Salted Pollock Roe

Myeongnan-jeot is the roe of the Alaska pollock (myeongtae), cured in salt and usually seasoned with chili and garlic. Its history follows the fish itself. The name myeongtae first appears in a government record of 1741, and a later miscellany explains it, in a story usually told rather than proven, as the combination of Myeongcheon, a county in Hamgyeong Province, and the surname of the fisherman, Tae, who first caught it there. By the end of the Joseon dynasty pollock had become the largest catch in Korean fisheries, and nothing was wasted: the roe went into myeongnan-jeot and the intestines into changnan-jeot.

The Encyclopedia of Korean Culture dates the first written mention of salted pollock roe to the 19th-century encyclopedic miscellany Ojuyeonmun jangjeon sango, with a method recorded in Siuijeonseo, a cookbook thought to date from the late 1800s. Roe from Sinpo and Seoho on the northeast coast was especially prized, and traditionally it was put down before the winter solstice, when the fish were running.

Today most Korean myeongnan comes from pollock caught in the distant North Pacific, or is imported already processed, because the coastal catch has collapsed. The Encyclopedia of Korean Folk Culture notes that the food crossed to Japan under the name mentaiko (1949 is the date it gives) and that Fukuoka has since made it a regional specialty — a rare case of a Korean side dish becoming an everyday Japanese one.

• Concentrated protein: roe is dense with protein, so even a small serving adds some to a rice-based meal.
• Vitamin B12 and selenium: in the composition table, a 20 g serving supplies about 2 µg of vitamin B12 — close to the 2.4 µg adults are advised to get daily — and about 23 µg of selenium, against an adult RDA of 55 µg.
• A little goes a long way: traditionally it is eaten in small amounts as a relish, which is also the sensible way to enjoy it given its salt content. Korean references note that pollock roe is relatively rich in vitamin E and polyunsaturated fats; research on health effects is limited.

• Gangwon and the East Sea coast: the traditional home of pollock fishing, and still the region most associated with myeongnan-jeot and changnan-jeot.
• Hamgyeong (northern provinces): historic center of the pollock fishery; Sinpo and Seoho roe was considered the finest.
• Plain or seasoned: the folk-encyclopedia method coats the roe in salt, garlic and chili; milder, lightly salted versions — and low-salt commercial lines — are increasingly common.
• At the table: sliced and dressed with sesame oil and green onion, grilled whole, simmered with eggs in a light stew (jeotguk-jjigae), or tucked into rice dishes.