Cycle 15 – Item 263

POST 5,376

24 (Tue) September 2024

Teukbap

2.5

at Shanghai

-Changgok, Sujeong, Seongnam, Gyeonggi, Republic of Korea-

solo

Try Every Rice Dish at Shanghai (see TERDS)

Teukbap is a Korean-Chinese dish (not really).  Consists of seafood (shrimp + squid) with thinly sliced vegetables (onions + chives + mushrooms) – essentially the same components as yusanseul (see for example 1.186 Yusanseul) –  stir-fried in a spicyish garlicky sauce – essentially the same flavors as palbochae (see for example 15.186 Palbochae).  The name simply means “special (teuk/특) rice (bap/밥).”  Not an established dish (as far as I’m aware), just something made up by Shanghai.

In light of GMTD’s all-time favorite topic – how Chinese food in Korea isn’t actually Chinese, and how the restaurants are so ignorant/unimaginative that they’re incapable of expanding their menus beyond minor variations on a handful of standards (e.g., jjajang myeon, jjambbong) – this dish is the kicker.  Not only because it’s not a thing in itself, just a combination two existing dishes, but moreso because they couldn’t even think of a real name for it.

Also odd that yusanseulbap is the most expensive rice plate on the menu at 16,000 won, but teukbap is one of the cheapest at 10,000 won, even though the ingredients are the essentially the same.  Maybe it’s “special,” as in “specially priced.”

(See RESTAURANTS IN KOREA)

(See GLOBAL FOOD GLOSSARY)