“Hwe means ‘raw’ in Korean. Saengseon-hoe is raw, thinly sliced fish. And while there’s plenty of resemblance to Japanese preparations, there are important differences. Koreans are all about texture and prefer their fish to have crunch, which you can get from slicing extremely fresh fish —like, straight out of the tank or ocean. The rice is seasoned with sesame oil rather than vinegar. And Korean hwe dishes are often dressed with a gochujang-based sauce rather than soy.
For Lily and Ashley, we got a beautiful marbled flounder that had been dry-aged by our friend Liwei at The Joint in Sherman Oaks. I sliced one of the filets from the belly side, as well as a piece of salmon that I cured for about an hour before the show. (See below for more about the cure, which I used multiple times in the episode.)
The first hwe course was just the sliced fish with a plate of lettuces, Korean chilis, tomato ssamjang (sent to us by Corey Lee from his restaurant San Ho Won in San Francisco), gim (seasoned seaweed), sliced cucumbers, kimchi, sliced garlic, and daikon. Before serving, I spritzed the lettuces and vegetables with the same MSG water I used for the crudité in the “Burger Party” episode earlier this season. The idea was for them to make their own wraps (ssam), customizing each bite however they like.
The second hwe course was hwedupbap, which translates to ‘raw fish on rice.’ I seasoned some really nice short grain rice with sesame oil and salt, then topped it with sliced fish (the flounder and salmon, along with lean tuna, fatty tuna, and amberjack), thinly sliced cabbage, cherry tomatoes, shredded seaweed, pickled daikon, and cucumber. On top, I drizzled a sauce of gochujang, sesame oil, sesame seeds, agave, and a splash of water. “Hoedeopbap” translates to “raw fish over rice” in Korean—where “*hoe*” or “*hwe*” means raw fish, and “*deopbap*” refers to rice with a topping (*bap* means rice). *Deopbap* generally describes any rice bowl with various toppings, making it a popular choice for a quick, casual meal.
Fish cure:
For both the raw salmon and the roasted flounder, I made a cure of salt, sugar, MSG, and dried seaweed that I quickly blitzed into a fine powder in a blender.”
Ingredients
Serves 2-3
½ pound of fresh sashimi grade fish: sail fish, tuna, salmon, snapper, or flounder
2 tablespoons roasted toasted sesame oil
2 tablespoons roasted toasted sesame seeds
1 sheet of kim (seaweed paper), roasted, and cut into thin strips, keep in a plastic bag
2-3 bowls of freshly made cooked rice
Vegetables:
2 cups worth lettuce, sliced thinly
1 cup worth cucumber, sliced thinly
¼ cup worth carrot, cut into thin matchsticks
2 or 3 tablespoons onion, sliced thinly
1 small tomato, sliced thinly
1 or 2 red chili peppers, chopped