6 Sweet, Spicy And Savoury Korean Dishes To Pair With Classic Cocktails
Korean dishes are popular due to their spicy, tangy, and savoury nature. Different condiments like gochujang, doenjang, ganjang, and other spicy ingredients like gochugaru make the dishes unique in taste from other dishes worldwide. Every bite of Korean food offers a depth of flavour filled with crispness, umami-rich and sometimes even smoky notes that go well with classic cocktails like Manhattan, espresso martini cocktail, and old fashioned.
Here are some sweet, spicy, and savoury Korean dishes and the classic cocktails that pair well with these dishes.
Hotteok (Korean Sweet Pancakes With Brown Sugar And Nuts) and Old Fashioned
It is a chewy and crispy pancake with wheat flour, water, milk, sugar, brown sugar, nuts, cinnamon, and yeast. To make an old fashioned cocktail, the ingredients required are 30ml of rye or bourbon whisky, 5ml of simple syrup, 5 drops of bitters, ice cubes and orange peels to garnish. First, take a mixing glass, add sugar syrup and bitters, add a lot of ice, then pour the whisky on top and stir gently for 15-20 seconds. Garnish with orange peels and serve with Hotteok. The caramel and spicy notes of the old fashioned cocktail enhance the rich and deep sweetness of Hotteok.
Bungeoppang (Fish-Shaped Pastry With Red Bean) and Espresso Martini Cocktail
Bungeoppang is a Korean street food pastry that is fish-shaped and filled with sweet bean paste, or can have custard or matcha pudding instead as the filling. On the other hand, to make an espresso martini cocktail, which can pair well with the dish, 30ml vodka, 15ml of coffee liqueur, and 12.5ml of freshly brewed espresso are needed. To make the cocktail, first chill a martini cocktail glass. Take vodka, coffee liqueur and espresso in a shaker with ice, shake well, strain into the pre-prepared martini cocktail glass, garnish with 3 coffee beans and serve chilled with Bungeoppang. The crispy and sweet Korean pastry pairs well with the rich coffee flavour of the espresso martini cocktail.
Tteokbokki (Spicy Rice Cakes) and Dark n Stormy
This popular Korean street food is made of rice cakes cooked in a savoury, sweet, spicy sauce. This dish often has a Korean chilli paste named gochujang and chilli flakes named gochugaru. To complement this spicy rice cake dish, dark n stormy cocktail can be paired. To make the cocktail, 30ml of dark rum, 45- 60ml of ginger beer, 7ml of fresh lime juice, ice and a lime wedge as a garnish are needed. First, fill a highball glass with ice, pour the ginger beer first, float the dark rum by slowly pouring it over the back of a spoon, add lime juice, and garnish the glass with a lime wedge. Lastly, stir gently to mix the ingredients and serve. A zingy spiced flavour is added to the fiery Tteokbokki from the ginger beer of the cocktail, and subtle sweetness from dark rum. Overall, these complementary flavours enrich each other.
Chicken Jjajangmyeon (Black Bean Noodles) and Manhattan
This is a Korean dish of chicken and other vegetables, like zucchini, that are cooked in a black sauce made of black beans. The ideal cocktail pair can be the classic Manhattan. The cocktail requires 30ml of rye whisky, 15ml of sweet vermouth, 5 drops of bitters, ice and maraschino cherries for garnish. To make the cocktail, fill a mixing glass with ice, pour the ingredients into it, like whisky, vermouth and bitters, stir well, strain into a coupe glass and serve with Chicken Jjajangmyeon. Though this is not a typical pairing, the contrasting pair, which is the cuisine’s savoury-sweet depth, and Manhattan’s bittersweet complexity, complement each other perfectly.
Chicken Japchae (Stir-Fried Glass Noodles) And Negroni
This is a vibrant and flavourful dish made up of sweet potato starch noodles (dangmyeon), chicken, various vegetables like carrots, spinach, mushrooms, and seasoned with soy sauce, sesame oil and sugar that creates a harmony between sweet and savoury flavours. The ideal cocktail that pairs with this dish is a Negroni. To make Negroni, mix 30ml of London dry gin, 30ml of bitters and 30ml of sweet vermouth in a glass, stir gently, add ice cubes, garnish with orange peel and serve with Chicken Japchae. Negroni has a bitterness that cuts the rich and sweet flavour of the spicy Japchae dish. Also, the tender chicken and chewy noodles complement the crisp Negroni well.
Dakgalbi (Spicy Stir-Fried Chicken) And Margarita
Dakgalbi is a Korean spicy stir-fried chicken served with spicy Gochujang, a spicy Korean condiment. The ingredients of this dish include sweet potato, cabbage, rice cakes, perilla leaves, scallions, and spices. To complement this spicy and savoury dish, a Margarita can pair well. 30ml of tequila, 15ml of orange liqueur, 15ml of lime juice, ice cubes and salt for rimming the glass. To make the cocktail, first rim the glass with salt, then take all the other ingredients in a cocktail shaker, shake well, and strain the mixture into a glass and serve. A Margarita’s sweet and sour flavour pairs well with Dakgalbi because its spicy and savoury flavour contrasts nicely with Dakgalbi and enhances Dakgalbi’s spiciness.
Korean foods are generally complexly flavoured with spicy, sweet, sour and savoury in almost every dish. These foods can complement different cocktails that either complement the taste or contrast the flavours. For example, the sweetness and umami can be well balanced with cocktails like Manhattans and old fashioned cocktails. Again, dark and stormy can cut through the spiciness of the fiery dishes. The bitter espresso martini cocktail can cut through the fat of fatty dishes. A Korean food theme can be a good option with the classic cocktails that pair well and create a unique cocktail party or family gathering.
Drink Responsibly. This communication is for audiences above the age of 25.
