20, 2012

Korean Fusion

Baton Rouge, Louisiana 
There seems to be a booming trend going across America at the moment, and it is the innovation of fusion cooking. Fusion between two types of cuisines that mix ingredients and methods that people wouldn't dare to think of years ago. This has been going around for a while but I noticed that it got increasingly popular ever since Top Chef came about on Bravo. Well, whatever did it, I am certainly grateful.

I tend to feast on ingredients that people would generally leave astray but what my friends and I created the other day is something that I think that even some of the most timid eaters may want to try.


A couple months ago, two of my best friends took a trip to Atlanta, Georgia to watch LSU play for the SEC Championship. After the sweet victory, they had to get something to eat and came across a Korean/Mexican fusion place. There they experienced Korean BBQ tacos, kimchi hot dogs and Korean BBQ nachos. Oddly enough, my Caucasian friend went for the kimchi hot dog. It's odd because kimchi is probably considered one of the most robust flavored foods around the world. It's really a either you love it or hate it kind of thing. He ended up liking it a lot.


Kimchi is a heavily spiced and aged or fermented cabbage. If you come across it, try it! You may end up liking it, or if you hate it, at least you can tell everyone you tried it. Beware of the strong smell and the heavy garlic taste that comes along with it.

Korean food is slowly growing more popular in America. Everyone knows the Japanese for their sushi and everyone knows of Chinese food. But, what everyone should try once is Korean BBQ. Whether it be marinated short ribs or thinly sliced rib-eye, you can put it on anything and it will probably taste good. So, we recreated the Korean BBQ nachos.




First, you have to have decent chips for your nachos. The best that I think that is available are El Milagro tortilla chips, because they really are the closest thing to restaurant chips that come out of a bag. You can find them at Whole Foods. Next is the cheese sauce. Sorry, we got lazy and just used Velveeta + a can of Rotel. Then the Korean beef and the salad topping. The salad topping is made with red leaf lettuce, and a mixture of soy sauce,  vinegar, garlic, sesame oil, and red chili flakes. Any time you're making a salad, be sure to dress it last, so the leaves don't get soggy. Then we just piled it all on top of the chips and cheese, garnished it with some diced jalapenos, cilantro, black beans and Sriracha Sauce.



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