2.199 Monkfish Karaage

2.199

23 (Sat) July 2011

Monkfish Karaage

3.0

by KIT

at Art in Island

-Pyeongchang, Gangwon, Republic of Korea-

with W and DJ, MtG, CBD, KJA and family

Karaage is a Japanese dish.   Involves bite-sized pieces of an item (usually meats, most commonly chicken) seasoned in a soy-based marinade, dusted in flour, deep-fried, and served, usually with a slice of lemon.  Very tricky to get right because of the marinade and coating, which require cooking for a proper period of time at a proper temperature to get the ideal crispy-outside/juicy-inside texture without scorching or getting greasy.  It differs in both taste and texture from tempura, the more famous Japanese deep-fry, which is coated in bread crumbs and comes with a separate dipping sauce.  Karaage dishes are often served at drinking establishments, such as izakaya, as an accompaniment to alcohol.

With the popularity of izakaya throughout Korea, and perhaps owing to a widespread lack of know-how or laziness to cook Japanese appetizers from scratch, specialty restaurant supply stores offer a wide variety of pre-made frozen items that can be prepared with minimal fuss.

KIT, who has the inside track on restaurant supplies through his kimchi jjigae business, often contributes such items to our camping feasts.  He brought chicken karaage to our trip to Ulleung-Do/Dok-Do last year (see 1.228 Chicken Karaage) – which, now that I think about it, was an odd choice given the friction between Korea and Japan on the issue of Dok-Do/Takeshima/Liancourt Rocks.  This time, monkfish karaage.

The campsite was a small outcropping of land (i.e., an “island) along a stream amidst farmland.
The entrance to the main grounds, one of the best organized and cleanliest car camping sites that I’ve seen.
Our site, away from the crowded main grounds, on a patch of land reserved for VIPs.
Those large mounds of grass on the left are graves.

This weekend marks the 1-year anniversary of the first camping trip (see 1.200 Gimbab) that our camping had organized outside the auspices of Backcountry Camping, the on-line community that had initially brought us together.  For the past year, we’ve primarily done our own thing, some of us getting together nearly every weekend and often during the weekdays for dinner and drinks in the city.  Amazing how close 7 people, who have no ties other than friendship, can get in just one year.

I selected Duplo minifigures from DJ’s collection to represent the members of CBD (from left): MtG, YYH, LHS, KKH, CJH, KIT, me; CJH, who arranged the minifigures for some story that she was planning for her own blog, had me seated and bringing up the rear because, supposedly, I always complain about my bum knee and lag behind whenever we go trekking.

As usual, we had tons to eat.  I chose the monkfish karaage as the featured item for this post anticipating it unlikely to come up again for the remainder of the cycle, wherein I’m trying not to feature the same thing twice.

The biggest pot of ramyeon (Neoguri) – 8 packs – that I’ve ever seen.

(See also FOODS)

(See also PLACES)

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