Plain-English guides to Korean ingredients, labels, and pantry choices.
For a recipe that asks for Korean fermented soybean paste, buy doenjang. For a prepared wrap dip, look for ssamjang. A third product, soybean-paste stew seasoning, may sit nearby. It can help you make dinner quickly, but its directions are different from a recipe built around plain doenjang.
For gimbap, choose gim sheets intended for rolling. For miyeokguk, choose miyeok. For a recipe that requests kelp in its stock, look for dashima. These names identify different ingredients, even when an English shelf label calls all of them “seaweed.”
Buy gochujang when a recipe asks for Korean red chili paste. Buy ssamjang when you want a seasoned dip for lettuce wraps, vegetables or grilled meat. They can share ingredients, but they are different products. A tub of ssamjang is not simply a milder version of gochujang.
Choose the grind your recipe requests: coarse gochugaru has larger particles, while fine gochugaru is more finely ground. Check heat separately. A fine grind does not, by itself, mean a hotter pepper.
A Korean recipe asks for soy sauce, and the shop has bottles marked 국간장, 진간장 and 양조간장. Which should you choose?