My roommate Katherine, our resident Korean, and I had a slight problem just before vacation. We had a whole Chinese cabbage and no time to ferment it before we had to catch a plane. So we did the whole kimchi assemblage process and just tossed all the jars in the fridge before heading out of town.
Our previous kimchi batches had been left out at room temperature for four days or so before refrigeration. The batches were nice and pickle-y, but they weren't quite "real" kimchi. They served as a yummy substitute for the real deal.
To me, the real deal has to smell like farts. It's the fermentation - it releases a bit of sulphur in the process, and you get a nice whiff of it when you open the jar. That fart smell used to be what turned me off from kimchi, but I came 'round, and now that's precisely the quality I look for.
This promptly refrigerated batch wasn't even close to pickled. I got back into town before Katherine, so I picked a small jar and set it out on our kitschy kitchen table until K got back. Every day I tasted some, and it got better and better. When Katherine got back into town, I had her taste kimchi from the room-temp jar and from a fridge jar. She gave the room-temp jar a wholehearted thumbs up. We put all the jars out on the kitchen table for a few days.
Fast-forward a couple days, when our kimchi-uncultured friend Amanda came over for tea. I opened a jar of kimchi for a quick bite, and discovered a nice, farty surprise. I said, "Katherine, it's just like real kimchi! It smells like farts!"
Amanda's face grew a bit sour: "Ugh, that does smell like farts!" she agreed.
Well, it's certainly not apricot jam.
Who's right? Are Katherine and I just overly avid kimchi freaks? Is Amanda just missing out?
Hey cousin nice to see some of your experiences up here!
ReplyDeleteYour aunt Pam makes her own kimchee now too, even makes her own whey to start it with. She actually has a little fermenting corner with a warmer-than-room-temperature insulated cooler thing for fermenting. Seems to work great; I never even heard of kimchee but it's good stuff! A bit farty, yes. =) How funny you're making it all the way over in France too!
Love you cuz!
Charlie
Courtney makes kimchi from time to time and so far, she hasn't let it sit out for days on end, so I've been spared of said fart smells thus far. One day in the near future, however, I fully expect to experience this atrocity and hope that I shall survive it.
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