My Japanese friend said the amount of garlic on this fried rice is so cursed (I am Korean)

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nekosaigai@reddit

I’m Japanese and Korean. That amount of garlic is okay but the chop is bad and why does the fried rice look mushy?

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ebolaRETURNS@reddit

doesn't their national cuisine lack garlic entirely, and don't they use "garlic eater" as a slur for koreans? not a good authority.

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A lot of Japanese food has garlic, but it's often like one clove for a whole dish. There are of course garlic forward dishes, but it's not a backbone ingredient like in Korean food. It shows up more in fusion foods.

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ebolaRETURNS@reddit

A lot of Japanese food has garlic, but it's often like one clove for a whole dish.

Interesting. Like what (not skeptical, just interested in examples)?

I'm thinking stuff that's 'purely Japanese'*, or quasi-traditional.

*the whole notion of cultural purity in cuisine is a myth, but you probably get what I mean.

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notabigmelvillecrowd@reddit

Mm, I don't know how far back you consider traditional, like some of Japan's favourite foods for many decades are fusion foods often containing garlic, like curry rice, hambagu, garlic fried rice, ramen, etc. If you're talking like washoku, I think garlic may still be added to some dishes now, but might be a more modern adaptation? I'm not really sure at what point it came into use. But old traditional Korean food didn't have chilies either, so if we're comparing the two, old Korean food also has a lot of difference to modern food.

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ebolaRETURNS@reddit

Issue seems a bit blurry, which makes sense. I'd consider the last 30-40 years recent or cross-cultural though...but also Japanese style curry and ramen are 'very Japanese'...

But old traditional Korean food didn't have chilies either

interesting...how recently were they adopted?

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mango_thief@reddit

interesting...how recently were they adopted?

I believe chilies were introduced to Korea in the late 16th century and first showed up in written records in the early 17th century. As for when it started to be heavily adopted into the cuisine was around the little ice age when unusually cold weather caused disruptions in salt production as well as crop failures causing a need for more preserved foods. When first introduced it was distrusted since it was in the nightshade family and, to those who are unfamiliar, thought of as a poisonous plant (same with potatoes). However, due to the lack of salt for fermentation chilies were used more and more since the people found that it helped keep food from going bad quickly (I believe the capsaicin in chilies have natural antimicrobial properties).

Take everything I wrote with a grain of salt however. I'm writing this based on memory on things I read years ago and I'm currently very tired.

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ebolaRETURNS@reddit

I believe chilies were introduced to Korea in the late 16th century and first showed up in written records in the early 17th century.

Okay, so quite a bit ago. It's interesting that it took on such a significant functional role. Something similar could be said about Indian cuisine, and I wondered if it also had an original purpose beyond "spicy good". Also analogous is Italian cuisine and the presence of tomatoes, pasta, and garlic (hahaha...early medieval Italian cuisine was likely a bit lame).

Take everything I wrote with a grain of salt however.

We can at least say that salt is completely indigenous.

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poptx@reddit

what?

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ebolaRETURNS@reddit

The Japanese do not have a healthy relationship with garlic...

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rowrowfightthepandas@reddit

Jesse what the fuck are you talking about

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Troe_Away_Count@reddit

The amount looks fine. The chop however is abysmal. Garlic is delicious, but not when you bite into a peanut M&M sized chunk of half raw garlic.

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Turbulent-Willow2156@reddit

If it’s cooked it’s fine

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Dadaballadely@reddit

Korean ssam, eaten in one bite, often contain an intact whole or half clove of raw garlic so this is nothing to most Koreans.

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Troe_Away_Count@reddit

That’s crazy to me, but to each their own. Like someone else said it’s 100% preference at that point. I personally don’t like garlic chunks that large. But what I personally don’t like has no bearing on someone else’s choices when cooking.

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UnNumbFool@reddit

This isn't even a particularly uncommon thing in western cooking, cooking whole cloves or sliced cloves of garlic is in recipes.

When garlic is cooked whole it loses the astringent nature and becomes a lot more mild, texturally it also gets kind of jammy. Honestly if you're a fan of garlic I fully suggest trying it

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Dadaballadely@reddit

Crazy isn't a bad word to describe the sensation of eating ssam - a thick slice of fatty pork belly, a clove of garlic, a chunk of chili pepper and some hot pepper paste mixed with Korean style miso (doenjang) wrapped up in herby perilla and lettuce leaves and eaten in one bite is one of the most explosive things I've ever eaten! Try it if you ever get the chance.

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hoexloit@reddit

The raw slice of garlic is really necessary for that fatty pork belly

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beBenggu@reddit

Do people really not eat garlic chopped that big? It's not gonna be raw, it's going to be crispy on the outside and kind of like a cooked potato on the inside, texture wise. It tastes good. You're good, OP.

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TamariAmari@reddit

Do people really not eat garlic chopped that big?

Tell me you're bad at cooking without telling me.

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starfries@reddit

Why tf are there food snobs in this sub lmao, gtfo

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TamariAmari@reddit

oh nooo.... my feelings

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beBenggu@reddit

Tell me you've never eaten Korean cuisine without telling me.

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TamariAmari@reddit

At least three times a week, thanks.

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beBenggu@reddit

And in all that time you've never encountered any large pieces of garlic? Ever?

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No-Huckleberry-1713@reddit

"Chopped" was the word that got me. Those are whole cloves, and they better be soft and buttery.

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Wild_Brilliant559@reddit

Its 100% based on preference

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Coolcatsat@reddit

Could be Korean garlic pickle.

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Turbulent-Willow2156@reddit

Cooked garlic isn’t nearly as spicy

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PM_ME_UR__ELECTRONS@reddit

Japan seems to be the Britain of East Asia culinarily. The food is generally good but lacking in strong flavours, with an aversion to garlic. (Of course this is an exaggeration, England is famous for its mustards, chutneys and stinking cheeses while Japan has its horseradish and nattou)

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notabigmelvillecrowd@reddit

Japanese food really makes an art of balancing subtle flavours, and Korea makes an art of punching you in the face with flavours. They're pretty opposite MOs. I cook a lot of both Japanese and Korean food, but I find when I've been eating a lot of Japanese food my body gets sensitive to garlic again, like I can smell it all over myself after just a little bit, whereas usually I'm immune to it.

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Icy-Explanation-2329@reddit

Also Koreans have been eating dogs for centuries so it’s no wonder they want lots of garlic to distract them from their abhorrent actions

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PM_ME_UR__ELECTRONS@reddit

Absolutely, as I said this was caricature. British food is similar to Japanese in this respect, but people joke about it being bland (or even believe it is) because it's more subtle than a lot of continental cooking.

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Tru3insanity@reddit

Garlic, ginger and scallion is actually a foundational combo in a lot of japanese food. They definitely arent averse to it.

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sealosam@reddit

Don't forget Japan has some intense spicy ramen shops. Seems it's only a hit among younger people, though.

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100percentapplejuice@reddit

If you fry the garlic until crispy it would be better

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Usakami@reddit

It is, you can see the brown edges that look actually fried perfectly, but the chunks are way too big, so it looks raw.

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100percentapplejuice@reddit

Idk the fact that it’s not a golden brown all throughout tells me it’s not quite there yet

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asyork@reddit

I recently fucked up frying minced garlic in butter and now have a new delicious rice additive. I minced it super tiny to permeate through the rice. First attempt it was added to the rice pot raw, next I fried it first. But since it was minced so tiny it fried basically instantly in my preheated butter and made a delicious, slightly crunchy, pile of buttery garlic. Made the rice taste amazing, but the silicone seal on my rice maker will forever smell of roasted garlic now.

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Dadaballadely@reddit

Korean food is the global apotheosis of garlic appreciation and I absolutely love it

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asyork@reddit

I've had Korean food quite a few times and never noticed, but that's probably because of how I use garlic at home. If you don't multiply the garlic in a recipe by at least 4x does it even have flavor?

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Aridyne@reddit

Yes… not enough garlic ;)

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misanthropist91@reddit

You're melting the next person you physically talked to

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noblemile@reddit

The vampire down the street has already hired a U-Haul

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Flying_Panda09@reddit

Sorry to be that guy, but it’s more like rented

The only time you hired them if you bought the U-Box

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NewWayUa@reddit

As Ukrainian, I would say that amount of garlic is good, but better to leave it raw.

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airmaxxx602@reddit

I mean, that’s a shit ton of fucking garlic

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BlogeOb@reddit

I love garlic

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Koseoglu-2X4B-523P@reddit

Garlic isn’t a spice, it’s an ingredient

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dicoxbeco@reddit

If you are a true Korean, you dip them in ssamjang and eat them raw.

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AngelRape@reddit

That’s not cursed. At. All.

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spaceporter@reddit

The lack of pork, egg and vegetable is more alarming to me.

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Dekutr33@reddit

The rice looks overdone and mushy and the garlic looks mostly raw. Bone apple teeth

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EastScheme7273@reddit

Well, if it helps keep vampires from biting you, so be it

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giyomu@reddit

There is no such thing as "too much garlic"

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NullNova@reddit

If a recipe states 'use X amount of garlic' you ALWAYS double it

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ebolaRETURNS@reddit

actually, by "clove", they mean bulb...

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Mark_d_K@reddit

You see that's actually a multiplier. X garlic gives you combo points on your meal score

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Mark_d_K@reddit

Actually once made tzatziki and was craving garlic so went all out. It was spicy as hell and tasted of regret. So I'd say 20 cloves of raw garlic per cup of tzatziki is too much. Maybe I'm just weak though.

Cooked, though, yeah no limit.

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