Baechu-jeon (배추전, Napa Cabbage Pancake)

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •12-inch skillet, cast iron or nonstick
• •Back of a knife, rolling pin, or small mallet
• •Wide shallow bowl or rimmed tray for dipping batter
• •Spatula
• •Wire rack or paper towel-lined tray

Instructions

1. 1

   Choose the leaves

   Pull 8 whole leaves from the cabbage, choosing ones broad enough to make a pancake but small enough to fit your pan. Trim only the rough base if it is thick or bruised. Wash them well and drain them until the surface is not dripping. Baechu-jeon is one leaf at a time, so do not chop the cabbage into a mixed batter pancake.

   The best leaves are late-autumn or winter leaves with sweet white ribs and tender yellow-green tops. Very dark outer leaves can be used, but they need a little more pressing and a little more patience in the pan.
2. 2

   Flatten the ribs

   Lay each leaf rib side up. With the back of a knife, a rolling pin, or a small mallet, tap along the thick white rib every 1/2 inch until it lies closer to the height of the green leaf. Do not tear it. Sprinkle the 1/2 teaspoon salt mostly over the white ribs and let the leaves sit 10 minutes, then pat them dry. The salt softens and seasons the rib so it cooks through before the leaf edges burn.

3. 3

   Mix the sauce

   Stir together the soy sauce, rice vinegar, water, sesame seeds, scallion, and gochugaru if using. Keep it sharp and light. This pancake is sweet from cabbage and oil, so the sauce should cut through it, not cover it up. If you are cooking for a jesa (ancestral rite) table, leave the scallion and gochugaru out and serve the sauce separately after the rite, according to your family's custom.

4. 4

   Make thin batter

   Whisk the flour, potato starch, batter salt, and ice-cold water until smooth. The batter should be thinner than Western pancake batter, closer to light cream, and it should leave a thin, almost translucent coat on a spoon. If it looks thick and white after dipping a leaf, add cold water 1 tablespoon at a time. Thick batter turns this into bread. Thin batter lets the cabbage taste like itself.

   If you use Korean pancake mix, buchimgaru (부침가루), use 1 cup of it in place of the flour and starch, and omit the 1/2 teaspoon salt in the batter. Most mixes are already seasoned.
5. 5

   Heat the pan

   Set a 12-inch skillet over medium heat and add 1 tablespoon oil. Drop in a little batter. It should sizzle gently and set in a few seconds, not brown at once. Too high a flame cooks the coating before the rib becomes tender. This dish asks for medium heat and steady hands, not speed.

6. 6

   Dip and fry

   Dip one cabbage leaf into the batter and let the excess run back into the bowl. Lay it in the pan, rib side down first, spreading it flat with your fingers or a spatula. Press the thick rib for the first 20 seconds so it makes contact with the pan. Fry 2 1/2 to 3 minutes, until the underside is pale gold with a few crisp brown spots at the edges. Flip, drizzle 1 teaspoon oil around the edge if the pan looks dry, and fry 2 to 3 minutes more. Cook one large leaf or two small leaves at a time, never a crowded pan.

   Wipe out loose browned batter bits between batches. Burnt flour makes the next pancake taste tired, and baechu-jeon has nowhere to hide that.
7. 7

   Serve warm

   Move each pancake to a wire rack or a paper towel-lined tray while you finish the rest. Serve warm, whole or cut into wide pieces, with the dipping sauce at the side. On a Gyeongsang family table it may sit beside other jeon, plain and modest. That does not make it small. 손맛 is real; I measure it anyway, because a dish this simple is exactly the kind that disappears when nobody writes it down.

Chef Tips

• •Choose cabbage by the rib. A leaf with a thick, juicy white rib and tender yellow-green top makes the best pancake. Limp leaves fry flat, but they taste tired.
• •The batter should show the leaf through it. If the cabbage disappears under a white coat, thin the batter. Baechu-jeon is cabbage first, batter second.
• •Keep the heat at medium. A dark, crisp edge is pleasant, but a scorched leaf with a raw rib is bad work. Press the rib and give it time.
• •For a jesa table, many families keep the pancake plain and avoid scallion, garlic, or chili on the ritual dishes. Family practice differs. Write yours down, because these small rules are the first to vanish.
• •A nonstick skillet is an honest modern help here. 시대가 바뀌면 음식도 바뀌어야 해요. When times change, food must change too. The safe corner to cut is the pan, not the rib-flattening or the thin batter.

Advance Preparation

• •The cabbage leaves can be washed, flattened, salted, patted dry, and refrigerated up to 4 hours ahead. Keep them covered so they do not dry out. Batter them only right before frying.
• •The dipping sauce can be mixed 1 day ahead. Add scallion just before serving so it stays clean and sharp.
• •Baechu-jeon is best within 30 minutes of frying. Leftovers can be refrigerated up to 2 days and re-crisped in a dry skillet over medium heat for about 2 minutes per side.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 200g)