Text 24918, 93 rader
Skriven 2015-03-15 08:39:08 av Dave Drum (1:261/38.0)
Ärende: Gourmet 363
===================
 * Originally in: fido.HOME_COO

MMMMM----- Recipe via Meal-Master (tm) v8.06

      Title: Octopus Surprise
 Categories: Seafood, Text, Oriental
      Yield: 1 servings

      1    Text

  When you wander through the narrow food alleys of Seoul,
  which are lined on both sides by small restaurants that
  specialize in a specific dish or two, the most
  disconcerting sight, apart from the weaving mobs of soju
  connoisseurs that materialize after midnight, may be the
  tanks of octopus set right up to the sidewalk, water
  darkened by the occasional stray ink jet, hundreds of
  pinky-gray tentacles rippling like something out of a
  tidepool gone very, very wrong.

  A single octopus, dramatically set off by the theatrical
  lighting at the Monterey Bay Aquarium or documented for
  the Discovery Channel, is a majestic thing, a masterpiece
  of rippling muscle and balletic grace, beautiful even in
  the way it rips open a scallop or transports an
  unsuspecting fish into its maw. (Octopuses-not octopi, no
  matter how passionately your high school biology teacher
  may have corrected you-are usually solitary creatures,
  preferring the safety of rock crevices to the company of
  their peers.) An accumulation of many octopuses, on the
  other hand-an alien collective that the gill-bearing
  forefathers with whom we still share so much DNA were
  undoubtedly hardwired to avoid-may inspire nothing less
  than screaming, full-bore panic.

  When you summon up the courage to walk into a Korean
  octopus specialist, whether in Los Angeles or Seoul or
  Flushing, youâ Öll probably end up with a huge, steaming
  platter of nak ji bokkum, a spicy, brick-red sautÄC of
  octopus with chile paste and vegetables. Even if you fear
  the octopus, youâ Öll probably be okay-the octopus here is
  just a mild chewy thing, a non-threatening vehicle for the
  potent sauce. But if you wink at somebody the right way,
  speak passable Korean, or spot a likely euphemism on the
  menu, you may luck into a plate of san nak ji, live
  octopus tentacles, which is one of the most alarming
  dishes in the world.

  Iâ Öd had san nak ji in L.A.â Ös Koreatown, of course, where
  it ranks with boiled silkworm larvae, army-base stew, and
  blowfish among the Korean exotica that any self-respecting
  aficionado is expected to seek out and enjoy. The lengths
  of chopped tentacle, which are not technically alive but
  still have a functioning nervous system, were motile,
  barely, but hardly twitched when you dipped them into
  sesame oil and popped them into your mouth. I had been
  expecting a spectacle like the one in the Korean thriller
  Oldboy, where one of the characters suffocates while
  eating the dish.

  But my first real san nak ji, offhandedly offered as an
  appetizer in a Seoul barbecue joint, was the Alien vs.
  Predator of the food universe, a small platter an inch
  deep with what appeared to be either severed fingers or
  writhing worms, fat wriggly things that climbed out onto
  the table and seemed to battle one another for position.
  When you tried to pick them up with your chopsticks, they
  wriggled up them nearly to your knuckle. And for the first
  time I appreciated the strategic importance of the sesame
  oil-salt dip-not just because it tasted good, which it
  did, but because the suckers on the tentacles are still
  fully functional, and the coating of slippery oil prevents
  them from maintaining their death grip on your tongue or
  the roof of your mouth. San nak ji is food that fights you
  back.

  Is san nak ji delicious? It kind of is, actually-meaty,
  slightly nutty, definitely alive, as fascinating a way to
  ease down a bottle of soju as you can imagine. The dish
  certainly gets oneâ Ös attention. But still, all things
  being equal, I donâ Öt see it replacing cocktail peanuts any
  time soon.

  Meal Master Format by Dave Drum - 21 November 2008

  Uncle Dirty Dave's Archives

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... "Hard work should be rewarded by good food." -- Ken Follett

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