Want To Learn How To Make Kimchee? This Chef Is Hosting Classes In Logan Square To Pass Along Her Family Recipe
LOGAN SQUARE — Korean-American home cook Haejung Kim has been hosting kimchee-making classes in Los Angeles for years and sharing her family’s recipe with anyone who wants to learn — and now she’s bringing them to Logan Square.
During class, students will learn how to prepare cabbage for kimchee, chop ingredients, and make gochujang, a spicy paste that is mixed in at the end. They leave the class with a quart-sized jar of homemade kimchee and the knowledge they need to make it themselves, Kim said.
Kim’s first Chicago class is September 24 from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. on N. California Ave. held in 1825. You can register online here for $65. Places are limited.
Kim provides all the utensils and ingredients she buys the night before or in the morning of a class – she also offers Korean snacks. She only asks that students bring their own aprons, she said.
Kim guides the students through every step and ingredient and lets them know where to get everything themselves.
“When I looked around, no one else teaches a kimchee class in Chicago,” she said. “If someone wants to learn, there is no one who really teaches it.”
Kim grew up making kimchee with her family on her grandmother’s farm in Korea, and the food gives her a “nostalgic feeling,” she said.
“They buried it in the ground on my grandma’s farm to slowly ferment over the winter,” said Kim, 48. “I just have a lot of fond memories of cooking with my aunts and grandma.”
Kim’s classes will be “very intimate and cosy” as they take place at her home with a maximum of six people.
“Most people can look for a recipe online. But with ingredients you’re not familiar with, it really helps to have someone guide you through the process,” she said. “Kimchee might be one of those things.”
Kim asked her mom to teach her how to make kimchee about 10 years ago. She also invited friends over to practice making kimchee, which led to more formal classes at her home and at a community kitchen in Los Angeles.
Kim moved to Chicago about a month ago and wants to continue her work.
“I found this really cool thing that was being passed on to me and I just wanted to pass it on to others,” Kim said. “When you cook ethnic food, there’s a block, a hump, that you have to overcome. And I want to hold your hand and help you over that hump if you’re curious about kimchee.”
Kimchee is traditionally a communal meal. The Korean word “kimjang” describes the preparation and sharing of kimchee with a group of people.
“That’s sort of the heart of the community aspect,” Kim said. “Do it together and then give it away.”
Learning how to make kimchee is a craft, and it doesn’t come out the same every time, Kim said. But once you learn how to do it, you can do it forever, she said.
“Some like it fresher. Some people like to let it ferment longer,” she said. “The flavors will develop. That’s also the interesting thing. It’s always something different.”
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