When Eric Kim develops recipes, he thinks about which of them would make a super unmarried. “I was a musician and I used to need to be the following Michelle Department,” he says. Kim moved to New York when he was once 18 to grow to be a pop megastar, and whilst that profession didn’t moderately figure out — he’s now a cooking creator for the New York Instances — he nonetheless discovered a option to channel the ones pop track instincts into his debut cookbook, Korean American: Meals That Tastes Like House. “Black sesame cake, that’s a super one. Gochugaru shrimp and grits, additionally nice. Those potatoes? I simply in point of fact idea those potatoes would win,” he says, virtually as though he’s a pass judgement on on American Idol. “I do know deep down and my testers know that that is one among our favourite dishes.”
Along side being a sleeper hit in his cookbook, Kim’s recipe for smashed potatoes and roasted-seaweed bitter cream dip was once a favourite in his family all the way through the coronavirus pandemic. Like many of us, Kim moved again house within the pandemic’s early days, residing together with his mom, Jean. She taught him to prepare dinner Korean meals, one thing he had eaten a large number of at house however didn’t have a ton of enjoy cooking himself. “I wrote two items the place I form of reported my mom’s recipes,” Kim says. “It was once a kimchi fried rice after which it was once a dak-bokkeum-tang — it’s a hen and potato stew. Each tales more or less navigate the writing down of your mom’s recipes. I feel the ones two items had been a pleasant litmus check, realizing that there’s one thing wealthy right here.”
That 12 months at house — when his circle of relatives amassed to observe the Harry Potter movies and snack on smashed potatoes and bitter cream dip — motivated Kim’s determination to put in writing Korean American. “I feel what’s in point of fact pretty concerning the e book is it’s now not simply that I’m writing down her recipes, I’m additionally growing my very own primarily based off the muse of our reminiscences,” he says. “I feel a technique this is useful to take a look at that is the Korean phase is my mother and the American phase is me, however in any case, the Korean American phase is either one of us.”
Whilst bitter cream dip may really feel decidedly American, Kim forgoes the standard packet of dried dip combine and as a substitute contains gim seaweed, rice vinegar, and sesame oil to make a mashup of the 2 cultures. “You find yourself with this very sudden flavorful dip that tastes very Korean to me,” he says. “The rest with sesame oil tastes in point of fact Korean to me.” There may be even a Korean phrase to explain the transcendent taste of sesame oil: gosohae. “I really like this phrase this is so particularly tied to sesame. I simply suppose it’s in point of fact stunning and it presentations how vital that pantry aspect is in Korean delicacies,” Kim says. It’s so vital to Korean delicacies and Kim’s cookbook that he’s were given an concept for his subsequent profession transfer. “I’ve this nutty idea in thoughts that if I had been to only spouse with a chemist possibly they may isolate gosohae and turn out that its a 6th style or one thing,” he says. “A long run undertaking.”
Smashed Potatoes with Roasted-Seaweed Bitter Cream Dip Recipe
Serves 4
Components:
For the smashed potatoes:
1½ kilos fingerling potatoes
¼ cup olive oil, plus extra as wanted
¼ teaspoon garlic powder
Kosher salt and freshly flooring black pepper
For the bitter cream dip:
8 oz. bitter cream (about 1 cup)
2 (5-gram) packets gim
1 huge garlic clove, finely grated
1 tablespoon rice vinegar
2 teaspoons toasted sesame oil, plus extra to style
1 teaspoon kosher salt, plus extra to style
½ teaspoon freshly flooring black pepper, plus extra to style
1 teaspoon sugar
2 huge scallions, thinly sliced at the diagonal
Directions:
Step 1: Preheat the oven to 425 levels.
Step 2: Make the potatoes: Lay the potatoes on a sheet pan in one layer and roast dry (with out oil or salt!) till comfortable sufficient to destroy, about half-hour.
Step 3: Take away the pan from the oven and, the usage of the flat backside of a consuming glass, press on each and every potato to destroy them reasonably. Drizzle the potatoes with the olive oil, sprinkle with the garlic powder, and season with salt and pepper. Use a spatula to toss the entirety in combination so the smashed potato items are smartly seasoned.
Step 4: Go back to the oven and bake till crispy, about half-hour longer.
Step 5: In the meantime, because the potatoes roast, make the bitter cream dip: In a meals processor, blitz the bitter cream, gim, garlic, vinegar, sesame oil, salt, pepper, and sugar till easy. Style and regulate seasonings as desired.
Step 6: To serve, slather a big platter with the bitter cream dip and organize the crispy smashed potatoes over it. Messily scatter the scallions excessive and serve straight away.
Reprinted with permission from Korean American: Meals That Tastes Like House by means of Eric Kim, copyright © 2021. Printed by means of Clarkson Potter/Publishers, an imprint of Penguin Random Area.
Images copyright: Jenny Huang © 2022.
