Time was when you really couldn’t lay your hands on a cookery book focusing on Korean food that was written by someone who understood the UK market.
We were all waiting for Judy Joo’s Korean Food Made Simple – which according to Amazon was published on 19 May this year, though it was available on Kindle (Kindle? Who uses recipes from a Kindle book? You need to be able to make notes in the margin like “not enough chili”) in March. Why hasn’t there been more fanfare about it? Maybe there has and I’ve been looking in the wrong place.
Beating the celebrity chef to it were fashion designer Rejina Pyo and her chef husband Jordan Bourke with Our Korean Kitchen, published last year (and there was the Hairy Bikers’ Asian Adventure which we really enjoyed in 2014 – though that book wasn’t just Korean cuisine).
I’ve yet to buy Our Korean Kitchen, though I feel a dangerously expensive triple order at my local bookshop coming on: because sneaking in before Judy Joo’s volume is a contribution by the folks behind Busan BBQ, Da-hae and Gareth West. Their new book, which I found in my favourite bookshop over the weekend (Daunt in Marylebone High Street, since you ask), was published on 9 May and is called K Food: Korean Home Cooking and Street Food. I browsed the shop copy and concluded that yes, I’d love to have this on my kitchen shelves at home.
Hence the triple order of K-Food, Our Korean Kitchen and Korean Food Made Simple — I already have the Hairy Bikers’ offering.
Speaking of whom, look out for a broadcast from them on BBC1 sometime in October. They were filming at my favourite Korean restaurant in Zone 1, K-Place, last week, focusing on chicken dishes. Having seen some of the unofficial footage courtesy of Chef Kim, it looks like they had a blast.
Uhhh, I use recipes from a Kindle book. And you can make notes on a Kindle book too (though you can’t doodle – I would like more options there).
Not sure I’ll try these books though, I actually prefer really specialised cookbooks… (Though all the ‘bad’ reviews on Judy Joo’s book on Amazon make me laugh: people complaining about having to buy special ingredients… ?! Why do they even bother buying a Korean cookbook then?).
I like my recipe books with turmeric stains and oil blotches 😉