Iteration 37892: Buckwheat. *Only* Buckwheat. It's in my ears, in my eyes and in my nose. Buckwheat is love, Buckwheat is life. Buckwheat is alpha and Buckwheat is omega. Only Buckwheat.
The first thing that description brought to mind was Claire Saffitz making snack foods for Gourmet Makes and rapidly descending into madness as she did.
I am a Korean who has been blessed with algorithms. Actually, today is the Buddha's Birthday in Korea.(Dates vary depending on the country where there is a Buddhist tradition) Hwajeon is a traditional food that requires a lot of work, so I haven't eaten it either. Thank you for showing traditional Korean food.
It's so nice how, ages later, a person from a continent she could not have known existed, is trying her family's dishes (and likes them!). It's what I love about this channel, you get a small glimpse (and taste) into the past.
She might have, actually. First record of chili peppers, which are a New World crop, in Korea appear during her lifetime. Might not have known details, but she may have known that the peppers came from across the sea.
@@starsgears9200 If I am not mistaken, at this time people had vague understanding that there are some distant lands where the "southern barbarians" (europeans) get their weird plants from but I don't think they had very precise geographical knowledge nor it was something that that many people thought about. Even though as an educated yangban she might be one of the people that knew more than just that the "southern barbarians" existed but I don't think there was much interest into the "seohak" (western learning) at the time but my knowledge of Korea is a bit sketchy, my speciality is Japan, so I might be wrong.
Jang was a rare breed of human who was ahead of her time and knew to treat people kindly no matter what their circumstances. It's just a pity that more people aren't like her today.
Great timing with this video! I thought it must have been on purpose. Living in Korea, I didn't realise it was Buddha's birthday today, even though all the temples have the colourful lanterns at the moment. Totally slipped my mind. I was getting my son ready for daycare and my husband reminded me it's a public holiday because of Buddha's birthday haha. I'd love to see you do something about Korean temple food in general.
Oh wow never expected to see you here too haha! I knew it was Buddha’s birthday because I had the day off from work, but I had too many errands to run and couldn’t try to find a temple serving bibimbap (my friend says they do it on this holiday!)
@@TastingHistory I have noticed that all the really hard words were done while you weren't on the camera --- I'd almost think that was on purpose to make splicing in retakes easier!
We usually use Korean rosebay to make hwajeon. But there are flowers that look very similar to Korean rosebay. They're called royal azaleas, which have strong poison. So people who couldn't distinguish the two got taken to hospitals from time to time.
I spent a year in Korea and was stunned by the number of what I was told were royal azaleas all over the mountains. Now I wonder if some of them were Korean Rosebay!!
Watching Max lowkey tear up while explaining how she made her cookbook to preserve her history, and then saying how this channel is like the same thing to him??? Im bawling 😭😭😭
Hey Max, as a Korean, it's really cool to see Korean culture being represented in history as well! Most people seem to focus on Chinese and Japanese culture, if they even touch on any Asian history at all.
@Altrag_ I had a whole unit dedicated to it in my high school Modern World History class. Not as long as the unit on the Vietnam War, but it was an important part, as it tied into current times with North Korea. That class is still probably the best class I've ever taken.
One interesting thing about yangban women, was that although they were restricted by society, they had access to literature and poetry so in turn, many turned into poets, authors and artists too! So Gyehyang wasn't the only one ^^
@@TastingHistory I agree, you get the L's at the end of words especially well. If I might give a pointer, you usually want to aspirate a bit on the consonants, along with the voice. Jang is a bit more like Jhang, if you know what I mean, and Gye is more like Ghye. But everything else was perfect as far as I could hear
@@user-A-png I think his pronunciation is extremely impressive, and I would say there is a nice feeling to see someone try their best to truly match the pronunciation. To each their own though, I also live in Seould and am studying Korean.
Korean American here! Very happy to see you cover this recipe! My mom used to make these for us when we were little but she stopped when I turned 15 (About 10 years ago). I never knew how she made them, but now I see this and I want to make them again myself for me and my husband! Thank you for bringing up some amazing memories for me and for covering some Korean history! Keep up the good work!
I find it so cute that you are thanking a common woman that lived hundreds of years ago (and on the other side of the world!) for keeping her family's tradition alive by writing their recipes. It's just so... beautiful, I don't know.
I think you may have jumped 4:40. Jang Gye-Hyang was a member of the yang-ban class, which were right below royalty in the social hierarchy. It's also highly unlikely that a commoner would have had the knowledge _or_ the resources to write a book. If you mean 'common' as in 'average' - uhm. Not really, no.
Buckwheat really has this dubious honor of being hard to work with. Japanese soba makers always mix wheat flower with the buckwheat just to have the material strength to be cooked in boiling water. But on the flipside it is much more nutritious than plain wheat...
@@Tina06019 it is bitter, yes. Toasted it becomes more nutty. It is definitely not a « neutral » flour, (if such a thing exists) and the flavour balance has to be built with that particular taste in mind. It goes really well with cheeses, charcuterie, carrots/sweet roots and tubers, and gives an interesting accent to a chocolate or vanilla dessert.
Wow, I never knew buckwheat was so hard to work with. D: I've found soba noodles to be the tastiest noodles ever cause of the buckwheat. Idk anything about noodle making, but is it possible to get the texture of udon noodles while having the taste of soba noodles?
@@SmartyPoohBear Buckwheat flour, unlike most every other kind of flour, has zero gluten, and therefore zero elasticity , so it's impossible to replicate the bouncy, chewy texture of udon noodles, which are made with standard wheat flour.
My Korean teacher would have loved Max’s pronunciation! :) Thank you for that sincerity in respecting the languages in your videos. p.s. Max, you might enjoy making the Korean sweet red bean porridge called danpatjuk! (단팥죽) It’s believed that the folklore surrounding it originated from a 6th century Chinese tale. Often, it’s eaten during the winter solstice. By the way, I made your payasam recipe a few weeks ago, and my friend from India was so proud! (We’re used to people loosely giving out cringy disclaimers for butchering on here, but you have such a refreshing respect for pronunciation!)
@@TastingHistory Here’s an article by the Michelin Guide with a savory recipe (though, I recommend it tried sweetened!) with a lot of insight into the history and customs surrounding the dish :) guide.michelin.com/kr/en/article/dining-in/동지-팥죽-레시피
Congrats on following your passion! I’m an art historian/ professor and would love to see you take a look at the food centered paintings of the Dutch and Spanish Baroque period. They frequently feature period pastries and older varietals of vegetables and fruits we don’t see today.
I agree with you on trying recipes from that period of time. Some of ancestry is from Spain and I grew up with special foods and drink during Fiestas that are not commonly known. Great idea.
This was such a sweet sentimental episode for me. I lived in South Korea for a few years, and would love to go back. Plus the history of this episode is just so sweet... like a beloved grandma preserving her own family heritage and being an upstanding member of the community. Her family was very lucky to have her.
I appreciate the effort you put into actually learning the pronunciations of words. So many people just go with how they think things are pronounced based on romanizations, so it's awesome that you're showing that level of respect. And not just with this video either - you put so much effort into your content, and the love for what you're doing really shines through. I would love to see more recipes from this book and I really hope you do more!
Hi I have a question. Why is it today? Cause in India it is the 26th. Buddha Purnima, the full moon of Buddha is the full moon of the solar month of Baisakh. Why a separate date?
You are such a sweetheart! At about 11:40, as you talked about her cookbook as her way of preserving family history and that you felt these videos were your way of doing the same, I saw the emotion in your eyes and I wanted so much to reach through the screen and give you a big hug. I'm 73, a new follower and have been binge watching these incredible videos. I'm learning so much about history and food that I never knew existed and I cannot thank you enough for sharing this with us.
I realized that my mother didn't have a single recipe for what she cooked during the holidays. It was all in her head. So one year I spent writing down all of the recipes for the dishes she made. Because when you cook and you know how to cook you don't measure! It's all by eye, and the feel of what you are stirring, how the dough feels in your hands. Only then was I able to modify and add things to her recipes. But I learned her tips and tricks to pass on that I would never have known otherwise. I guess I inspired her to keep writing her recipes down for me, So that I would have them when she ... So Take the time to write your recipes down, or take the kids and sit with your grandparents and do that with them. I can totally see using these with tea, or wine, with meditation to commune with Budda. After all they are to celebrate Budda's Birthday!
My mom did this with my grandpa, when he'd say "take a handful of..." or "fill the container this much" she stop him and measure out how much it was. So she managed to get several recipes written, and then my aunt one year took them all and typed them up and took them to an office store to get them copied and bound for all the family. Best. Christmas. Present. Ever.
Wow! What an amazing woman! When I was nine, I was seriously trying to copy a picture of the Mona Lisa from my encyclopedia set on to a piece of typing paper using dime store water colors and hating myself because it wasn't as good as Da Vinci. Yep, that kind of over achieving. Unlike Jang who was apparently successful at being a child prodigy.
Thank you for this wonderful episode! Hwajeon(화전) is very special to me. It was something my gandma and i use to make in the spring with rhododendron and mugwort. Watching this reminded me of all the precious moments i've shared with her and how much i love her.
@@xXcangjieXx as far as i know Rhododendron mucronulatum is not poisonous but Rhododendron schlippen bachii is. So if you aren't sure of which kind of rhododendron you have in your garden, I wouldn't recommend trying it.
A lot of rhododendrons/azeleas have andromedotoxin, the stuff that makes "insanity honey.". Although I've read that Ledum (Labrador tea) has been merged into the genus, I think I'd want to avoid eating those at all costs. If you want edible spring flowers, consider dandelion, violets, redbud, Wisteria, (& beyond Korea or in modern times when one isn't limited to the local natives, add tulips and Robinia black locusts to the list). Roses are also good (if not sprayed) though they wait until June where I live.
When I was in school, probably 100 years ago, I thought history was so boring. You make history fun and interesting. Clearly your mom isn’t the only teacher in the family. 🤓
I did not like learning about history in school, at all. However, I love history and have since I was a little kid interested in fossils. I taught myself everything that I know about history- history that is not the typical Midwestern sugar-coated history that kids are taught. That crap was boring. Real history is amazing. Not pleasant all the time- but still amazing.
Hopefully Max sees this, as this is actually an important topic to discuss. Some ingredients, or just names of anything in general, have a common name that can cover more than one scientific name. Buckwheat is an example of this, there are two genus of species that buckwheat encapsulates (specifically one species under one genus and an entire second genus), and the taxonomic split happens at the subfamily level. One name can describe two very different things. I was curious about the buckwheat issue, so I did some looking. I started with Wiktionary, just to see if there's any etymological clues or regional and/or historical differences for the term; luckily, the page was very straightforward, which is uncommon when you look for ingredients that jump language barriers. From the 16th century, buckwheet is an Asian plant of the species _Fagopyrum Esculentum._ But buckwheat here in the States, especially the Western US, is any of the wild buckwheats in the genus _Eriogonum._ This is when I found my way to Wikispecies, as that's a better resource for taxonomic purposes. The species of _F. Esculentum_ is under the familia of _Polygonaceae,_ subfamilia of _Polygonoideae,_ tribus _Fagopyreae,_ and genus _Fagopyrum,_ and the genus has 31 species and 1 hybrid species. Whereas the genus of _Eriogonum_ is under the familia of _Polygonaceae,_ the subfamilia of _Eriogonoideae,_ and tribus _Eriogoneae,_ and has something like 256 species and 2 hybrid species. It is *very* possible that you're using a 'buckwheat' that is not of the correct type, especially as our regional 'buckwheat' is more than likely not _F. Esculentum,_ or any of the species under the _Fagopyrum_ genus, but rather a more local 'buckwheat' from the genus of _Eriogonum._ If you're able to source a 'buckwheat' that is from the _Fagopyrum_ genus, or even the exact species of _F. Esculentum,_ you should retry this recipe with that. Going forward, if you see a commonly named ingredient, you should definitely research if there's historical, regional, and/or linguistic differences for that particular ingredient. It'd be like owning an early 20th century car that was built for leaded gasoline, yet by the modern day (1970s and later) you're using unleaded without an engine built for unleaded gasoline, it's an incompatible pairing; much like this recipe with western buckwheat, when it more than likely needs a _Fagopyrum_ genus at the very least least, if not preferably _F. Esculentum_ specifically.
I remember seeing an old couple make noodles with pure buckwheat flour in a Korean television show, and they knead the dough for an *EXTREMELY* long time(maybe 4 hours or more). The dough didn't seem to fall apart at all and the noodles turned out great. Perhaps the buckwheat dough for hwajeon would do the same if knead enough. Not so sure though.
The flour for buckwheat noodles is specially grown to give it a better protein ratio. Usually people will add a little wheat flour to buckwheat to make up for the lack of stretchiness.
Buckwheat doesn't have gluten in it unlike wheat flour, so for example Japanese soba chefs have to go to great pains to keep 100% buckwheat noodles from falling apart. Very traditional soba shops will make the noodles fresh and cook and serve it immediately, because high % buckwheat noodles will degrade if left out for too long uncooked. Apparently cold temperature also helps with maintaining buckwheat.
I have heard that it can take a long time to come together if you use buckwheat and the dough needed to be kept cold use cold water but who knows how long he tried kneeding the dough before he gave up and tried using less buckwheat.
I find it really interesting that this early Asian cookbook was written by a Korean woman. It reminds me of how the world's first known novel was written by a Japanese woman.
If anyone's curious about why people are making a big deal out of it being an Asian woman It's because woman weren't exactly allowed to know how to learn how to read or write in certain cultures This might not have been what they meant but it's how I interpreted it
As a Korean I guess this was because of staunch confucianism in East Asia during those periods, which reinforced strict gender/class role to maintain "tranquility" in hierarchal society. Korean and Japanese women were not allowed to study and learn linguistics at that time(as it also might have been for pretty much every woman across the world), so Asian women writing whole books must have been a sign of linguistic talent. Not really surprising considering the average linguistic skills among women are slightly better than those of men(although the top percentage still seems to be predominantly men). Strictly patriarchal societies established approximately since neolithic~bronze age has made us lose so many potential female prodigies
@@catladyfromky4142 she was the first one to use first person in her poetry/songs. Most were unaccredited before along the lines of "Priest of ____ wrote this". But she was the first one to use "I". And given credit specifically to her. I think someone out there put one of her songs/poems to music and its beautiful.
First: what a woman! Such a remarkable combination of talent, curiosity, ethics and familial devotion. Then, I echo Max's sentiment in feeling grateful to those who, by passing down their knowledge and their stories, let us peek into long lost worlds and intellectually live so many different lives. Cheers to them all. Finally, thanks Max for the kind nod to us patrons. Believe us, it's an immense pleasure to support you.
Hi Max. Leaving this channel for Disney would have been a grievous error of judgement, kudos to you for staying with this. In 2021 it is almost impossible to find a niche in the internet that is original, clever and entertaining. You tick all the boxes. Further more you are a natural in front of the camera and your delivery is just about flawless. Your comments are always on point, never condescending and with the right amount of wittiness. I am happy to be one of your loyal subscribers.
Really nice to see a Roselia in the background when talking about cookies made with flowers. If you look real close you can see the bottomless fury in her eyes, that flowers were eaten.
Love this video. Jang Gyehyang sounds like an amazing person! I wonder what she would think to know that her story and her recipes are still being told hundreds of years later.
I'm binge watching your channel and the effort you put into pronouncing words from other languages (Korean, Japanese, Spanish, Italian, French...) always makes me smile. It shows a lot of respect 💛
I love that every first bite is the same: takes bite, touches finger to side of mouth, nods, says mmhmm, stares off camera for a sec, then the flavor review.
I wish I could try Korean BBQ but there are really no good Korean places to eat where I live. I think her husband saw her intelligence as an asset and I wouldn't be surprised that she was the one who taught her children how to read and write.
There are some EXCELLENT recipies for Korean BBQ online; Bulgogi Beef is surprisingly easy to make. Of course, I usually just go to the Korean BBQ food truck that is favored by all the Korean families in the area -- which is particularly excellent in here in Western Kentucky.
I'm so happy about this episode, and you've seemed really fond of 장계향. Just so you know, I'm still taking credit for pointing you in the direction of 음식디미방. And I think you can still pride yourself on your pronunciation.
Ahhh, you actually did a recipe from the Eumsik dimibang! This makes me so happy. I greatly encourage the drink recipes in this book like the gwaha-ju you mentioned. Most of them are dead simple, just rice, nuruk, water and any additives for specialty wines. They also only take about 1-2 weeks to brew. I make several varieties of makgeolli and cheong-ju myself at home. Edit: I forgot to mention that she is still quite famous in for her poetry and calligraphy in the area where she lived in North Gyeongsang Province and less so for her cookbook. I used to live in Andong, but unfortunately have never been to her ancestral home.
Me: (Has glutinous rice flour and calendula flower petals leftover from previous recipes, and am wondering what other recipes I can use them in) Max Miller: 𝘈𝘱𝘱𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘴 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘢 𝘷𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘰 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘩𝘸𝘢𝘫𝘦𝘰𝘯. Me: Perfect!! Dessert time! ❤
@@theonefromk7602 not too bad! I don't think I used enough oil, or leave them on the heat long enough, to get the edges crispy, but they were still delicious!!
@@saulemaroussault6343 a recipe for Pea Soop (that's how it is spelled), from the 18th century cookbook 'The Compleat Housewife', by Eliza Smith. It called for the petals from some pot marigolds (aka calendulas), and I could only find dried ones. It gave the dish a slightly floral/citrus taste, and honestly helped elevate the flavor!
This sounds like fairy food 😍😋 Thank you Korean people for having a cool food, and thanks Max for showing us this cool food. Especially thanks to Max's friend Rich for how to say the words!
My son’s school is having teacher appreciation week, as well as it’s history fair. The history fair is where kids of 3-5 grade have learned about a singular historical figure and will dress as them, say a speech and present about the person. So.. I’m beyond happy to have found your channel! As a lover of both cooking and history this is perfection! I will be making these for the dessert bar tomorrow ❤️❤️
This reminded me that you mentioned possibly doing a channel about recipes from literature, well if you do and enjoy cooking with flowers, I strongly recommend doing recipes from the "Redwall" series. Lots of interesting dishes and most involve flowers.
Really gotta say, the amount of effort Max puts into learning the proper pronunciation of non-english words alone is amazing. The guy works hard to make great content 💪🏼
Buckwheat is a tricky ingredient. My wife's cousin's husband makes soba noodles ("soba" is Japanese for buckwheat) and he's taught me a bit. The best soba noodles are made from 100% buckwheat. You are probably wondering how the heck it's possible to make a noodle from buckwheat, given your experience ;-) Basically there are 4 important points: 1. You have to integrate the water slowly and in a particular way. Usually you need a wide shallow bowl. You spread out the flour in the bowl and then you splash some water into the flour. You must mix it with your fingers. You put your fingertips into the flour so they contact the bottom of the bowl firmly. Then, fairly vigourously, you make large circular motions with your hand. You use the other hand to make circular motions in the opposite direction. It's a bit hard to picture how you don't end up twiting your arms up like a rubber band. The main thing is that you want constant motion. Every once in a while, you "fluff up" the flour so that all the pieces are separated. As the water gets absorbed, you splash more in. This very even hydration is very, very important or else you can't develop the starch gel. 2. The amount of water is crucial. At some point, no matter how much you try, the buckwheat flour won't stay separated. It will start to clump. Once you are getting little balls of dough, try to form it together. If you've ever made pottery, you want to it be just like that kind of clay. Too much or too little water will mean it won't gel properly. You kind of want to kneed it a little bit at this stage, although it's not like kneading bread. Just smoosh it down, turn it smoosh it some more, turn it. Fold the edges in a bit. That description is wrong, but probably fine for the kinds of cakes you are making. 3. The temperature is crucial. The hotter the temperature, the faster the gel breaks down. You need to keep it cool. 4. The speed is crucial. Normally you have to make soba noodles within 20 minutes. For 100% buckweat noodles, you really have to go much faster. You can literally see the dough breaking down and getting crumbly as time goes by. With the glutenous rice flour, things are going to be much easier, because the rice flour will help keep things together quite a bit. I think your main problem was trying to mix it with a spoon. It's just never going to work. But the amount of water and the speed that you are working the dough is also really important. Once you've formed the cakes, you've got some time, but because you have to take quite a lot of time to hydrate the flour (5-10 minutes), you only have a short time to kneed and form the dough and you have to work quickly. I hope you give it a try again. You should be getting a smooth, uniform color out the end -- basically grey/brown. You should be able to work it very, very similarly to clay. I think you'll find the texture change is very much worth it in the end. Of course, I guess you don't have much time to go over stuff you've already done. Maybe if you run into the same issue again in the future :-)
My poetry at 9 was about an adult lamenting not having a functional car for transportation to work. Someone thought my haiku was very......insightful?..... maybe they had car trouble that day, but it got selected for some national young poetry thing that got published. As an adult I was going through my old stuff and the car haiku was more.....relevant than I wish to admit. Last time I was this early out favorite battle simulator had not been remastered!
My mom was a lawyer and a Dr of natural medicine a talented artist and very intelligent lady and a huge book lover and I would also sneak into her office and would read her books. Which is how I taught myself to read a book series. She didn't want to read them to me because she didn't think I was old enough to understand what was going on in the story; so I just taught myself. I then went and asked her the meaning of a word I hadn't come across before and that's when she realized just how much in common we actually had and she didn't refuse me any books/her reading to me from then on out and we would fight over who would get to read the newest book first (she always won of course)
@@TastingHistory Both of my parents' sides of the family have books listing the names of pretty much everyone in our family, apparently my paternal side descends from some guy that lead a rebellion. Sadly don't know much about my maternal side. Maybe I'll ask my dad more about it and update everyone.
Buckwheat is notoriously bad at absorbing water. You have to mix the water in a little bit at a time and literally beat it into submission, even then it still might crumble lol
I regularly use (pure) buckwheat flour for (gluten free) bread, pancakes and oyaki and have absolutely no trouble with it. Of all the gf flour solutions, it's actually my favorite by far. After some quick research, it seems there is flour both made from hulled and from unhulled seeds. The flour i tend to use is way lighter in color than the one he used, so that's probably what makes the difference.
@@gewreid5946 Yeah, it's a bit like whole wheat flour vs AP flour. If you have the bran and the hull mixed into the flour the proportion of soft germ gets broken up by all the other stuff. I think unhulled buckwheat flour makes things taste more like buckwheat though. If you're making like say noodles or like cakes that have seasonings/ flavor added, the white buckwheat flour just tastes like regular flour imo. Since he's already using AP flour there wouldn't be any point subbing buckwheat in.
Wow, this was unexpected. Thank you for appreciating our culture and promoting it with such thoughtful way. Always amazed by your dedication on this channel especially when explaning about historical background of those featured dishes.
I like this woman. She reminds me a bit of my mom. We weren't rich but my mom always had room for our friends who needed it. And she has a recipe book she uses to this day. I learned to cook from her and her ability to help those who needed it. I think I might try this recipe just for that fact.
My grandmother and I used to make Hwajeon when I was young. Growing up poor in rural Korea meant a lot of what we ate was very traditional fare, its nice to see a memory from my youth again.
Korean expat living in LA here! Pleasantly surprised to see this episode and even more pleasantly surprised to see how good your pronunciation was. Suggestion: if you're looking for a Korean alcoholic beverage (I enjoyed your mead episode) to brew that has a lot of history, I would recommend makgeolli, one of the oldest Korean alcoholic beverages. It's very tasty when freshly made.
Ideas for future videos (if you can find recipes for them) 1. Recipes from various Native American tribes before and after Columbus showed up 2. Recipes that would have been prepared on the Mayflower 3. Historical Scandinavian recipes 4. Historical recipes from Southeast Asian, like Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, etc. 5. Recipes from the Byzantine and Ottoman Empires 6. Foods a Samurai would have eaten I know many of these may be hard to find. I love this channel. I love how it preserves these stories and gives us an insight into how people lived in the past.
I would love to see an episode on some Filipino food! I’m Mexican and my girlfriend is Filipina and I’ve come to love so many of their dishes over the years. Many of which combining influences of the Chinese, Spanish and indigenous people. Maybe an episode on Lumpia Shanghai?
I was so happy to find that you made an episode on a Korean dish! I love learning about my country’s history, as a second generation immigrant I never got to know much about it so content like this is so great!
Having her poem recognized by the king must have been awkward. On the one hand, no higher honor. On the other, it must have made it pretty hard to hide how she could read and write from her family, and she didn’t have the option of blaming the Internet or TV back then.
Korean yangban women may not have had access to formal education but they still had access to the tools to educate themselves in several fields, especially if they had an educator as a parent. Just as European noble women in the 17th century were in the same position but we still have examples of women with enlightened fathers educating them. No high noble woman was going to be severely punished for reading or writing, just many would criticize them for being out of order and destabilizing the balance of family life.
@@poeticvogon Oaks can begin producing as early as 20 years, and usually peak production is at around 50 years. The invasion was in 1636. She died in 1680. That's plenty of time for acorn harvests from the trees she planted (plus, oak are pretty common in that area - it's not like there weren't any until she arrived)
@@GomushinGirl Certainly, for a sedentary people, the art of foraging has remained highly developed in Korea, so already having acorns suitable for cereal foods is almost certain. Where Lady Jang changes the calculus, is the involvement of government. Most every of noble birth from the royals on down, even in the capital, was expected to have a functional grasp of forestry and land management. Possibly even to the extent of making it a specialty of their scholarship. I would not be surprised if Jang had her land carefully surveyed and personally had a hand in determining which plants go where. Some people, on the other hand, might think there are too many fucking old-growth trees in Korea. Millions too many trees. I'm not really big on respecting the opinion of samurai, though.
As someone who is currently binging these videos while I try and keep my sanity between my major and the two minors I'm pursuing (protip, don't do this, your mind will thank you), I really love how much you research not only the history of whatever dish you're making, but also how you take the time to learn how to pronounce the words of the language. It really adds a whole other layer of awesomeness to an already great channel
This was so fascinating! I love getting a history lesson along with my cooking lesson. Also the lady whom the video was about was an amazing woman. I really enjoyed learning about her life and her accomplishments.
WOW, I loved this episode! I'm especially interested in old Korean food before peppers came into the cuisine. Korean is one of those cuisines that really changed once new world ingredients came over. I've always admired the food for it's use of foraged plants, so I'm definitely excited for anything else you might make from this cookbook. Great job!
Wasn't just Korean. Indian, Persian, Arab and Turkish cooking were also greatly altered by the Spanish introduction of peppers. The first Indian curry recipe doesn't appear until the mid 17th century, a feat only made possible by the introduction of peppers just a few decades earlier.
I'm very impressed of all the history that you have explained and about origin of hwa-jun. This video remind me about my grandmother who actually preparing it for the guests and I had chance to watch her how to make it and helped her making it. You have covered it very well. I'm very surprised and exited to see this video. I'm enjoying so much of your video not just learning about the food also history behind of the food. Thank you for all the good videos and please keep it up to feed us all these good history of food.
Easily one of my favorite YT channels. Anyone who gives a thumbs down without some sort out reasonable explanation that leads to some sort of improvement deserves to have their sanity checked. Thanks for your content.
One of my favorite episodes. Learning about this wonderful woman is inspiring hundreds of years after she lived. Thank you for sharing her recipe and her biography.
Seated here binging your episodes as I'm currently feeling unwell. There's something amazingly soothing about your videos, feels like the kind of thing to just turn on and relax to :)
Literally all of the ideas for future episodes are episodes I would watch. Not just because I love your content, but they just sound super interesting.
This video actually brought rears to my eyes as I listened to the narrative, and what I heard prompted me to sit silently and think obout her many talents and achievements. What a fascinating genius this woman was. Now I want to travel to Dudeul to visit her museum. Alas, I cannot. So, I will read about her instead. And try this recipe. Thank you for sharing this lovely piece of history, Max.
Working on this episode made me miss Korean BBQ! What's everyone's favorite Korean food?
Not food but an ingredient- really good Gochujiang (the type you get from a tub, not a squeeze bottle)
Bulgogi or kimchi fried rice
I would say... short ribs.
@@haksin2179 ooooo I like to mix n match tonkotsu ramen with Korean ribs
Kimchi!!! I took an intensive summer course in Korean and learned to love it (and also how to eat with chopsticks)
I'm now imagining Max trying out hundreds of ratios of buckwheat flour, growing crazier with every iteration
It was so frustrating
The Sorcerer's Apprentice Mickey
@@TastingHistory Buckwheat gave you PTSD?
Iteration 37892: Buckwheat. *Only* Buckwheat. It's in my ears, in my eyes and in my nose. Buckwheat is love, Buckwheat is life. Buckwheat is alpha and Buckwheat is omega.
Only Buckwheat.
The first thing that description brought to mind was Claire Saffitz making snack foods for Gourmet Makes and rapidly descending into madness as she did.
I am a Korean who has been blessed with algorithms. Actually, today is the Buddha's Birthday in Korea.(Dates vary depending on the country where there is a Buddhist tradition) Hwajeon is a traditional food that requires a lot of work, so I haven't eaten it either. Thank you for showing traditional Korean food.
Maybe because of the time difference? It's "tomorrow" already in Korea.
She sounds like a Buddha herself...I need to jump down a rabbit hole. Ciao, bellas.
What about it requires a lot of work? It looked fairly simple in the video.
@@Electric999999 probably the milling into flour from the grains
I needed to go to the bank today and realized they're closed for his bday... damn you Buddhaaaaa
It's so nice how, ages later, a person from a continent she could not have known existed, is trying her family's dishes (and likes them!). It's what I love about this channel, you get a small glimpse (and taste) into the past.
She might have, actually. First record of chili peppers, which are a New World crop, in Korea appear during her lifetime. Might not have known details, but she may have known that the peppers came from across the sea.
17th century, america was discovered in 15th century
@@starsgears9200 If I am not mistaken, at this time people had vague understanding that there are some distant lands where the "southern barbarians" (europeans) get their weird plants from but I don't think they had very precise geographical knowledge nor it was something that that many people thought about. Even though as an educated yangban she might be one of the people that knew more than just that the "southern barbarians" existed but I don't think there was much interest into the "seohak" (western learning) at the time but my knowledge of Korea is a bit sketchy, my speciality is Japan, so I might be wrong.
I think she would find it a much higher honor that her advice to her children is still remembered more than her recipes.
@@TheoEvian very cool anyway! little nuggets like this influence my future google deepdives lol
Jang was a rare breed of human who was ahead of her time and knew to treat people kindly no matter what their circumstances. It's just a pity that more people aren't like her today.
Ikr! It really makes me want to cry how much ahead of her time she was and how she cared for others. How unfortunately rare that is 😟.
She seemed amazing, I loved her talks with her kids how they should value compliments on kindness than their talents
There's a bunch of people like her. But negative people are pretty loud.
I’m not. But I admire it in others lol
My Political Economics prof said:
The only social order that will work is based on inequality...
Great timing with this video! I thought it must have been on purpose. Living in Korea, I didn't realise it was Buddha's birthday today, even though all the temples have the colourful lanterns at the moment. Totally slipped my mind. I was getting my son ready for daycare and my husband reminded me it's a public holiday because of Buddha's birthday haha. I'd love to see you do something about Korean temple food in general.
It really was a bit of serendipity. 😁
Oh wow never expected to see you here too haha! I knew it was Buddha’s birthday because I had the day off from work, but I had too many errands to run and couldn’t try to find a temple serving bibimbap (my friend says they do it on this holiday!)
Hello from a fellow Korea resident !
I live in korean and I may not be Buddhist
However I can say that the food is amazing
As a native korean speaker, you did pretty well on the pronunciations. Good job.
Thank you 😊
@@TastingHistory I have noticed that all the really hard words were done while you weren't on the camera --- I'd almost think that was on purpose to make splicing in retakes easier!
@@hjalfi sometimes that’s the case, but more often it’s because I’m reading them off my script. Basically, if I’m reading, I put a picture up.
I don't speak any Asian language, but I'm really impressed that he never sounds like other Europeans.
@@edi9892 I mean he's American not European so that might have something to do with it
We usually use Korean rosebay to make hwajeon. But there are flowers that look very similar to Korean rosebay. They're called royal azaleas, which have strong poison. So people who couldn't distinguish the two got taken to hospitals from time to time.
WOW very interesting thanks for your comment
I spent a year in Korea and was stunned by the number of what I was told were royal azaleas all over the mountains. Now I wonder if some of them were Korean Rosebay!!
Reminds me of uncle Iroh and the white jade bush. "Delectable tea or deadly poison?"
@@averagejoey2000 haha that was my exact thought
Watching Max lowkey tear up while explaining how she made her cookbook to preserve her history, and then saying how this channel is like the same thing to him??? Im bawling 😭😭😭
🥺🥺 Ikr
He’s so sweet he’s great
I finally realized she's his personal saint.
Yeah! Why did this video make me misty eyed? I'm living in korea now and I think I'm going to have to research everything about this woman now!!!
As a Korean, I deeply appreciate for your interest and your accurate pronunciation :)
And for your information, Hwajeon is usually made using 두견화(du gyeon hwa) or 진달래(jin dal-lae), and both mean the same flower, azalea.
Hey Max, as a Korean, it's really cool to see Korean culture being represented in history as well! Most people seem to focus on Chinese and Japanese culture, if they even touch on any Asian history at all.
That's got a lot to do with the American education system. The Korean war is simply a footnote. A single day in history class
@Altrag_ I had a whole unit dedicated to it in my high school Modern World History class. Not as long as the unit on the Vietnam War, but it was an important part, as it tied into current times with North Korea.
That class is still probably the best class I've ever taken.
One interesting thing about yangban women, was that although they were restricted by society, they had access to literature and poetry so in turn, many turned into poets, authors and artists too! So Gyehyang wasn't the only one ^^
his pronounciation is always very good, makes the video 10x better honestly
Thank you 🙏
@@TastingHistory I agree, you get the L's at the end of words especially well. If I might give a pointer, you usually want to aspirate a bit on the consonants, along with the voice. Jang is a bit more like Jhang, if you know what I mean, and Gye is more like Ghye. But everything else was perfect as far as I could hear
@@user-A-png I think his pronunciation is extremely impressive, and I would say there is a nice feeling to see someone try their best to truly match the pronunciation. To each their own though, I also live in Seould and am studying Korean.
He probably pronounces Korean better than I
@@user-A-png Maybe it's because he cares.
Korean American here! Very happy to see you cover this recipe! My mom used to make these for us when we were little but she stopped when I turned 15 (About 10 years ago). I never knew how she made them, but now I see this and I want to make them again myself for me and my husband! Thank you for bringing up some amazing memories for me and for covering some Korean history! Keep up the good work!
You're welcome Nezuko!
My mom told me to tell you, " you were right to quit Disney." She hates history and cooking but loves watching your show when I watch it.
Awww thank you! And thank your mom.
I find it so cute that you are thanking a common woman that lived hundreds of years ago (and on the other side of the world!) for keeping her family's tradition alive by writing their recipes. It's just so... beautiful, I don't know.
I think you may have jumped 4:40. Jang Gye-Hyang was a member of the yang-ban class, which were right below royalty in the social hierarchy. It's also highly unlikely that a commoner would have had the knowledge _or_ the resources to write a book.
If you mean 'common' as in 'average' - uhm. Not really, no.
Buckwheat really has this dubious honor of being hard to work with. Japanese soba makers always mix wheat flower with the buckwheat just to have the material strength to be cooked in boiling water. But on the flipside it is much more nutritious than plain wheat...
I find buckwheat flour very bitter. Is it always like that?
@@Tina06019 it is bitter, yes. Toasted it becomes more nutty. It is definitely not a « neutral » flour, (if such a thing exists) and the flavour balance has to be built with that particular taste in mind. It goes really well with cheeses, charcuterie, carrots/sweet roots and tubers, and gives an interesting accent to a chocolate or vanilla dessert.
Wow, I never knew buckwheat was so hard to work with. D: I've found soba noodles to be the tastiest noodles ever cause of the buckwheat. Idk anything about noodle making, but is it possible to get the texture of udon noodles while having the taste of soba noodles?
@@saulemaroussault6343 Does that mean soba uses toasted buckwheat? Cause I've never thought the noodles tasted bitter.
@@SmartyPoohBear Buckwheat flour, unlike most every other kind of flour, has zero gluten, and therefore zero elasticity , so it's impossible to replicate the bouncy, chewy texture of udon noodles, which are made with standard wheat flour.
My Korean teacher would have loved Max’s pronunciation! :) Thank you for that sincerity in respecting the languages in your videos.
p.s. Max, you might enjoy making the Korean sweet red bean porridge called danpatjuk! (단팥죽) It’s believed that the folklore surrounding it originated from a 6th century Chinese tale. Often, it’s eaten during the winter solstice.
By the way, I made your payasam recipe a few weeks ago, and my friend from India was so proud!
(We’re used to people loosely giving out cringy disclaimers for butchering on here, but you have such a refreshing respect for pronunciation!)
I’ll have to look for an old recipe for that porridge.
@@TastingHistoryWow, awesome! I really hope you like it 😌
@@TastingHistory Here’s an article by the Michelin Guide with a savory recipe (though, I recommend it tried sweetened!) with a lot of insight into the history and customs surrounding the dish :) guide.michelin.com/kr/en/article/dining-in/동지-팥죽-레시피
Not his best pronunciation but he's light-years ahead of other TH-camrs I've seen try to pronounce Korean.
Looking at you, Babish.
@@TastingHistoryplease make more videos on Korean food!
Congrats on following your passion! I’m an art historian/ professor and would love to see you take a look at the food centered paintings of the Dutch and Spanish Baroque period. They frequently feature period pastries and older varietals of vegetables and fruits we don’t see today.
Great idea
Yeah those watermelons didn't look too good
Very interesting concept
Two thumbs up
I agree with you on trying recipes from that period of time. Some of ancestry is from Spain and I grew up with special foods and drink during Fiestas that are not commonly known. Great idea.
Man as a korean, I was stunned by the subject and Max’s perfect pronunciation of korean lol
This was such a sweet sentimental episode for me. I lived in South Korea for a few years, and would love to go back. Plus the history of this episode is just so sweet... like a beloved grandma preserving her own family heritage and being an upstanding member of the community. Her family was very lucky to have her.
I appreciate the effort you put into actually learning the pronunciations of words. So many people just go with how they think things are pronounced based on romanizations, so it's awesome that you're showing that level of respect. And not just with this video either - you put so much effort into your content, and the love for what you're doing really shines through. I would love to see more recipes from this book and I really hope you do more!
In Korea it is already Buddha's Birthday now because of the time difference~ Great Korean pronunciation this episode!
Forgot about the time difference 😁
Hi I have a question. Why is it today? Cause in India it is the 26th. Buddha Purnima, the full moon of Buddha is the full moon of the solar month of Baisakh. Why a separate date?
You are such a sweetheart! At about 11:40, as you talked about her cookbook as her way of preserving family history and that you felt these videos were your way of doing the same, I saw the emotion in your eyes and I wanted so much to reach through the screen and give you a big hug. I'm 73, a new follower and have been binge watching these incredible videos. I'm learning so much about history and food that I never knew existed and I cannot thank you enough for sharing this with us.
I realized that my mother didn't have a single recipe for what she cooked during the holidays. It was all in her head. So one year I spent writing down all of the recipes for the dishes she made. Because when you cook and you know how to cook you don't measure! It's all by eye, and the feel of what you are stirring, how the dough feels in your hands. Only then was I able to modify and add things to her recipes. But I learned her tips and tricks to pass on that I would never have known otherwise.
I guess I inspired her to keep writing her recipes down for me, So that I would have them when she ...
So Take the time to write your recipes down, or take the kids and sit with your grandparents and do that with them.
I can totally see using these with tea, or wine, with meditation to commune with Budda. After all they are to celebrate Budda's Birthday!
My mom did this with my grandpa, when he'd say "take a handful of..." or "fill the container this much" she stop him and measure out how much it was. So she managed to get several recipes written, and then my aunt one year took them all and typed them up and took them to an office store to get them copied and bound for all the family. Best. Christmas. Present. Ever.
Wow! What an amazing woman! When I was nine, I was seriously trying to copy a picture of the Mona Lisa from my encyclopedia set on to a piece of typing paper using dime store water colors and hating myself because it wasn't as good as Da Vinci. Yep, that kind of over achieving. Unlike Jang who was apparently successful at being a child prodigy.
I entered a science fair competition and won third with my, Life of a Bee. I still remember those facts, 60 years later. :)
Thank you for this wonderful episode! Hwajeon(화전) is very special to me. It was something my gandma and i use to make in the spring with rhododendron and mugwort. Watching this reminded me of all the precious moments i've shared with her and how much i love her.
Interesting, I thought rhododendron was poisonous. Maybe I was wrong. I have one in my garden so maybe I should try it!
@@xXcangjieXx as far as i know Rhododendron mucronulatum is not poisonous but Rhododendron schlippen bachii is. So if you aren't sure of which kind of rhododendron you have in your garden, I wouldn't recommend trying it.
A lot of rhododendrons/azeleas have andromedotoxin, the stuff that makes "insanity honey.". Although I've read that Ledum (Labrador tea) has been merged into the genus, I think I'd want to avoid eating those at all costs. If you want edible spring flowers, consider dandelion, violets, redbud, Wisteria, (& beyond Korea or in modern times when one isn't limited to the local natives, add tulips and Robinia black locusts to the list). Roses are also good (if not sprayed) though they wait until June where I live.
When I was in school, probably 100 years ago, I thought history was so boring. You make history fun and interesting. Clearly your mom isn’t the only teacher in the family. 🤓
If all of my teachers had been like Max, I would be a genius now!!!😁
I did not like learning about history in school, at all. However, I love history and have since I was a little kid interested in fossils. I taught myself everything that I know about history- history that is not the typical Midwestern sugar-coated history that kids are taught. That crap was boring. Real history is amazing. Not pleasant all the time- but still amazing.
Wait a sec...
I like the fact that Max is so impressed by this woman and her life. And the floral rice cakes are looking tasty.
Hopefully Max sees this, as this is actually an important topic to discuss. Some ingredients, or just names of anything in general, have a common name that can cover more than one scientific name. Buckwheat is an example of this, there are two genus of species that buckwheat encapsulates (specifically one species under one genus and an entire second genus), and the taxonomic split happens at the subfamily level. One name can describe two very different things.
I was curious about the buckwheat issue, so I did some looking. I started with Wiktionary, just to see if there's any etymological clues or regional and/or historical differences for the term; luckily, the page was very straightforward, which is uncommon when you look for ingredients that jump language barriers. From the 16th century, buckwheet is an Asian plant of the species _Fagopyrum Esculentum._ But buckwheat here in the States, especially the Western US, is any of the wild buckwheats in the genus _Eriogonum._ This is when I found my way to Wikispecies, as that's a better resource for taxonomic purposes. The species of _F. Esculentum_ is under the familia of _Polygonaceae,_ subfamilia of _Polygonoideae,_ tribus _Fagopyreae,_ and genus _Fagopyrum,_ and the genus has 31 species and 1 hybrid species. Whereas the genus of _Eriogonum_ is under the familia of _Polygonaceae,_ the subfamilia of _Eriogonoideae,_ and tribus _Eriogoneae,_ and has something like 256 species and 2 hybrid species.
It is *very* possible that you're using a 'buckwheat' that is not of the correct type, especially as our regional 'buckwheat' is more than likely not _F. Esculentum,_ or any of the species under the _Fagopyrum_ genus, but rather a more local 'buckwheat' from the genus of _Eriogonum._ If you're able to source a 'buckwheat' that is from the _Fagopyrum_ genus, or even the exact species of _F. Esculentum,_ you should retry this recipe with that.
Going forward, if you see a commonly named ingredient, you should definitely research if there's historical, regional, and/or linguistic differences for that particular ingredient. It'd be like owning an early 20th century car that was built for leaded gasoline, yet by the modern day (1970s and later) you're using unleaded without an engine built for unleaded gasoline, it's an incompatible pairing; much like this recipe with western buckwheat, when it more than likely needs a _Fagopyrum_ genus at the very least least, if not preferably _F. Esculentum_ specifically.
I remember seeing an old couple make noodles with pure buckwheat flour in a Korean television show, and they knead the dough for an *EXTREMELY* long time(maybe 4 hours or more). The dough didn't seem to fall apart at all and the noodles turned out great. Perhaps the buckwheat dough for hwajeon would do the same if knead enough. Not so sure though.
Buckwheat is very hard to work on because it falls apart. Only the most skilled cooks can prepare it from pure buckwheat...
The flour for buckwheat noodles is specially grown to give it a better protein ratio. Usually people will add a little wheat flour to buckwheat to make up for the lack of stretchiness.
@@00muinamir Finally! Took long enough, but someone answered the only question I had. Thank you!!!
Buckwheat doesn't have gluten in it unlike wheat flour, so for example Japanese soba chefs have to go to great pains to keep 100% buckwheat noodles from falling apart. Very traditional soba shops will make the noodles fresh and cook and serve it immediately, because high % buckwheat noodles will degrade if left out for too long uncooked.
Apparently cold temperature also helps with maintaining buckwheat.
I have heard that it can take a long time to come together if you use buckwheat and the dough needed to be kept cold use cold water but who knows how long he tried kneeding the dough before he gave up and tried using less buckwheat.
I find it really interesting that this early Asian cookbook was written by a Korean woman. It reminds me of how the world's first known novel was written by a Japanese woman.
Among some historians, the world's first poet was a woman, Enheduanna. She was the daughter of the king of Akkadia and worked as a priestess.
If anyone's curious about why people are making a big deal out of it being an Asian woman
It's because woman weren't exactly allowed to know how to learn how to read or write in certain cultures
This might not have been what they meant but it's how I interpreted it
As a Korean I guess this was because of staunch confucianism in East Asia during those periods, which reinforced strict gender/class role to maintain "tranquility" in hierarchal society. Korean and Japanese women were not allowed to study and learn linguistics at that time(as it also might have been for pretty much every woman across the world), so Asian women writing whole books must have been a sign of linguistic talent. Not really surprising considering the average linguistic skills among women are slightly better than those of men(although the top percentage still seems to be predominantly men).
Strictly patriarchal societies established approximately since neolithic~bronze age has made us lose so many potential female prodigies
@@catladyfromky4142 she was the first one to use first person in her poetry/songs. Most were unaccredited before along the lines of "Priest of ____ wrote this". But she was the first one to use "I". And given credit specifically to her. I think someone out there put one of her songs/poems to music and its beautiful.
Not the Bible?
First: what a woman! Such a remarkable combination of talent, curiosity, ethics and familial devotion.
Then, I echo Max's sentiment in feeling grateful to those who, by passing down their knowledge and their stories, let us peek into long lost worlds and intellectually live so many different lives. Cheers to them all.
Finally, thanks Max for the kind nod to us patrons. Believe us, it's an immense pleasure to support you.
'What were you doing aged nine'
[Max raises the most judgemental eyebrow I have ever seen]
when he does that face it reminds me of Obi-Wan Kenobi 😂
[Aisian intensified]
Hi Max. Leaving this channel for Disney would have been a grievous error of judgement, kudos to you for staying with this. In 2021 it is almost impossible to find a niche in the internet that is original, clever and entertaining. You tick all the boxes. Further more you are a natural in front of the camera and your delivery is just about flawless. Your comments are always on point, never condescending and with the right amount of wittiness. I am happy to be one of your loyal subscribers.
How is this channel not at 1M yet?
Max and Mrs. Crocombe from English Heritage are my go to history/cooking channels.
I have faith that Max will have a million subscribers by the end of the year :)
Can't wait to see that milestone achieved 🥰
At 1M, they could try replicating Mrs Crocombe's pigeon pie.
With the feet. :D
Max, Mrs Crocombe and Townsend's are my go to! All so great :)
Really nice to see a Roselia in the background when talking about cookies made with flowers.
If you look real close you can see the bottomless fury in her eyes, that flowers were eaten.
When is that?
I think I've found a new heroine! Thank you for spotlighting this incredible woman. We could use more people like her now.
Love this video. Jang Gyehyang sounds like an amazing person! I wonder what she would think to know that her story and her recipes are still being told hundreds of years later.
She'd be so tickled.
She would be thrilled to know that she's now one of the old masters and we're peering into her psyche right now!
These flower cookies were nom 🌸
I always enjoy how you try your hardest-and succeeding!-in your pronunciations. It’s such a refreshing thing to hear 😌
Thank you 😊
What an incredible woman! It's so fun to hear of histories near forgotten fascinating ladies.
I'm binge watching your channel and the effort you put into pronouncing words from other languages (Korean, Japanese, Spanish, Italian, French...) always makes me smile. It shows a lot of respect 💛
God DAMN bro. As an American studying and living in Korea, your pronunciation here is fire. I can tell you did your homework. Super impressive bro ❤️
I love that every first bite is the same: takes bite, touches finger to side of mouth, nods, says mmhmm, stares off camera for a sec, then the flavor review.
Not when he made "dragon's" heart 😂
That video hurt me, heart is my favourite meat.
Actually nevermind, cow heart is my fav, pig heart I haven't tried.
I always watch for that reaction as well. He almost always puts a finger to his mouth kind of self consciously hiding his chewing. So cute every time💖
I wish I could try Korean BBQ but there are really no good Korean places to eat where I live. I think her husband saw her intelligence as an asset and I wouldn't be surprised that she was the one who taught her children how to read and write.
There are some EXCELLENT recipies for Korean BBQ online; Bulgogi Beef is surprisingly easy to make. Of course, I usually just go to the Korean BBQ food truck that is favored by all the Korean families in the area -- which is particularly excellent in here in Western Kentucky.
Go find Maangchi. She fostered my deep dive into Korean food.
* Max is talking history and its interesting *
"And a third of the recipes are for drinks"
* Immediately sits up and pays a lot more attention *
I am 100% here for a rice wine recipe episode!
I mean it is Korea. Surprised it was only 1/3.
I'm so happy about this episode, and you've seemed really fond of 장계향. Just so you know, I'm still taking credit for pointing you in the direction of 음식디미방. And I think you can still pride yourself on your pronunciation.
Ahhh, you actually did a recipe from the Eumsik dimibang! This makes me so happy.
I greatly encourage the drink recipes in this book like the gwaha-ju you mentioned. Most of them are dead simple, just rice, nuruk, water and any additives for specialty wines. They also only take about 1-2 weeks to brew. I make several varieties of makgeolli and cheong-ju myself at home.
Edit: I forgot to mention that she is still quite famous in for her poetry and calligraphy in the area where she lived in North Gyeongsang Province and less so for her cookbook. I used to live in Andong, but unfortunately have never been to her ancestral home.
last time i was this early the hangul alphabet hadn't been invented yet
🤣
@@AxxLAfriku please, I beseech thee, not here.
Not in this sacred place.
@@AxxLAfriku Are they both weed smoking girlefriends who smoke weed?
@@AxxLAfriku do they smoke weed?
@@AxxLAfriku Bunts before kissing y/n?
Me: (Has glutinous rice flour and calendula flower petals leftover from previous recipes, and am wondering what other recipes I can use them in)
Max Miller: 𝘈𝘱𝘱𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘴 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘢 𝘷𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘰 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘩𝘸𝘢𝘫𝘦𝘰𝘯.
Me: Perfect!! Dessert time! ❤
howd they turn out?
What did you use the calendula for initially ?
@@theonefromk7602 not too bad! I don't think I used enough oil, or leave them on the heat long enough, to get the edges crispy, but they were still delicious!!
@@saulemaroussault6343 a recipe for Pea Soop (that's how it is spelled), from the 18th century cookbook 'The Compleat Housewife', by Eliza Smith. It called for the petals from some pot marigolds (aka calendulas), and I could only find dried ones. It gave the dish a slightly floral/citrus taste, and honestly helped elevate the flavor!
@@amandamangan5021 A fan of Townsends, I assume? ;-)
What was I doing at age nine? Mostly playing Pokémon and trying to claim the *good* swing at recess.
Yes to Pokémon, no to activities, I'm that kinda nerd 😎
@@charcoal8 Yeah, I mostly just wanted to sit there while playing Pokémon or reading 😅
The good swing! Yes!
The idea of a “good” swing makes me laugh
@@KetchupwithMaxandJose There is always a good swing 🙂
This sounds like fairy food 😍😋
Thank you Korean people for having a cool food, and thanks Max for showing us this cool food. Especially thanks to Max's friend Rich for how to say the words!
My son’s school is having teacher appreciation week, as well as it’s history fair. The history fair is where kids of 3-5 grade have learned about a singular historical figure and will dress as them, say a speech and present about the person. So.. I’m beyond happy to have found your channel! As a lover of both cooking and history this is perfection! I will be making these for the dessert bar tomorrow ❤️❤️
This reminded me that you mentioned possibly doing a channel about recipes from literature, well if you do and enjoy cooking with flowers, I strongly recommend doing recipes from the "Redwall" series. Lots of interesting dishes and most involve flowers.
Oh my gosh those feast descriptions were my favorite as a kid 😍
Ilove the opening artwork. The young lad spiking the viewer while the huge guy laughs and takes a tart off his tray.
One of my favorite paintings
@@TastingHistory What is it called, and who painted it? I've been very curious about it since I started watching this channel.
Goading his lord into a heart attack, one bite at a time.
@@abracadaverous here you go en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georg_Emanuel_Opiz
I always wondered about that one. That too was my favorite picture from the opening.😊
Really gotta say, the amount of effort Max puts into learning the proper pronunciation of non-english words alone is amazing. The guy works hard to make great content 💪🏼
It’s so cute, how charming max finds these pancakes and their story
Buckwheat is a tricky ingredient. My wife's cousin's husband makes soba noodles ("soba" is Japanese for buckwheat) and he's taught me a bit. The best soba noodles are made from 100% buckwheat. You are probably wondering how the heck it's possible to make a noodle from buckwheat, given your experience ;-) Basically there are 4 important points:
1. You have to integrate the water slowly and in a particular way. Usually you need a wide shallow bowl. You spread out the flour in the bowl and then you splash some water into the flour. You must mix it with your fingers. You put your fingertips into the flour so they contact the bottom of the bowl firmly. Then, fairly vigourously, you make large circular motions with your hand. You use the other hand to make circular motions in the opposite direction. It's a bit hard to picture how you don't end up twiting your arms up like a rubber band. The main thing is that you want constant motion. Every once in a while, you "fluff up" the flour so that all the pieces are separated. As the water gets absorbed, you splash more in. This very even hydration is very, very important or else you can't develop the starch gel.
2. The amount of water is crucial. At some point, no matter how much you try, the buckwheat flour won't stay separated. It will start to clump. Once you are getting little balls of dough, try to form it together. If you've ever made pottery, you want to it be just like that kind of clay. Too much or too little water will mean it won't gel properly. You kind of want to kneed it a little bit at this stage, although it's not like kneading bread. Just smoosh it down, turn it smoosh it some more, turn it. Fold the edges in a bit. That description is wrong, but probably fine for the kinds of cakes you are making.
3. The temperature is crucial. The hotter the temperature, the faster the gel breaks down. You need to keep it cool.
4. The speed is crucial. Normally you have to make soba noodles within 20 minutes. For 100% buckweat noodles, you really have to go much faster. You can literally see the dough breaking down and getting crumbly as time goes by.
With the glutenous rice flour, things are going to be much easier, because the rice flour will help keep things together quite a bit. I think your main problem was trying to mix it with a spoon. It's just never going to work. But the amount of water and the speed that you are working the dough is also really important. Once you've formed the cakes, you've got some time, but because you have to take quite a lot of time to hydrate the flour (5-10 minutes), you only have a short time to kneed and form the dough and you have to work quickly.
I hope you give it a try again. You should be getting a smooth, uniform color out the end -- basically grey/brown. You should be able to work it very, very similarly to clay. I think you'll find the texture change is very much worth it in the end. Of course, I guess you don't have much time to go over stuff you've already done. Maybe if you run into the same issue again in the future :-)
My poetry at 9 was about an adult lamenting not having a functional car for transportation to work. Someone thought my haiku was very......insightful?..... maybe they had car trouble that day, but it got selected for some national young poetry thing that got published. As an adult I was going through my old stuff and the car haiku was more.....relevant than I wish to admit.
Last time I was this early out favorite battle simulator had not been remastered!
My poetry at 9 was discovering that WD40 was flammable.
"...if you are watching this today, the day I post it.". We do Max, we do.
My mom was a lawyer and a Dr of natural medicine a talented artist and very intelligent lady and a huge book lover and I would also sneak into her office and would read her books. Which is how I taught myself to read a book series. She didn't want to read them to me because she didn't think I was old enough to understand what was going on in the story; so I just taught myself. I then went and asked her the meaning of a word I hadn't come across before and that's when she realized just how much in common we actually had and she didn't refuse me any books/her reading to me from then on out and we would fight over who would get to read the newest book first (she always won of course)
I appreciate that you look to pronounce everything as accurately as possible, most people don’t even try to find out what it sounds like.
I really appreciate that you don't just do European/western history. I love learning about other cultures cooking from a historical view.
Damn, last time I was this early, my very distant ancestor from the 1300's hadn't even arranged a coup to dethrone the then king of Goryeo yet-
I need more of this story
go on, tell us
@@TastingHistory Both of my parents' sides of the family have books listing the names of pretty much everyone in our family, apparently my paternal side descends from some guy that lead a rebellion. Sadly don't know much about my maternal side. Maybe I'll ask my dad more about it and update everyone.
@@casperl.3891 You're Joseon nobility my friend!
@@casperl.3891 Wow, we've got a yangban in the house! Any chance you're descended from the Jeonju Lee clan?
Buckwheat is notoriously bad at absorbing water. You have to mix the water in a little bit at a time and literally beat it into submission, even then it still might crumble lol
Maybe the buckwheat flour dough is soaked and rested and kneaded...it's a "marbled" food like marbled rye?
I regularly use (pure) buckwheat flour for (gluten free) bread, pancakes and oyaki and have absolutely no trouble with it. Of all the gf flour solutions, it's actually my favorite by far.
After some quick research, it seems there is flour both made from hulled and from unhulled seeds. The flour i tend to use is way lighter in color than the one he used, so that's probably what makes the difference.
@@gewreid5946 Yeah, it's a bit like whole wheat flour vs AP flour. If you have the bran and the hull mixed into the flour the proportion of soft germ gets broken up by all the other stuff.
I think unhulled buckwheat flour makes things taste more like buckwheat though. If you're making like say noodles or like cakes that have seasonings/ flavor added, the white buckwheat flour just tastes like regular flour imo. Since he's already using AP flour there wouldn't be any point subbing buckwheat in.
@@BooGooNFlowoo4Evoo That would be interesting. Can't say I've seen it done, but I don't see why it wouldn't work
@@Tenshi6Tantou6Rei but he's not using all purpose wheat flour, he's using glutinous rice four, which tastes nothing like AP wheat.
Please do more from diverse ancient cookbooks. Around the world of food, 300 years ago! This was a cool episode.
That would be awesome, expanding the culinary sphere
Wow, this was unexpected. Thank you for appreciating our culture and promoting it with such thoughtful way. Always amazed by your dedication on this channel especially when explaning about historical background of those featured dishes.
I like this woman. She reminds me a bit of my mom. We weren't rich but my mom always had room for our friends who needed it. And she has a recipe book she uses to this day. I learned to cook from her and her ability to help those who needed it. I think I might try this recipe just for that fact.
Max, this is so cool. I’ve been waiting for centuries old Korean cooking. Thank you for doing this. 💜
My grandmother and I used to make Hwajeon when I was young. Growing up poor in rural Korea meant a lot of what we ate was very traditional fare, its nice to see a memory from my youth again.
Korean expat living in LA here! Pleasantly surprised to see this episode and even more pleasantly surprised to see how good your pronunciation was.
Suggestion: if you're looking for a Korean alcoholic beverage (I enjoyed your mead episode) to brew that has a lot of history, I would recommend makgeolli, one of the oldest Korean alcoholic beverages. It's very tasty when freshly made.
Ideas for future videos (if you can find recipes for them)
1. Recipes from various Native American tribes before and after Columbus showed up
2. Recipes that would have been prepared on the Mayflower
3. Historical Scandinavian recipes
4. Historical recipes from Southeast Asian, like Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, etc.
5. Recipes from the Byzantine and Ottoman Empires
6. Foods a Samurai would have eaten
I know many of these may be hard to find.
I love this channel. I love how it preserves these stories and gives us an insight into how people lived in the past.
I have always appreciated how Max says non-English words with the correct pronunciation and inflection. The attention to detail is excellent.
I would love to see an episode on some Filipino food! I’m Mexican and my girlfriend is Filipina and I’ve come to love so many of their dishes over the years. Many of which combining influences of the Chinese, Spanish and indigenous people. Maybe an episode on Lumpia Shanghai?
he heard you!
@@mwater_moon2865 He sure did! I was giddy when I saw the new episode pop up. I thought to myself “surely he saw my comment!”
These videos all always so incredibly interesting, I really like how you explain things.
Thank you ☺️
I recently found you and this is my first time I’ve seen a video that hasn’t been a western civilizations recipe! I love it!!
More to come 😁
One thing I really appreciate is how much effort you put into the correct pronunciation of everything.
She lived until 82 years old.. Wow, That's a testament to her good food.
Nothing better than starting off my day with another amazing video from Tasting History.
Love the fact that your history interest isn't completely Euro-centric.
I love it all!
I was thinking the same thing!
Gold tier channel
@@TastingHistory I'm challenging you to find a true African dish to try😊
@@michaelu3055 he really likes if you give him m the basics i.e. a name and some sources to look at.
I was so happy to find that you made an episode on a Korean dish! I love learning about my country’s history, as a second generation immigrant I never got to know much about it so content like this is so great!
This guy is great and I'm glad I found him so I try and make sure I upvote and comment because if anyone deserves to survive the algorithm, it's him.
Having her poem recognized by the king must have been awkward. On the one hand, no higher honor. On the other, it must have made it pretty hard to hide how she could read and write from her family, and she didn’t have the option of blaming the Internet or TV back then.
Writes cookbook then stoned to death
@@queerdor a small price to pay
@@queerdor lol Korea wasnt the middle east
She certainly sounds like someone that I would invite to a cocktail hour. I love her story.
Korean yangban women may not have had access to formal education but they still had access to the tools to educate themselves in several fields, especially if they had an educator as a parent. Just as European noble women in the 17th century were in the same position but we still have examples of women with enlightened fathers educating them. No high noble woman was going to be severely punished for reading or writing, just many would criticize them for being out of order and destabilizing the balance of family life.
"acorn trees" - Traditionally in the west we just call those "oaks". YMMV
🤣 true
@@TastingHistory Also since oaks grow very slowly I doubt there was any substantial acorn harvests during her lifetime.
@@poeticvogon Oaks can begin producing as early as 20 years, and usually peak production is at around 50 years. The invasion was in 1636. She died in 1680. That's plenty of time for acorn harvests from the trees she planted (plus, oak are pretty common in that area - it's not like there weren't any until she arrived)
@@GomushinGirl Certainly, for a sedentary people, the art of foraging has remained highly developed in Korea, so already having acorns suitable for cereal foods is almost certain. Where Lady Jang changes the calculus, is the involvement of government. Most every of noble birth from the royals on down, even in the capital, was expected to have a functional grasp of forestry and land management. Possibly even to the extent of making it a specialty of their scholarship. I would not be surprised if Jang had her land carefully surveyed and personally had a hand in determining which plants go where.
Some people, on the other hand, might think there are too many fucking old-growth trees in Korea. Millions too many trees. I'm not really big on respecting the opinion of samurai, though.
Ahhh! I've been waiting for a Korean dish to come up eventually. Pleasantly surprised.
As someone who is currently binging these videos while I try and keep my sanity between my major and the two minors I'm pursuing (protip, don't do this, your mind will thank you), I really love how much you research not only the history of whatever dish you're making, but also how you take the time to learn how to pronounce the words of the language. It really adds a whole other layer of awesomeness to an already great channel
This was so fascinating! I love getting a history lesson along with my cooking lesson. Also the lady whom the video was about was an amazing woman. I really enjoyed learning about her life and her accomplishments.
WOW, I loved this episode! I'm especially interested in old Korean food before peppers came into the cuisine. Korean is one of those cuisines that really changed once new world ingredients came over. I've always admired the food for it's use of foraged plants, so I'm definitely excited for anything else you might make from this cookbook. Great job!
Wasn't just Korean. Indian, Persian, Arab and Turkish cooking were also greatly altered by the Spanish introduction of peppers. The first Indian curry recipe doesn't appear until the mid 17th century, a feat only made possible by the introduction of peppers just a few decades earlier.
I'm very impressed of all the history that you have explained and about origin of hwa-jun. This video remind me about my grandmother who actually preparing it for the guests and I had chance to watch her how to make it and helped her making it. You have covered it very well. I'm very surprised and exited to see this video. I'm enjoying so much of your video not just learning about the food also history behind of the food. Thank you for all the good videos and please keep it up to feed us all these good history of food.
Easily one of my favorite YT channels. Anyone who gives a thumbs down without some sort out reasonable explanation that leads to some sort of improvement deserves to have their sanity checked. Thanks for your content.
One of my favorite episodes. Learning about this wonderful woman is inspiring hundreds of years after she lived. Thank you for sharing her recipe and her biography.
Alright, let’s be real, the Pokémon guest star is the best part of this channel.
And his choosing of it for each episode is impeccable.
*Chef kiss*
was gonna like, but let’s keep it at 69.
Indeed.
I love ロゼリア Roselia, she was on a few of my favorite championship teams
There's usually a pokemon chillin back there
Seated here binging your episodes as I'm currently feeling unwell. There's something amazingly soothing about your videos, feels like the kind of thing to just turn on and relax to :)
Hope you feel better soon
Nice. I do wish that Korean desserts were more well known. I mean, sweet dishes are probably the easiest to promote.
Literally all of the ideas for future episodes are episodes I would watch. Not just because I love your content, but they just sound super interesting.
This video actually brought rears to my eyes as I listened to the narrative, and what I heard prompted me to sit silently and think obout her many talents and achievements.
What a fascinating genius this woman was. Now I want to travel to Dudeul to visit her museum.
Alas, I cannot. So, I will read about her instead.
And try this recipe.
Thank you for sharing this lovely piece of history, Max.
The history of this woman's life is amazing!
I never got a notification for this video, I just felt a disturbance in the force
Same lol