Hoe-muchim (Spicy Tossed Raw Fish)

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Very sharp knife
• •Chilled stainless or ceramic mixing bowl
• •Clean cutting board reserved for raw fish
• •Kitchen gloves or long chopsticks

Instructions

1. 1

   Buy and chill

   Buy fish meant to be eaten raw, from a fishmonger who understands that you will serve it uncooked. Keep it at refrigerator temperature, below 4 degrees C or 40 degrees F, and use it the same day. Do not use freshwater fish for this. Hoe-muchim is generous with sauce, but sauce does not make unsafe fish safe.

   Firm white fish is best here: fluke, sea bream, sea bass, or halibut. Soft tuna and oily mackerel belong to other preparations.
2. 2

   Make the chojang

   In a bowl, stir together the gochujang, rice vinegar, maesil-cheong or honey, sugar, soy sauce, minced garlic, gochugaru, 1 teaspoon sesame oil, lemon or yuja juice, and salt until smooth. Taste it. It should be sweet, sour, spicy, and salty in that order, but none of them should bury the fish. If your gochujang is very sweet, reduce the sugar by 1 teaspoon.

3. 3

   Cut the vegetables

   Cut the cucumber and pear into matchsticks about 5cm long and 3mm thick. Slice the onion as thin as you can and soak it in cold water for 10 minutes, then drain and pat dry. Cut the minari into 2-inch lengths, slice the scallions, and roll the perilla leaves before slicing them into fine ribbons. Knife work matters here because thick vegetables bruise the fish and watery vegetables thin the sauce.

4. 4

   Slice the fish

   Pat the fish dry with clean paper towels, then slice it across the grain into strips about 6mm thick and 5cm long. Keep the fish on a chilled plate while you work. The pieces need enough thickness to stay springy after tossing, because thin sashimi slices collapse under chojang.

5. 5

   Toss at the end

   Put the cucumber, onion, pear, minari, scallions, and chili in a large cold bowl. Add the fish and 4 tablespoons of chojang first, then toss gently with gloved hands or chopsticks. Add more sauce 1 tablespoon at a time only if the fish still looks bare. Notebook 31 says 5 tablespoons of this sauce is right for 450g fish and this amount of vegetables. More than that turns hoe-muchim into red soup.

   손맛 is real. I still measure it. The right toss coats the fish and leaves almost no puddle at the bottom of the bowl.
6. 6

   Finish and serve

   Fold in the sliced perilla leaves, 1 tablespoon sesame seeds, and the final teaspoon of sesame oil. Pile the hoe-muchim onto a chilled platter and scatter the remaining sesame seeds over the top. Serve immediately with rice, gim (roasted seaweed), and lettuce leaves if you like. Do not let it sit on the table while people finish talking. This dish is mixed, served, and eaten while it is still cold.

Chef Tips

• •Tell the fishmonger plainly: this will be eaten raw. In Korea that conversation is ordinary at the market. At home, it is food safety, not fussiness.
• •Use less chojang than your hand wants at first. You can add sauce, but you cannot take it back once the fish is swimming in it.
• •If minari is unavailable, use tender watercress stems or crown daisy leaves in a smaller amount. The taste changes, but the role stays the same: clean green bitterness against the sweet-sour sauce.
• •Serve with plain rice if this is dinner, or with lettuce leaves and gim if it is a drinking-table dish. Either way, keep the plate cold until it lands.

Advance Preparation

• •The chojang can be mixed up to 3 days ahead and refrigerated. Stir it before using, because gochujang thickens as it sits.
• •Vegetables can be washed, dried, and cut up to 4 hours ahead. Keep them wrapped in the refrigerator with a dry towel so they stay crisp.
• •Slice the fish no more than 30 minutes before serving, keep it covered and cold, and toss only at the table or just before carrying it there.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 270g)