Dok Suni [Hardcover]

Jenny Kwak (Author), Liz Fried (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 15, 1998

In Dok Suni, Jenny Kwak offers a loving and delicious introduction to the most exciting cuisine in the food world today-- Korean cooking. Whether you are one of the millions of Americans who are already devotees of the spicy, healthful, home-style world of Korean food or you're trying it for the first time, Dok Suni will delight with flavorful, authentic, easy-to-prepare specialties and a taste of the family traditions that come to life in every dish.

Ranging from hearty and spicy soups (said to heal whatever ails you), barbecued beef favorites, and rice and noodle dishes to seafood and chicken specialties and the irresistible appetizers and side dishes that make every Korean meal complete, the recipes include: sautéed Korean vermicelli with vegetables * ginseng chicken in broth * spicy stewed crab * beef barbecue with sesame-salt dipping sauce * Korean dumplings * seafood pancake * stuffed zucchini * hearty kimchi soup * among many others.

More than a recipe collection, Dok Suni (the name means "strong woman") opens the door to an entire cuisine. Sprinkled with handed-down fables, secrets for easy preparation, and loving salutes to an immigrant mom who worked hard to make it in America and shows her love through her out-of-this-world kitchen creations, the book is a truly passionate celebration of Korean cooking and eating.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Dok Suni is an enchanting combination of personal narrative and appealing recipes in which Jenny Kwak shares stories and food from her mother's Korean kitchen. Since few cooks are familiar with Korean food, it is helpful that Kwak's descriptions of each dish tell what results to expect: Spinach and Clam Soup, you discover, "is good boiling hot (yet) there is a cool sensation about the flavor ... from the clams." The 70 recipes in this volume include important classic Korean dishes. There are six versions of Kim Chi, the incendiary pickle made from cabbage or other vegetables, garlic, and mounds of red pepper. Bibimbop, a dish of sautéed chopped vegetables served over rice--often in a heated clay dish--is topped with a raw egg that cooks as you mix it in. Proving how much Koreans love beef, Kwok gives her mother's recipes for Bulgogi and Kalbi. Bulgogi is thinly sliced beef marinated in soy sauce, sesame oil, and rice wine, then grilled. The short ribs used for Kalbi are similarly marinated before they are barbecued.

A caveat is necessary. Though Dok Suni is coauthored by a native English speaker, select recipes contain some questionable or incomplete directions. For the Pumpkin Porridge, the black beans are cooked for only five minutes, and no presoaking is called for, which seems an inadequate cooking time. Where brown rice is called for, there is no indication whether to use short or long grain. This being said, the book is still an inspirational introduction to Korean cooking that's also filled with Korean folklore and charming family narratives. --Dana Jacobi

From Library Journal

The second book on Korean food in a matter of months is proof that interest in this cuisine is indeed growing. Kwak and her mother own a popular Korean restaurant in New York City (Dok Suni, its name, means "strong woman"). Kwak's book is a more personal one than Deborah Coultrip-Davis and Young Sook Ramsay's Flavors of Korea (LJ 9/15/98) and, unlike their book, is not vegetarian. However, Coultrip-Davis and Ramsay include far more recipes than Kwak's 75, with more information about the cuisine as well. Still, given the paucity of books on the subject, Dok Suni is recommended for most larger collections (despite its inflated price).
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 144 pages
• Publisher: St. Martin's Press; 1st edition (October 15, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312192614
• ISBN-13: 978-0312192617
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 7.3 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (25 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #314,944 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars below my expectations, July 30, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Dok Suni (Hardcover)

Being korean-american, I guess my expectations were too high. I thought that since, the authors of this book were korean, that this book would help me hone my korean cooking skills. I was very disappointed because there are not that many recipes contained in the book and also many of the techniques used are not traditional. The recipes turned out okay, but they seemed to be lacking something. The ingredient list and techniques used seemed to be simplified so that they would be easier for nonkoreans. However, for someone who is unfamiliar with korean food in general, there are not enough pictures to help them. There are 8 pages of pictures and six of them contain pictures of finished products.

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Highly Recommendable, March 18, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Dok Suni (Hardcover)

I am a Korean American who has been eating Korean food most my life-I feel that I can be a fairly accurate judge of Korean cooking and this book is Excellent. I feel that these recipes were very easy to follow and were very authentic. Because most Korean cooks-cook according to instinct versus documented recipes( a pinch of this and that)-this book was wonderful to have. It give some structure to the art. I've recommended this to several friends and have even bought it for others. Also this book has some wonderful little stories about cooking and the author's family. It is a beautiful and handy book.

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Helpful, but not much, February 21, 2001

By 

"ann26hw" (Ann Arbor, Michigan) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Dok Suni (Hardcover)

I have been keeping this book for about six months and have tried around 10 recipes from it. I am not Korean but my boyfriend is a native so he can easily tell whether those dishes are authentic or not. After those experience, I feel this book is helpful for beginners, but it oversimplifies Korean cuisine. Those side dishes aren't so easy to make as they look, believe me. Besides, some recipes are confusing. For example, Kalbi, according to the book, for 1 pound beef short ribs, it only needs 2 tablespoons soy sauce, 2 tablespoons sugar, 2 teaspoon sesame oil and chopped garlic, no salt at all. If you follow this, the beef ribs will turn out to be tasteless. Korean barbecue dishes always have strong taste and need much more condiments. And Yuke-jaong, our favorite, needs much more red pepper flakes than the quantity from the book to get that hot and spicy taste. So I think this is just an OK cooking book, not a great one, though I do love those stories bringing out the culture of this country.