Jeoneo-hoe (Sliced Raw Gizzard Shad)

Jeoneo belongs to autumn. In the market, you know the season has turned when the fishmongers start calling out over shallow tubs of silver fish, small and stubborn, with bellies full enough to make cooks stop walking. Cook the month you're standing in. For jeoneo-hoe, that month is usually September into October, when the fish is fatty and the fine bones soften under the knife instead of fighting your teeth.

This is not a dish to rescue tired fish. If the eyes are cloudy, the belly soft, or the smell anything but clean sea, don't make hoe. Grill it if it is still good enough, or buy something else. My teacher would have sent it back without a word, and then expected you to understand why. Raw fish is respect for the ingredient and for the people at the table.

The technique is 세꼬시 (sekkoshi), slicing small fish with the fine bones left in. That sounds rough until the knife work is right. Thin means 2 to 3 millimeters, cut on a slight diagonal, cold fish against a cold board, every slice clean enough that the bones give a nutty chew instead of a jab. The sauce stays sharp but restrained. Jeoneo should taste oily, clean, and faintly sweet, not like a spoonful of gochujang hiding the fish.