Yangnyeom: Seasoning Basics

Yangnyeom is the Korean word for seasoning in the broadest sense. The National Institute of Korean Language's standard dictionary defines it as a collective term for ingredients used to bring out the taste of food, naming oil, sesame salt, green onion, garlic, soy sauce, soybean paste, salt and sugar. It also has a figurative sense, something added to make an occasion livelier. The Encyclopedia of Korean Culture describes its purpose in two parts: to keep the good aroma and taste an ingredient already has, and to cancel out the bad, especially the gamey smell of meat and the fishy smell of seafood.

You will often read that yangnyeom comes from the characters 藥念, "thinking of it as medicine." That explanation is widely repeated, but the standard dictionary records the word without any Chinese-character origin, so treat it as a popular etymology rather than an established one.

The core seasonings

The encyclopedia's list of everyday yangnyeom reads like an inventory of the Korean pantry:

• Salt: the most basic seasoning. Coarse sea salt for salting and kimchi, finer refined salt at the table. See cheonilyeom.
• Jang: ganjang (soy sauce), whose light, newly drawn form seasons soups while dark, long-aged soy sauce goes into braises and jerky; doenjang for soups and stews; and gochujang, which the encyclopedia dates to the mid-Joseon period and credits with taming fishiness. See making jang.
• Jeotguk: the liquid of salted seafood such as saeujeot or anchovy sauce, used in stews, namul, salads and kimchi.
• Aromatics: green onion and garlic appear in almost everything, minced fine or cut in strips. Ginger is the encyclopedia's choice for pork.
• Oils and sesame: sesame oil for namul and soups, perilla oil for stir-fries and pan-frying, and toasted, crushed sesame (kkaesogeum). See sesame and perilla oils.
• Sweet, sour and hot: sugar today, but honey, grain syrup and mulyeot in the past; brewed vinegar (sikcho); and gochugaru, black pepper and mustard for heat.

Balancing the flavors

The encyclopedia's entry on gomyeong sums up yangnyeom as what adds sweetness, saltiness, sourness and heat. Korean cooks rarely use one of these alone. A soy-based sauce wants a little sugar to round out the salt; a gochujang sauce takes vinegar and sugar to lift its heaviness; sesame oil and seeds bring a nutty finish to almost everything. The encyclopedia's closing advice is the real rule: seasoning works best not in large amounts but blended to suit the ingredient and the cooking method. A dish of namul needs a light hand, a braise a deeper one.

Recipes often call simply for gajeun yangnyeom, "assorted seasonings." In practice that usually means minced green onion and garlic, sesame oil, sesame salt and black pepper, with soy sauce or salt, the base of countless recipes.

Four everyday sauces

• Yangnyeomjang (양념장): literally "seasoned jang." The encyclopedia's entry on grilled dishes gives the classic formula: soy sauce or gochujang with minced green onion, garlic and ginger, plus sesame oil, sesame salt and sugar. Brushed on near the end of grilling, it gives a glossy finish. A soy-based version is also the usual sauce for kongnamul-bap. See grilling gui.
• Chogochujang (초고추장): gochujang thinned with vinegar, also called chojang. Sweet, sour and hot, it is the usual sauce for raw and lightly blanched seafood; the encyclopedia notes that gochujang has long seasoned raw-fish dishes. In Gwangju, duck stew is eaten with chogochujang mixed with perilla powder. See chogochujang.
• Gireumjang (기름장): the dictionary's definition is sesame or perilla oil with salt. It is the simplest dip of all, used where the main ingredient should taste of itself. Daegu's thick-cut raw beef, mungtigi, is dipped in a sauce built on sesame oil.
• Ssamjang (쌈장): gochujang or doenjang mixed with seasonings and eaten with leaf wraps. See ssamjang and making ssam and wraps.

Seasoning with care

Jang, salted seafood and salt all carry a lot of sodium, and a few spoonfuls of sauce add up quickly. Season gradually and taste as you go, and serve dipping sauces on the side so each diner can choose; see sodium in Korean food. Soy sauce and most jang contain soy and often wheat, and seafood sauces contain fish or shellfish; see allergens in Korean food.