Kimchi-jeongol (Kimchi Hot Pot)

Kimchi-jeongol is not kimchi-jjigae in a wider pot. That is the first correction. A jjigae is usually built around one main ingredient and brought to the table already finished. A jeongol carries several ingredients arranged together, then cooks in front of the people who will eat it. The arrangement is not vanity. It tells you what is in the pan and lets each thing cook at its own pace before the broth pulls them together.

At my mother's table, the sour end of the kimchi jar never went begging. Too sharp to eat cold, it became soup, pancakes, fried rice, or a pan like this, with pork tucked beside tofu and mushrooms. This is budget food, yes, but don't confuse budget with careless. The kimchi has already done months of work for you. Trust the jar and add little else.

Tonight this dish asks for three things. Make a clean anchovy-kelp broth and pull the kelp before it turns bitter. Arrange the raw ingredients by color before the broth goes in. Then season at the end, not at the beginning, because every kimchi jar has its own salt and sourness. Write it down. Memory is a borrowed bowl.