1. Ingredients for Naengmyeon
- Primary ingredients: Noodles made from kudzu, sweet potatoes, potatoes or buckwheat
- Secondary ingredients: Toppings (egg, cucumber, pear, beef and raw fish salad) and beef stock
2. Taste evaluation
-Spicy: :☆☆☆☆☆
-Salty: ★★☆☆☆
-Sweet: ☆☆☆☆☆
-Sour: ☆☆☆☆☆
-Refreshing:★★★★☆
3. Introduction to Naengmyeon
Naengmyeon is a word referring to ‘chilled noodles’ that is combination of naeng (cold) and myeon(noodles). As one of traditional Korean noodle dishes, it used to be popular in the North where the weather is much colder.
Naengmyeon is from Goryeo Dynasty era but its history as winter food dates back to the 1800s. It was one of fancy dishes for banquet in the palace and the Emperor Gojong used to enjoy it as dessert in winter.
So why did they eat chilled noodles in winter when the weather was already cold?
In old times, they could not make chilled soup in summer because there was no refrigerator. So Naengmyeon was only for winter days.
Canon EOS 550D | f/4.5 | iso 400 | 2012:04:24 17:16:32 | Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode | 17mm
Naengmyeon is a dish of chilled broth and boiled thin noodles with toppings like sliced eggs, vegetables, meat or raw fish salad.
There are three elements that decide the taste of Naengmyeonㅡnoodles, toppings and soup.
Firstly, noodles used to be made from kudzu, sweet potatoes, potatoes and buckwheat because flour was very hard to get.
So the texture of noodles is chewier than flour but it has special flavor of its ingredients.
The noodles are thinner than pasta noodles so that it addresses the flavors and textures of other ingredients.
Secondly, ‘toppings’ are very important. Basically a few ingredients are put on the boiled noodles that include sliced eggs, cucumbers and pears.
Plus, marinated Pyeonyuk(slices of boiled meat) or stingray or pollack is added on the top as special toppings.
Beef tastes quite simple and flavory while fish salad is spicy and sour at the end.
Third secret is in stock. Beef stock is frozen after being boiled for a long time that makes it very tasty.
Or you could use Dongchimi(radish Kimchi) liquid instead, which is neater than beef stock.
Naengmyeon is one of favorite noodles of Koreans that is enjoyable in all seasons, especially in summer when it’s hot.
Slightly frozen stock is very cold that it’s the perfect food when you need to cool off.
If you visit Korea in hot summer, avoid the hot sunlight and eat cold stock with Naengmyeon noodles, then you’ll feel the heat goes away even it’s just for a second.
4. Kinds of Naengmyeon
Naengmyeon is from the North so there are not many variations even here.
At the least, there are Pyeongyang-naengmyeon, Hamheung-naengmyeon and Jinju-naengmyeon depending upon the recipe in each region.
Pyeongyang-naengmyeon noodles are made from buckwheat so they are flavory but not chewy. Hamheung-naengmyeon is very chewy since it uses potatoes and sweet potatoes for noodles.
Jinju-naengmyeon is characterized by its topping, beef pancake, on delicious buckwheat noodles.
For each kind, you can choose one of Mul-naengmyeon, which is served in cold stock, and Bibim-naengmyeon, which is mixed with spicy Gochujang paste without any stock.
Bibim-naengmyeon could be very pungent for foreigners so I suggest you should try Mul-naengmyeon, noodles served with stock in a bowl.
5. How to enjoy Naengmyeon even more
If you ordered cool Naengmyeon in hot summer, you should add the sauce, vinegar and mustard that are normally served with the noodles.
The original Naengmyeon with no sauce would taste of beef stock, which has a flavory and deep taste.
And when you put vinegar and mustard, it would be another charm. Koreans put them according to their preference.
Both have strong flavor so you’d better put them little by little.
You’d have to go to Naengmyeon restaurant for it but you could also eat it at beef or pork restaurants.
Galbi and Samgyupsal are famous for Korean style roast beef/pork.
In Korea, it is natural to eat greasy and heavy meat first and then rinse your mouth with refreshing Naengmyeon with sour vinegar sauce.
Canon EOS 550D | f/3.5 | iso 800 | 2011:08:23 17:09:07 | Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode | 33mm
