Delicious Gastropods; Golbaengis, Godongs and Whelks

 

Yungduck mulhoe is the unique Korean seafood restaurant near Youngdeungpo Lotte department store and subway station. There, the chef specializes in Korean East cost style seafoods. One of them is the steamed backgodong (photo I took above). Second photo above shows fermented flounders, which is also very unique way (Kyeungsangdo style) to cook this fish and practiced only in the Yungduk/Phohang areas.

Godongs are mainly used as side dish for alcoholic drink, mostly for draft beer in 500 ml glass (famous place is Euljiro in Seoul) due to a chewy and light texture and are easy to cook. They are also good for snacks due to its high protein content and low fat. In Korea, We are familiar with golbangi muchim, which is Korean style sea snail salad, mixed with noodles and hot & spicy sauce. Here, the word ‘golbaengi’ is a dialect of godong and more widely used culinary term than godong or its English translation ‘whelk’.

The godongs shown in the picture are commonly called Baekgolbaengi or Chamgolbaengi, and they are mostly caught on the east coast. They are high-end species with a high unit price and has a soft and sweet taste. They are usually boiled or steamed and eaten as raw foods or seasoned dishes.

The scientific name of the species is buccinum striatissimun and it is easy to break due to their thin shell, and they are not poisonous (some whelks have poison in their salivary gland). Actually, ‘buccinum’ is Latin word means whelk and in Scotland, people use a word ‘buckie’, which stems from ‘buccinum’. In England, whelks were very popular street foods of ordinary people in London during Victorian time. Now, folks there still eat them, but most of them (more than ~90%) caught are exported to here, South Korea. The recipe outside far east countries are characterized by use of gallic sources and butter. In Italy, these gastropods are called ‘scungilli’ and traditionally whelk dishes are prepared for special holiday gathering and used in ‘Feats of the seven fishes’ on chrism's eve. Because of the Italians settled in the US and imported Korean cans, whelk pasta and salad (of course not like golbaengi muchim served here) are also available in US too.

And let’s not forget about moon snails. They are common species used for cooking in the past, and most of the whelks sold in cans (my favorite yudong golbaengi in the photo above) probably use these snails. Nowadays, it is said that the imported species ‘Buccinum undatum’ is mainly used. Moon snails are mainly caught on the west coast and they are also found in China, the Indian Ocean, and the Western Pacific. However, the company did not officially reveal what kind of whelks are used and from which country imports. But I am sure that the whelks used in manufacturing canned products are not baekgolbangi since the taste is very different. Same company recently released many different canned foods/mill kits made of various gastropods and fishes. I did not try any of them yet. I am going to eat with some of these cans with drinks and write about them someday.

Stay tuned my dear friends!