Bokkeum: Korean Stir-Frying

Bokkeum is the noun form of bokda, to cook ingredients over heat with little or no liquid while stirring. The Encyclopedia of Korean Culture defines it simply as food stir-fried with seasoning, and distinguishes two broad styles that are still useful for home cooks today.

Two styles of bokkeum

• Dry bokkeum. Ingredients are cooked with oil or even no fat at all, the way beans or sesame seeds are toasted. Small dried fish, dried shrimp and other dried seafood are typical. The goal is crispness and concentrated flavor.
• Wet bokkeum. A small amount of liquid (soy sauce, water, syrup or a chili-paste sauce) is added so the seasoning clings to the ingredients. The encyclopedia lists anchovy, squid, burdock root and pine mushroom among ingredients prepared this way.

The encyclopedia also places bokkeum on a spectrum of wetness: a soup has the most liquid, and a stir-fry has much less, edging toward a braise. In practice many banchan blend the two, starting dry and finishing with a quick glaze.

The basic method

1. Prepare everything first. Bokkeum moves fast, so cut ingredients to similar sizes and mix any sauce in advance.
2. Heat the pan, then the oil. A hot pan with a thin film of oil sears the surface and drives off moisture. Overcrowding drops the temperature and causes steaming, so cook in batches if needed.
3. Cook the main ingredient. Stir or toss to keep things moving. For dried anchovies, a brief toss in a dry pan first drives off moisture and some of the fishy smell before oil is added.
4. Season. Add the sauce once the ingredient is mostly cooked so it reduces to a coating rather than boiling the food. Garlic is often added at this stage so it does not burn.
5. Finish off the heat. Sesame oil and toasted sesame seeds are typically added at the end, when their aroma is preserved.

Why it works

High heat and minimal liquid encourage browning and evaporation, which build flavor and give dried ingredients a pleasant crunch. Adding sugary sauces late helps prevent scorching; adding them to a very hot pan for too long can make a glaze hard or bitter.

Common dishes

• Myeolchi-bokkeum: small dried anchovies stir-fried until crisp, then glazed with soy sauce and syrup, sometimes with nuts or chilies.
• Eomuk-bokkeum: sliced fish cake stir-fried with vegetables in a soy or chili sauce.
• Japchae: each vegetable and the meat are usually stir-fried separately so they keep their own color and texture, then tossed with seasoned glass noodles.
• Gosari-namul and doraji-namul: sturdy or rehydrated vegetables that are often sautéed in oil rather than simply blanched and dressed (see namul).

Outside the banchan table, bokkeum also describes main dishes such as spicy pork or octopus stir-fries and fried rice (bokkeumbap).

History

Stir-fried dishes appear in several major Korean cookbooks. According to the Encyclopedia of Korean Culture, the 17th-century Eumsik Dimibang describes stir-frying lamb in a hot, oiled pan; the early-19th-century Gyuhap Chongseo records soy sauce stir-fries (jang-bokki); and the late-19th-century Siui Jeonseo includes a gochujang stir-fry with detailed seasoning instructions. The last is a reminder that chili-based bokkeum is a relatively recent development, following the arrival of chili peppers in Korea.

Tips

• Use a wide skillet or wok so ingredients make contact with the hot surface.
• Taste before adding the full amount of soy sauce; dried seafood and fish cake are already salty.
• Let dry bokkeum cool completely before storing so condensation does not soften it.