Long, Slender & Yummy

From time to time, we went to a local eel dish place specializing in Jangeo Gui or grilled eel. There seems to be two most common way to cook eels in Korea.  One is using sources on eels when you grill or broil and in the other recipe, you only do with eels without adding anything else. The chef of restaurant we went stick to the latter style of method and it is recommendable to people who dislike salty or spicy seasonings. The eel prepared this way usually served with various vegetables, so called Namuls including pickled sesame leaves, radish kimchi, lettuce, and sliced gingers dipped in wasabi and soy bean sources.  Such sources are separately come thus you don’t need to use them if you don’t like them. 

The impressive aspect of this restaurant was they also include soybean stew which is very different form conventional Korean stew in that soybean paste and vegetables are braised with eel bones, imparting unique taste. Leo is picky eater who is not happy about most of Korean style stews, but whenever we went there, he really enjoyed this specially made small pot.

For grilled or broiled eel dishes, here freshwater eels are almost exclusively used. When people just say ‘eels’, they mean freshwater eels that are born in the sea and grow in rivers. Grilled eels, which we often eat as a health food, are cooked with eels that live in fresh water. It is usually eaten salted or grilled with spicy seasoning.

As far as I know, there are three types of eels that are frequently used in Korean cuisine: conger eel, pike eel, and eel. Conger eel and pike eel are saltwater eels. Conger eel is called “Anago” in Japanese at fish markets and restaurants. The more you chew it, the savorer it tastes, and you can eat them in raw fish-oriented sea food restaurants (Hoe Jip). The pike eel has a very sharp teeth with elongated. Pike eels can be eaten as sashimi or grilled, but it is said that you can enjoy its original taste better when you eat it with shabu-shabu. Honestly, I didn’t try any pike eel cuisine yet.  

The most popular freshwater eel in Korea is 'Pungcheon eel', which is the name of the restaurant we visited and took pictures for this blog.  There are conflicting explanations of origin of this word and in this post, I don’t personally endorse one theory over another. First, Pungcheon Eel is an eel caught in the fresh water where Jujincheon (name of steam) passing by Seonunsa Temple in Gochang, county to the Yellow sea.

Locals live there also argue that the stream passing in front of Seonunsa Temple is unofficially called Pungcheon.

There is, however, also an opinion that Pungcheon is not a specific name of the local stream, but a Chinese character meaning ‘wind (Pung)’ and ‘river (Cheon)’ combined to form a word.  In this explanation, ‘Pungcheon is associated with ecology of the species; when young eels born in the sea enter the river (Cheon), they come on the wind (Pung) that blows inland, consequently they call it 'Pungcheon Eel'.

I don’t know which one makes more sense but, obviously, the most famous spot for ‘Pungcheon Eel’ in Korea is Gochang County. These days, many eel-specialized restaurants are clustered near Seonun Mountain, and many tourists come to taste variety of eel dishes.  This area is a bit far from my hometown, Bucheon, but I hope I will be there sometime.

In near future, we may find out various recipes with varying types of eel species.  I already spotted some localized Japanese or Mediterranean Sea food places for next gastronomical journey.