Gamja-jorim (Soy-Braised Potatoes)

Gamja-jorim lives or dies before the pan gets hot. Cut the potatoes evenly, rinse away the loose starch, and dry them well. Skip that and the cubes rub against each other until the sauce turns cloudy and the edges collapse. This is a small dish, but small dishes show careless hands quickly.

Every Korean child knows this banchan from the table or the lunchbox: a few glossy potato cubes beside rice, kimchi, and egg, sweet enough to please a tired person but not so sweet the potato disappears. The sauce is soy sauce, water, garlic, and just enough syrup at the end to shine. Add it too early and it burns before the potato is tender. Add it late and it clings where it should.

Notebook 42 says 450 grams of potato, cut into 2-centimeter cubes, takes 12 to 14 minutes after the sauce goes in. That sounds fussy until you try to feed people on a Tuesday night and want the dish to come out the same as last time. 손맛 is real. I still measure it, so it can be handed on.