Gejang
Encyclopedia
Gejang or gejeot is a variety of jeotgal
, salted fermented seafood in Korean cuisine, which is made by marinating fresh raw crab
s either in ganjang
(soy sauce) or in a sauce based on chili pepper
powder. The term consists of the two words; ge, meaning "a crab", and jang which means "condiment" in Korean. Although gejang originally referred only to crabs marinated in soy sauce, it has begun to be called "ganjang gejang" these days to differentiate it from yangnyeom gejang (양념게장). The latter is relatively a new dish that emerged since the restaurant business began to thrive in South Korea
. "Yangnyeom" literally means "seasoning" or "seasoned" in Korean but refers to the spicy sauce made with chili pepper powder. Gyeongsang, Jeolla
, and Jeju Island are famous for their own characteristic gejang.
(lit. "Women's Encyclopedia"), Jubangmun (주방문, 酒方文, lit. "Book of Making Alcoholic beverage"), Siui jeonseo (lit. "Complete Collection of Corrections and Discussions") and others written during the Joseon Dynasty
of Korea (1392 - 1910). According to Sallim gyeongje written around the end of the 17th century, making gejang is referred to as "johaebeop" (조해법, 糟蟹法), which means "a way of marinating crabs in sediments of liquor". With the method, crabs are marinated in a mixture of jaegang (재강, sediments of liquor), salt, and an alcoholic beverage. In general, gejang spoils if preserved for a long time; however, the gejang made by the johaebeop can be even eaten until the next spring. In addition, the book records various ways of making gejang such as juhaebeop (酒蟹法, made with alcoholic beverage), chojang haebeop (醋醬蟹法, made with soy sauce and vinegar), yeomtang haebeop (鹽湯蟹法, made with boiled salted water) as well as methods of rearing crabs are called Yukseon chibeop (肉膳治法). Therefore, the record verifies that the consumption of gejang in Korean diet appeared at least as early as the 17th century.
According to Korean traditional medicine, crab has a cold nature that could cool one's body temperature, so gejang is believed to be good for driving away the spring fever. Although gejang was originally made with freshwater crab
s in general, such crabs are becoming scarce, so the gejang made with kkotge (horse crab
) caught in the Yellow Sea
, the west side of Korean peninsula
, has become prevalent. Among gejang made with freshwater crabs, chamgejang of North Gyeongsang Province, which can be preserved and eaten after one year passes and beotteok gejang, which can be eaten immediately after preparation, are the most famous.
(earthenware crock
) and are salted for about six hours. To prepare the sauce, a mixture of ganjang is boiled briefly along with sesame oil, sugar, finely sliced scallions, minced garlic, ginger, and finely shredded fresh red chili pepper
. Once the salted crabs are removed from the hangari and placed in a suitable bowl, the hot sauce is poured onto the crabs. An hour later, the ganjang is removed from the bowl and reheated until boiling. It is again poured over the crabs, and the procedure is repeated for a third and fourth time. The dish can be eaten once the sauce is chilled. If using boiled ganjang after it has been chilled, the gejang can be eaten two weeks after preparation, and it can be preserved for longer. A variation involves adding minced beef while the sauce is poured over the crabs, endowing the gejang with a more umami
taste. In recent days, some people add lemon, chili pepper, or traditional medicine when making gejang in order to remove the fishy smell and to increase its rich flavor.
As for yangnyeom gejang, the dish is made with raw crabs and a spicy and sweet sauce of chili pepper powder, and ground Korean pear, onions, ginger and garlic, as well as whole sesame seeds, and sesame oil
. In general, the gejang can be eaten a half day after the preparation and consuming the dish within two or three days is best to have its intact spicy and sweet and sour taste. If crabs are first marinated in a boiled and chilled mixture of eakjeok (액젓, filtered jeotgal
) and soy sauce before mixing the spicy sauce, the yangnyeom gejang can be well marinated with the latter sauce, and can be preserved longer.
Types are divided by crab species, region, and cooking method. Among varieties, beoltteok gejang (벌떡게장) is a local specialty of Jeolla Province and is made with live Charybdis japonica
, which are called either beoltteokge (벌떡게) or minkkotge (민꽃게) in Korean. The crab has a hard carapace
with a reddish-brown color and is found in the seawater of Korea according to Jasaneobo (자산어보 "Fishes of the Huksan Island"), the first Korean fisheries science
book written by the scholar Jeong Yak-jeon (정약전) in 1814. To make the gejang, the crabs are cut into several pieces or used whole if they are not large. One or two days after the beoltteokge have been marinated in a ganjang-based sauce, one can enjoy the gejang which has a fresh and sweet taste. However, beoltteok gejang can not be preserved for a long time, so it is said that the name reflects the fact; beotteok means "quickly" or "immediately" in Korean.
Kkotgejang (꽃게장) is made with kkotge (horse crab
), which is the most consumed crab in South Korea. It is also a local specialty of Jeolla Province, and the dish is known for the umani taste. After cleaned, the live crabs are chopped into several pieces, and a mixture of ganjang, sliced scallions, garlic, ginger, chili pepper powder, sesame seeds, salted is poured over them. It can be eaten one day after preparation.
Another local speciality of Jeolla Province is konggejeot (콩게젓) which is indegenous to Gangjin County. The gejeng is made by grinding crabs as small as a bean (kong in Korean) with millstone
s. The thick ground paste is mixed with salt and chili pepper paste. In Jeju Island, gejang is called gingijeot (깅이젓) made on every fifteenth of March in the lunar calendar
at low tide. It is traditionally said that gingijeot is good to cure every illness in the region.
Chamgejang (참게장) is a local specialty of Gyeonggi Province and is made with chamge (Chinese mitten crab
) which generally live in the rivers of Korea which flow to the Yellow Sea
. Chamge harvested in the Imjin River
near the Paju
region is especially famous for its unique taste and having a less earthy smell, so for many centuries the crabs were presented to the King of Korea as a delicacy. As demonstrated by the fact that records on chamge can be found in several historical documents regarding fisheries and cuisine such as Jasaneobo, Gyuhap chongseo
(Women's Encyclopedia), and the chapter Jeoneoji (전어지) of Imwon gyeongjeji (임원경제지), the dish has been eaten by Koreans for a long time. However, these days pollution in the rivers has decreased the crab's habitat, so chamge is barely found except in Imjin River. Chamgejang is commonly nicknamed "bapdoduk' (밥도둑, literally "a meal thief" or "a rice thief") because it is considered a good dish for arousing one's appetite. The dish is intended to preserve for long periods, so the gejang is saltier than other varieties.
Chamgejang is also widely eaten in Gyeongsang Province, and is prepared at every house during autumn to make a banchan
(small side dish) for the next summer. The crabs are also caught in rice fields during the harvest season, and female crabs are considered the best because they contain a lot of roe and fatty tomalley
.
is famous for gejang as well as gat kimchi (갓김치). A meal emphasizing ganjang gejang is called gejang baekgan (게장백반) that consists of a plate ganjang gejang, various plates of banchan (side dishes), and a bowl of cooked rice.
Recipe at Patzzi
Yangnyeom gejang recipe at Patzzi
Jeotgal
Jeotgal or jeot is a salted fermented food in Korean cuisine. It is made with various seafood, such as shrimp, oysters, shellfish, fish, fish eggs, and fish intestines....
, salted fermented seafood in Korean cuisine, which is made by marinating fresh raw crab
Crab
True crabs are decapod crustaceans of the infraorder Brachyura, which typically have a very short projecting "tail" , or where the reduced abdomen is entirely hidden under the thorax...
s either in ganjang
Ganjang
Ganjang is a kind of Korean soy sauce made from fermented soybeans. Ganjang is a uniquely Korean condiment.Traditionally, Koreans start processing soybeans around the 10th month of the lunar calendar. They soak soybeans overnight and then boil them. They then pound the soybeans into a powder and...
(soy sauce) or in a sauce based on chili pepper
Chili pepper
Chili pepper is the fruit of plants from the genus Capsicum, members of the nightshade family, Solanaceae. The term in British English and in Australia, New Zealand, India, Malaysia and other Asian countries is just chilli without pepper.Chili peppers originated in the Americas...
powder. The term consists of the two words; ge, meaning "a crab", and jang which means "condiment" in Korean. Although gejang originally referred only to crabs marinated in soy sauce, it has begun to be called "ganjang gejang" these days to differentiate it from yangnyeom gejang (양념게장). The latter is relatively a new dish that emerged since the restaurant business began to thrive in South Korea
South Korea
The Republic of Korea , , is a sovereign state in East Asia, located on the southern portion of the Korean Peninsula. It is neighbored by the People's Republic of China to the west, Japan to the east, North Korea to the north, and the East China Sea and Republic of China to the south...
. "Yangnyeom" literally means "seasoning" or "seasoned" in Korean but refers to the spicy sauce made with chili pepper powder. Gyeongsang, Jeolla
Jeolla
Jeolla was a province in southwestern Korea, one of the historical Eight Provinces of Korea during the Joseon Dynasty. It consisted of the modern South Korean provinces of North Jeolla, South Jeolla and the Special City of Gwangju as well as Jeju Island...
, and Jeju Island are famous for their own characteristic gejang.
Historical records
Historical records on gejang can be found in books such as Sallim gyeongje (lit. "Farm Management"), Gyuhap chongseoGyuhap chongseo
Gyuhap chongseo, roughly translated as "Women's Encyclopedia" is a compendium of advice for women, written by Lady Bingheogak Yi in 1809 during the Korean Joseon Dynasty.-Composition:...
(lit. "Women's Encyclopedia"), Jubangmun (주방문, 酒方文, lit. "Book of Making Alcoholic beverage"), Siui jeonseo (lit. "Complete Collection of Corrections and Discussions") and others written during the Joseon Dynasty
Joseon Dynasty
Joseon , was a Korean state founded by Taejo Yi Seong-gye that lasted for approximately five centuries. It was founded in the aftermath of the overthrow of the Goryeo at what is today the city of Kaesong. Early on, Korea was retitled and the capital was relocated to modern-day Seoul...
of Korea (1392 - 1910). According to Sallim gyeongje written around the end of the 17th century, making gejang is referred to as "johaebeop" (조해법, 糟蟹法), which means "a way of marinating crabs in sediments of liquor". With the method, crabs are marinated in a mixture of jaegang (재강, sediments of liquor), salt, and an alcoholic beverage. In general, gejang spoils if preserved for a long time; however, the gejang made by the johaebeop can be even eaten until the next spring. In addition, the book records various ways of making gejang such as juhaebeop (酒蟹法, made with alcoholic beverage), chojang haebeop (醋醬蟹法, made with soy sauce and vinegar), yeomtang haebeop (鹽湯蟹法, made with boiled salted water) as well as methods of rearing crabs are called Yukseon chibeop (肉膳治法). Therefore, the record verifies that the consumption of gejang in Korean diet appeared at least as early as the 17th century.
Crabs and harvest
According to Korean traditional medicine, crab has a cold nature that could cool one's body temperature, so gejang is believed to be good for driving away the spring fever. Although gejang was originally made with freshwater crab
Freshwater crab
There are around 1,300 species of freshwater crabs, distributed throughout the tropics and subtropics, divided among eight families. They show direct development and maternal care of a small number of offspring, in contrast to marine crabs which release thousands of planktonic larvae. This limits...
s in general, such crabs are becoming scarce, so the gejang made with kkotge (horse crab
Portunus trituberculatus
Portunus trituberculatus, the gazami crab, Japanese blue crab or horse crab, is the most widely fished species of crab in the world. It is found off the coasts of East Asia and is closely related to Portunus pelagicus.-Fishery:P...
) caught in the Yellow Sea
Yellow Sea
The Yellow Sea is the name given to the northern part of the East China Sea, which is a marginal sea of the Pacific Ocean. It is located between mainland China and the Korean Peninsula. Its name comes from the sand particles from Gobi Desert sand storms that turn the surface of the water golden...
, the west side of Korean peninsula
Korean Peninsula
The Korean Peninsula is a peninsula in East Asia. It extends southwards for about 684 miles from continental Asia into the Pacific Ocean and is surrounded by the Sea of Japan to the south, and the Yellow Sea to the west, the Korea Strait connecting the first two bodies of water.Until the end of...
, has become prevalent. Among gejang made with freshwater crabs, chamgejang of North Gyeongsang Province, which can be preserved and eaten after one year passes and beotteok gejang, which can be eaten immediately after preparation, are the most famous.
Preparation
To prepare ganjang gejang, crabs are first thoroughly cleaned using a brush while submerged in a bowl of water, and are then rinsed to remove the moisture. The crabs are put in a hangariOnggi
Onggi are Korean ethnic earthenware, which were extensively used as tableware as well as storage containers in Korea. It includes both unglazed earthenware fired near 600~700°C and pottery with a dark brown glaze that burnt over 1100°C....
(earthenware crock
Crock (dishware)
A crock is a pottery container sometimes used for food and water, synonymous with the word pot, and sometimes used for chemicals. Derivative terms include crockery and crock-pot.A gypsy's crock is a cooking pot.-External links:...
) and are salted for about six hours. To prepare the sauce, a mixture of ganjang is boiled briefly along with sesame oil, sugar, finely sliced scallions, minced garlic, ginger, and finely shredded fresh red chili pepper
Chili pepper
Chili pepper is the fruit of plants from the genus Capsicum, members of the nightshade family, Solanaceae. The term in British English and in Australia, New Zealand, India, Malaysia and other Asian countries is just chilli without pepper.Chili peppers originated in the Americas...
. Once the salted crabs are removed from the hangari and placed in a suitable bowl, the hot sauce is poured onto the crabs. An hour later, the ganjang is removed from the bowl and reheated until boiling. It is again poured over the crabs, and the procedure is repeated for a third and fourth time. The dish can be eaten once the sauce is chilled. If using boiled ganjang after it has been chilled, the gejang can be eaten two weeks after preparation, and it can be preserved for longer. A variation involves adding minced beef while the sauce is poured over the crabs, endowing the gejang with a more umami
Umami
Umami , popularly referred to as savoriness, is one of the five basic tastes together with sweet, sour, bitter, and salty.-Etymology:Umami is a loanword from the Japanese meaning "pleasant savory taste". This particular writing was chosen by Professor Kikunae Ikeda from umai "delicious" and mi ...
taste. In recent days, some people add lemon, chili pepper, or traditional medicine when making gejang in order to remove the fishy smell and to increase its rich flavor.
As for yangnyeom gejang, the dish is made with raw crabs and a spicy and sweet sauce of chili pepper powder, and ground Korean pear, onions, ginger and garlic, as well as whole sesame seeds, and sesame oil
Sesame oil
Sesame oil is an edible vegetable oil derived from sesame seeds. Besides being used as a cooking oil in South India, it is often used as a flavor enhancer in Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and to a lesser extent Southeast Asian cuisine.The oil from the nutrient rich seed is popular in alternative...
. In general, the gejang can be eaten a half day after the preparation and consuming the dish within two or three days is best to have its intact spicy and sweet and sour taste. If crabs are first marinated in a boiled and chilled mixture of eakjeok (액젓, filtered jeotgal
Jeotgal
Jeotgal or jeot is a salted fermented food in Korean cuisine. It is made with various seafood, such as shrimp, oysters, shellfish, fish, fish eggs, and fish intestines....
) and soy sauce before mixing the spicy sauce, the yangnyeom gejang can be well marinated with the latter sauce, and can be preserved longer.
Types
Charybdis (genus)
Charybdis is a genus of swimming crabs in the family Portunidae; "Charybdis" is Greek for whirlpool.-Species:The genus Charybdis contains the following species:Subgenus Charybdis De Haan, 1833*Charybdis acuta Charybdis is a genus of swimming crabs in the family Portunidae; "Charybdis" is Greek for...
, which are called either beoltteokge (벌떡게) or minkkotge (민꽃게) in Korean. The crab has a hard carapace
Carapace
A carapace is a dorsal section of the exoskeleton or shell in a number of animal groups, including arthropods such as crustaceans and arachnids, as well as vertebrates such as turtles and tortoises. In turtles and tortoises, the underside is called the plastron.-Crustaceans:In crustaceans, the...
with a reddish-brown color and is found in the seawater of Korea according to Jasaneobo (자산어보 "Fishes of the Huksan Island"), the first Korean fisheries science
Fisheries science
Fisheries science is the academic discipline of managing and understanding fisheries. It is a multidisciplinary science, which draws on the disciplines of oceanography, marine biology, marine conservation, ecology, population dynamics, economics and management to attempt to provide an integrated...
book written by the scholar Jeong Yak-jeon (정약전) in 1814. To make the gejang, the crabs are cut into several pieces or used whole if they are not large. One or two days after the beoltteokge have been marinated in a ganjang-based sauce, one can enjoy the gejang which has a fresh and sweet taste. However, beoltteok gejang can not be preserved for a long time, so it is said that the name reflects the fact; beotteok means "quickly" or "immediately" in Korean.
Kkotgejang (꽃게장) is made with kkotge (horse crab
Portunus trituberculatus
Portunus trituberculatus, the gazami crab, Japanese blue crab or horse crab, is the most widely fished species of crab in the world. It is found off the coasts of East Asia and is closely related to Portunus pelagicus.-Fishery:P...
), which is the most consumed crab in South Korea. It is also a local specialty of Jeolla Province, and the dish is known for the umani taste. After cleaned, the live crabs are chopped into several pieces, and a mixture of ganjang, sliced scallions, garlic, ginger, chili pepper powder, sesame seeds, salted is poured over them. It can be eaten one day after preparation.
Another local speciality of Jeolla Province is konggejeot (콩게젓) which is indegenous to Gangjin County. The gejeng is made by grinding crabs as small as a bean (kong in Korean) with millstone
Millstone
Millstones or mill stones are used in windmills and watermills, including tide mills, for grinding wheat or other grains.The type of stone most suitable for making millstones is a siliceous rock called burrstone , an open-textured, porous but tough, fine-grained sandstone, or a silicified,...
s. The thick ground paste is mixed with salt and chili pepper paste. In Jeju Island, gejang is called gingijeot (깅이젓) made on every fifteenth of March in the lunar calendar
Lunar calendar
A lunar calendar is a calendar that is based on cycles of the lunar phase. A common purely lunar calendar is the Islamic calendar or Hijri calendar. A feature of the Islamic calendar is that a year is always 12 months, so the months are not linked with the seasons and drift each solar year by 11 to...
at low tide. It is traditionally said that gingijeot is good to cure every illness in the region.
Chinese mitten crab
The Chinese mitten crab, Eriocheir sinensis is a medium-sized burrowing crab, named for its furry claws that look like mittens, that is native in the coastal estuaries of eastern Asia from Korea in the north to the Fujian province of China in the south...
) which generally live in the rivers of Korea which flow to the Yellow Sea
Yellow Sea
The Yellow Sea is the name given to the northern part of the East China Sea, which is a marginal sea of the Pacific Ocean. It is located between mainland China and the Korean Peninsula. Its name comes from the sand particles from Gobi Desert sand storms that turn the surface of the water golden...
. Chamge harvested in the Imjin River
Imjin River
The Imjin River is a river of North and South Korea. It flows from North to South, crossing the Demilitarized Zone and joining the Han River downstream of Seoul, very near the Yellow Sea.- History :...
near the Paju
Paju
Paju is a city in Gyeonggi Province, South Korea. Paju was made a city in 1997; it had previously been a county .The city is located just south of Panmunjeom on the 38th parallel. To defend the Korean capital, Seoul, many US and Korean army bases are set up in the city. In 2002, the northernmost...
region is especially famous for its unique taste and having a less earthy smell, so for many centuries the crabs were presented to the King of Korea as a delicacy. As demonstrated by the fact that records on chamge can be found in several historical documents regarding fisheries and cuisine such as Jasaneobo, Gyuhap chongseo
Gyuhap chongseo
Gyuhap chongseo, roughly translated as "Women's Encyclopedia" is a compendium of advice for women, written by Lady Bingheogak Yi in 1809 during the Korean Joseon Dynasty.-Composition:...
(Women's Encyclopedia), and the chapter Jeoneoji (전어지) of Imwon gyeongjeji (임원경제지), the dish has been eaten by Koreans for a long time. However, these days pollution in the rivers has decreased the crab's habitat, so chamge is barely found except in Imjin River. Chamgejang is commonly nicknamed "bapdoduk' (밥도둑, literally "a meal thief" or "a rice thief") because it is considered a good dish for arousing one's appetite. The dish is intended to preserve for long periods, so the gejang is saltier than other varieties.
Chamgejang is also widely eaten in Gyeongsang Province, and is prepared at every house during autumn to make a banchan
Banchan
Banchan refers to small dishes of food served along with cooked rice in Korean cuisine. This word is used both in the singular and plural....
(small side dish) for the next summer. The crabs are also caught in rice fields during the harvest season, and female crabs are considered the best because they contain a lot of roe and fatty tomalley
Tomalley
Tomalley or lobster paste is the soft, green substance found in the body cavity of lobsters, that fulfills the functions of both the liver and the pancreas. Tomalley corresponds to the hepatopancreas in other arthropods...
.
Serving
YeosuYeosu
Yeosu is a city in South Jeolla Province, South Korea. Old Yeosu City, which was founded in 1949, Yeocheon City, founded in 1986, and Yeocheon County were merged into a new city in 1998....
is famous for gejang as well as gat kimchi (갓김치). A meal emphasizing ganjang gejang is called gejang baekgan (게장백반) that consists of a plate ganjang gejang, various plates of banchan (side dishes), and a bowl of cooked rice.
See also
- JeotgalJeotgalJeotgal or jeot is a salted fermented food in Korean cuisine. It is made with various seafood, such as shrimp, oysters, shellfish, fish, fish eggs, and fish intestines....
, salted fermented seafood - JangajjiJangajjiJangajji or jangachi is a type of pickle in Korean cuisine which is made by pickling or marinating vegetables in a sauce for a long period of time. The dish is also sometimes called janghwa . It was historically made during the harvest season and was eaten as a banchan when vegetables were scarce...
, salted pickled vegetables - BanchanBanchanBanchan refers to small dishes of food served along with cooked rice in Korean cuisine. This word is used both in the singular and plural....
, small side dishes - Korean cuisine
External links
군산 계곡가든 꽃게장 at The Hankyoreh 참을 수 없는 꽃게장의 유혹 at Hankook IlboHankook Ilbo
Hankook Ilbo is a vernacular daily newspaper published in Seoul, South Korea. It is a sister paper of The Korea Times. "Hankook" means "Korea" in Korean....
Recipe at Patzzi
JoongAng Ilbo
JoongAng Ilbo is a conservative newspaper published in Seoul, South Korea. It is one of the "big three newspapers" in South Korea. It has a circulation of 1.96 million copies in South Korea . Its average page count per copy is around 52...
Yangnyeom gejang recipe at Patzzi
JoongAng Ilbo
JoongAng Ilbo is a conservative newspaper published in Seoul, South Korea. It is one of the "big three newspapers" in South Korea. It has a circulation of 1.96 million copies in South Korea . Its average page count per copy is around 52...