[K-LIT REVIEW] Kang Min-goo's jang cookbook unlocks soul of Korean cuisine

By Jon Dunbar

While everyone was fawning over Han Kang's books, during last month's open house sale at Tongbang Books, I picked up a thick hardbound book titled "Jang: The Soul of Korean Cooking." Han, the author of "The Vegetarian," had recently won the Nobel Prize in literature, however, another noteworthy development was that UNESCO was considering Korea's jang-making tradition as a new entry for its Intangible Cultural Heritage List.

"Jang," primarily written by chef-restaurateur Kang Min-goo, reads more like a textbook than a traditional cookbook. And that's intentional: the 216-page book offers a deep dive into Korea, exploring everything from its mountains and forests to its pantries and dining tables.

Jang, which the book claims rhymes with "song," refers to a variety of fermented soybean pastes. The book lays out the three main jangs — "ganjang" (basically soy sauce), "doenjang" (thick soybean paste) and "gochujang" (red-hot pepper paste) — which Kang says are "are like siblings, and like siblings, they often play together."

One important fact I gleaned from this book is that the production method for both ganjang and doenjang is mostly the same, and they are essentially byproducts of each other. About six to nine months into the process, a separation occurs, moving the still-solid bits from the liquid, and the separated bits continue to ferment for several more months or years. It reminds me of the parallel brewing process of traditional Korean alcohols "takju" (a cloudy beverage with white sediment) and "cheongju" (a clear alcohol), which are likewise separated from each other.

And there's also the bright-red gochujang, which has a somewhat different recipe due to the inclusion of red pepper powder and takes much less time to complete fermentation. Kang shares a somewhat offbeat theory that the red pepper, or "gochu" in Korean, "was actually introduced by birds millions of years ago," rather than in the 16th century by Portuguese traders through Japan.

Going back to the concept of jangs as siblings that sometimes play together, "ssamjang," which I think might be the most popular and widespread of the Korean sauces, at least from what I've witnessed, is a mixture of gochujang and doenjang, along with a little sugar.

Kang, the owner of Mingles, a popular Seoul restaurant that helped redefine Korean fine dining, presents a vivid narrative of his culinary journey. It's a beautifully produced book, filled with impressive photos — although the photos lacked captions explaining the context and were not clearly illustrative of what was being discussed.

"Imagine trying to understand Italian cooking without olive oil or to unlock French cuisine without butter and cream," he says in the book's introduction. "It would be impossible."

He details his travels across the country to meet jang artisans, emphasizing that most of them are women. He is perhaps most fascinated by Jeong Kwan, a master of temple cuisine at Baekyang Temple in South Jeolla Province, describing the epiphany he experienced watching her work.

"I marveled that Jeong Kwan didn't cook so much as simply let the earth move through her," as he puts it.

On returning to Mingles with his "hair on fire," he describes the effect his dive into the world of jang had on him: "I felt like I had been playing the piano by hitting only the middle C, and now the entire keyboard had been opened to me."

He sets out his almost-scientific approach to jang-making, which includes "vertical tastings" of the same jang at different years of fermentation.

"Jangs aren't rigid; they reward experimentation," he writes. "They are able to assimilate and adapt to foreign concepts."

This foreshadows some of his over 60 recipes later in the book, which range from more-or-less traditional "namul" offerings to some wild-sounding fusion recipes, including tagliatelle with ganjang ragu, doenjang hummus and gochujang chocolate mousse.

Also described in extensive detail is the onggi earthenware pottery for storing jang during fermentation, which is specifically called "jangdok." There's so much detail, that it leaves a reader feeling like they could make their own jangdok — though this is probably as unlikely as making decent gochujang on one's own after reading the book.

"Jang is more like sourdough than it is like wine: Anyone can nourish a starter, but few can sustain a vineyard," Kang writes.

That said, the book is not too interested in walking you all the way through the process of making your own jang, but does helpfully offer guidance on how to stock your pantry with the jangs you can readily purchase. It also emphasizes that not all jang needs to be artisanal: "Not everything can be artisanal, nor is it always worth using (or even a good idea to use) artisanal jang in every dish you make."

The book also outlines some important beats in Korean history related to the development, fall and renaissance of jang. This starts over 4,000 years ago with the introduction of soybeans — rich in protein and able to thrive in poor soil — to the peninsula from Manchuria.

It also details how the 1910-45 Japanese occupation of Korea threatened to bring to an end the centuries of jang-making traditions, as the imperialists siphoned off most of Korea's soybean production for Japanese use and encouraged the establishment of jang factories, something Kang clearly abhors. Things didn't improve after liberation, which saw periods of famine and the 1950-53 Korean War, a time Kang describes as when "Korea began its superfueled expansion into the modern capitalist world, a movement that almost, but not quite, signaled the end of jang culture."

He then goes on to detail how jang-making bounced back beginning in the 2000s, and connects its growth with the global spread of Korean popular culture. He details how the Korean food ministry spent $90 million promoting gochujang to chefs in New York and Los Angeles in the early 2010s. He also talks about how jang-making is being taught in elementary schools.

"Today, I'm happy to say we're riding a wave of artisanal jang appreciation," he concludes.

The book, published earlier in 2024, laments how jang has not earned the UNESCO recognition that the kimchi-making practice of gimjang itself earned in December 2013. But here we are 11 years later, and we have the perfect book to explain this age-old cultural practice and even help us use various kinds of jang in the kitchen.

"Jang: The Soul of Korean Cooking" is available through dbbooks.com.