Cheongpomuk (mung bean jelly)
- The name translates as "clear froth jelly," which sounds like something you should be paid handsomely for putting in your mouth. But it's actually just mung bean starch, and it does pretty much what lemon sorbet does during a fancy French feast: cleanses the palate. Garnished with a little sesame oil and/or soy sauce, maybe a little chile and scallion, it's one part flavor to three parts texture. (Muk made from acorn starch is also common, though wiggling cubes of liver-brown gelatin take a little getting used to, which in turn takes a lot of soju.)
- Bokkeum are essentially stir-fried dishes. Among banchan, the most common is probably fishcake. At its occasional worst, you may as well be chewing on Band-Aids; but at its best, the texture's almost pasta-like, the flavor rich and meaty beneath the sweet-savory glaze it attains during cooking.
- If your server brings you a dish of tiny dried shrimp or anchovies stir-fried in a sweet soy syrup, prepare to inhale dozens of critters in a few quick bites, because the crunchy little things are too good to pass up. (The easily creeped might find the variant made with shredded squid easier to stomach -- it looks like shaved carrot.)
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