Godeungeo-jorim (Braised Mackerel)

Mackerel tells you the truth at the market. The skin should shine blue and silver, the flesh should push back under your finger, and the smell should be clean, like the sea before anyone has bothered it. Buy it tired and no amount of chili will save you. Cook the month you're standing in: autumn and winter mackerel are fattier, and Korean radish is sweeter then too, so this pot knows its season well.

Godeungeo-jorim is a weeknight main, not a grand dish, which means it has to work hard. One fish, a piece of radish, a bowl of rice, and the table is fed. The radish sits under the mackerel and drinks what the fish gives; the sauce reduces from thin and red to glossy and clingy. If you add sour kimchi, use old kimchi with real bite. It cuts the oil of the fish, and that is why the kimchi version belongs at the home table.

The mistake is burying mackerel under gochujang and sugar because people are afraid of its strength. Don't do that. Blue-backed fish has character. Clean it well, season it firmly, and let it taste like itself. Notebook 41 says 4 tablespoons soy sauce, 2 tablespoons gochugaru, 1 tablespoon gochujang, and 1 tablespoon doenjang for two medium fish. 손맛 is real. I still measure it, so it can be handed on.