Myeongnan-jeot (Salted Pollack Roe)

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Digital kitchen scale
• •Shallow nonreactive glass container with lid
• •Fine tweezers
• •Small rack set over a tray
• •Sharp thin knife

Instructions

1. 1

   Inspect the roe

   Keep the roe cold from the moment you bring it home. If it is frozen, thaw it overnight in the refrigerator on a tray. If it is fresh and never frozen, freeze it at minus 20 C for 7 days first, or buy a commercially frozen batch instead. Choose sacs that are intact, full, and clean smelling, with no sour or ammonia odor. A torn sac is not ruined, but it salts faster, so set it aside and cure it separately.

   Salt and soju are not safety magic. They season and cure good roe; they cannot repair fish that was warm, old, or handled carelessly.
2. 2

   Wash gently

   Dissolve the 1 tablespoon washing salt in 2 cups of the ice-cold water. Lower the roe sacs into the salted water and swish them with two fingers. Remove dark blood lines or loose membrane with tweezers. Do not put them under a hard tap, because pressure splits the sacs and sends the eggs into the bowl. Salted cold water firms the outside just enough to clean them without stealing their taste.

3. 3

   Salt the sacs

   Scatter 20g of the curing salt in the bottom of a shallow glass container. Lay the roe sacs in one layer, then sprinkle the remaining 40g salt evenly over them. Cover and refrigerate 12 hours, turn the sacs once with a spoon and your fingers, then refrigerate 12 to 24 hours more. That 60g is 12 percent of the roe weight, enough to pull out water and season to the center without turning the membrane tough.

4. 4

   Rinse and dry

   Mix the remaining 1 cup ice-cold water with 1 tablespoon of the soju. Dip each cured sac once or twice to remove surface salt, then pat dry with clean towels. Taste a few eggs from the end of a torn sac. They should be assertive and briny, not harsh. If they are too salty, soak the sacs in cold water for 5 minutes, then dry again. Set them on a rack over a tray, uncovered in the refrigerator, for 30 minutes, until the surface feels tacky.

5. 5

   Mix the seasoning

   Stir together the gochugaru, grated garlic, grated ginger, sugar, optional fish sauce, and the remaining 1 tablespoon soju. The paste should be loose enough to smear, not wet enough to run. This is not a dish to bury under chili. The roe should still taste like roe, with the seasoning sitting close to it.

6. 6

   Pack and mature

   Rub the seasoning lightly over the cured sacs with gloved fingertips or the back of a spoon. Pack them flat in a clean glass jar or lidded container, pressing out air pockets without crushing the roe. Refrigerate 24 to 48 hours before serving. Do not leave it at room temperature to ferment. This home version is a cold cure, and the refrigerator is part of the method.

7. 7

   Slice and serve

   Wipe a sharp thin knife clean and slice the roe on a slight diagonal into 1 cm pieces. Set out only what the table will eat. Finish that small serving with a few drops of sesame oil, scallion, and sesame seeds, then eat with rice and roasted gim. For a rice topping, split one sac lengthwise and scrape the eggs from the membrane. 손맛 is real; I measure it anyway, especially for a jar this precious.

Chef Tips

• •Buy roe still paired in its membrane, plump and firm, with no dried edges. Loose eggs can be salted into a rice topping, but they will not become this dish.
• •Weigh the salt. A spoon measure changes with the grain, and jeotgal punishes guessing. For this recipe, use 12 percent of the roe weight for the cure.
• •Safe shortcut: buy plain salted myeongnan-jeot from a Korean market and season only the amount you will serve. Do not shorten the cold cure when starting from raw roe; that is the spine of the dish.
• •If you want a plainer white myeongnan-jeot, omit the gochugaru and garlic from the seasoning. Keep the salt cure the same, and finish with sesame oil only at the table.

Advance Preparation

• •The roe can be thawed overnight in the refrigerator before you begin. Keep it on a tray so any liquid stays contained and cold.
• •After salting and seasoning, the roe is ready after 24 hours of maturing, but the taste is rounder on the second day.
• •Store finished myeongnan-jeot at 0 to 4 C and eat within 5 days. For longer keeping, freeze in 50g portions for up to 2 months and thaw in the refrigerator.
• •Slice only what you will serve. Cut roe dries faster and leaks salt into the dish.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 50g)