Hongeo-hoe (Fermented Raw Skate)

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Sharp sashimi knife or long thin chef's knife
• •Clean seafood cutting board
• •Disposable gloves
• •Airtight glass or stainless container
• •Heavy 4-quart pot for pork
• •Instant-read thermometer
• •Large oval platter

Instructions

1. 1

   Buy it safely

   Begin at the fishmonger. Buy 500g commercially fermented hongeo meant for raw eating, and ask for the aging level: mild, medium, or strong. It should be held cold at 0 to 4 C, packaged cleanly, and smell sharply ammoniac but not rotten or fishy-sour. If frozen, thaw it sealed on a tray in the refrigerator for 12 hours. Open it only when you are ready to slice or plate.

   This recipe is for serving prepared hongeo, not fermenting fresh skate at home. A casual straw box is not a shortcut. It is a food-safety risk.
2. 2

   Boil the pork

   Put the water, doenjang, soju, onion, scallions, crushed garlic, ginger, and peppercorns in a heavy pot and bring it to a boil. Add the pork, lower to a steady simmer, and cover partly. Cook 45 to 55 minutes, turning once, until the center reaches at least 70 C and a skewer passes through without resistance. A hard boil tightens the meat; a steady simmer gives tender slices that can stand beside the hongeo.

   Doenjang in the cooking water seasons the pork and quiets its smell. It should not make the pork taste like stew, so keep it to 2 tablespoons for this amount of water.
3. 3

   Rest and slice

   Lift the pork from the pot, cover it loosely, and rest it 10 minutes. Slice across the grain into pieces about 6mm thick and 5cm long. Keep the slices warm with 2 or 3 spoonfuls of the cooking broth. Pork that is too thin disappears under the kimchi; pork that is too thick makes the bite heavy.

4. 4

   Mix the sauce

   Stir together the gochujang, rice vinegar, maesil-cheong or sugar, water, minced garlic, sesame oil, and sesame seeds. Let it sit 10 minutes so the garlic softens into the vinegar. Taste it. It should be tart first, lightly sweet second, and loose enough to dab with chopsticks. If it is stiff, add water 1 teaspoon at a time. Do not coat the hongeo with it; sauce belongs on the side.

5. 5

   Prepare the table

   Cut the mukeunji into 2-inch pieces. If it is very salty, rinse it for 3 seconds under cold water and squeeze it firmly, but do not wash away all its age. Trim the minari into 3-inch lengths. Set out the perilla leaves, sliced green chilies, and sliced garlic. Old kimchi matters because its acid meets the alkaline bite of hongeo; fresh kimchi tastes separate and loud.

6. 6

   Slice the hongeo

   Put the chilled hongeo on a clean board and blot the surface dry. If you bought a block, slice it while it is still firm and cold, cutting on a diagonal across the grain and fine cartilage into 4 to 5mm slices, about 3 by 5cm each. Do not make thick wedges. The thin comb of cartilage is part of the bite. If you bought pre-sliced hongeo, separate the pieces gently and blot away excess liquid. Wear gloves if you like; not because the dish is frightening, but because the smell clings.

7. 7

   Build the platter

   Arrange the hongeo, warm pork, and aged kimchi in three clear bands on a large platter, with minari, sliced garlic, green chili, and the sauce bowl at the edge. The plate should teach the eater what to do. Lay kimchi down first, add a slice of pork, then hongeo, then one stem of minari and a small dab of sauce. The order matters: kimchi acid, pork fat, sharp skate, clean green finish.

8. 8

   Serve and hold

   Serve at once, with rice and makgeolli if the table wants it. Keep the hongeo cold and do not leave it out for more than 1 hour; for a long celebration, plate a small amount and refill from the refrigerator, or nest the platter over ice. Store leftover hongeo in an airtight container in the refrigerator and eat within 24 hours. Keep pork and kimchi in separate containers.

Chef Tips

• •Ask the fishmonger where the hongeo came from and how strong it is. Heuksando and Mokpo products are prized, but the more useful answer for your table is mild, medium, or strong. Beginners should start with mild or medium and learn the bite before pretending strength is character.
• •The smell should be sharp, alkaline, and clean. Reject hongeo that is slimy, gray-mushy, or sour in the wrong way. My teacher would have sent it back without a word, and she would have been right.
• •Buy pre-sliced hongeo if your knife is weak or your table is nervous. That is a safe corner to cut. What you cannot cut is temperature control. Keep it cold from shop to table.
• •Do not drown hongeo in cho-gochujang. The sauce is there to point the bite, not hide it. If every piece tastes only of chili paste and sugar, you served sauce, not skate.
• •Pregnant people, very young children, people with weak immune systems, and anyone advised to avoid raw seafood should not eat hongeo-hoe. Fermented does not stop it from being raw seafood.
• •After serving, wash the board and knife with hot soapy water, then wipe with diluted vinegar or a food-safe sanitizer. The smell fades faster when you clean promptly instead of pretending it will be polite on its own.

Advance Preparation

• •If the hongeo is frozen, thaw it sealed in the refrigerator for 12 hours. Do not thaw it on the counter, and do not refreeze it after opening.
• •The pork can be boiled 1 day ahead. Cool it in a little cooking broth, refrigerate it covered, then rewarm gently in that broth for 10 minutes before slicing.
• •The cho-gochujang can be mixed up to 3 days ahead and refrigerated. Stir before serving, and loosen with 1 teaspoon water if it thickens.
• •Cut the kimchi, minari, garlic, and chilies up to 2 hours ahead and keep them covered in the refrigerator. Slice or unwrap the hongeo last.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 330g)