Cycle 4 – Item 106

21 (Sun) April 2013

Pulmuone’s Gukmul vs. Sunssal Ddeokbokki

2.0

by me

at home

-Oksu, Seongdong, Seoul, Republic of Korea-

with W

Pulmuone has recently launched a series of packaged semi-instant ddeokbokki.

Still hoping they’ll develop a reasonably tasty product that I could keep in the fridge for ddeokbokki emergencies.

One was (A) Gukmul Ddeokbokki – “gukmul (국물)” = “broth.”

The other was (B) Sunssal Ddeokbokki – “sunssal (순쌀)” = “pure rice.”

I prepared both exactly according to the instructions, without adding anything extra, simultaneously to finish more or less at the same time, so they could be compared immediately side-by-side upon completion.

According to the tasting panel, the clear winner was A.  The main difference was that A was sweeter and less spicy, along the lines of kid-friendly ddeokbokki sold from street carts near schools.  The sauce was lighter in texture – soupier, as the name would suggest – which isn’t necessarily an advantage per se but would facilitate the addition of other components (e.g., sliced fish cakes and/or boiled egg, as in the photo), also in line with how kids tend to like it.  By contrast, the B sauce was darker and spicier, nearly to the point of bitterness, intensified by its denser/heavier texture, plus the thicker rice cakes.  Incidentally, other than being thicker, the so-called “pure rice” rice cakes of B didn’t taste/feel any different than those of A.  In fact, the ingredient listing on the packaging indicates B to comprise 99% rice, whereas A is shown to include rice, no percentages given, but nothing else – Korean labeling laws require only ingredients above a certain high percentage to be listed – leaving the consumer to wonder about the rest, not that it seemed to matter in this case.  I won’t be keeping either product on hand as a general practice, but I may purchase the gukmul ddeokbokki on occasion.

(See also PULMUONE)

(See also GLOBAL FOOD GLOSSARY)