Small Group Workshop: Korean Mother Sauces with Ji Hye Kim

If you hear the phrase “mother sauces” and you think France has a monopoly on them, think again. The concept of a mother sauce exists across cultures and culinary traditions and provides a foundation for near-countless dishes. In Korean cooking, there are three mother sauces you must be familiar with: ganjang (soy sauce), gochujang (fermented chili paste) and doenjang (soy paste). Unlike those French mother sauces, these aren’t things you regularly whip up from scratch; instead, they’re long-fermented items that you source with care and perpetually keep in your pantry. Join guest chef Ji Hye Kim of the celebrated Ann Arbor restaurant Miss Kim’s to learn everything you need to know about the pillars of Korean cooking. In addition to walking you through how each of these sauces is made and how to source reliably high-quality options, Ji Hye will walk you through three recipes that illustrate the sauces’ versatility and power. You’ll make soy-glazed skirt steak that comes together in under 30 minutes thanks to the umami boost of good-quality soy sauce. You’ll learn how to whip up Cho Gochujang, a sauce that’s great for dressing blanched or steamed vegetables, for chilled noodle bowls or raw fish rice bowls. And finally, you’ll make a vegetarian soup whose richness comes thanks to doenjang, dried shiitake mushrooms and dashiki (dried seaweed). You’ll come away from this class with a more comfortable vocabulary of ingredients and techniques that are essential to Korean cooking.