Chef Jeong-sun
Albaechu-mul-kimchi (Baby Cabbage Water Kimchi)
Tender baby napa cabbage in a clear pear-garlic brine, lightly fermented until the broth turns clean and bright, the summer kimchi a beginner can make without a kimjang floor.
Culinary Explorer
A cooking platform built around craft, culture, and the stories behind what we eat.
Nogari (Dried Baby Pollack with Chili-Mayo)
Created by
The late-night dried pollack snack that asks for almost no cooking, only careful roasting, patient tearing, and a chili-mayo dip kept sharp enough not to bury the fish.
Sauces & Condiments
Korean
Make Ahead
Budget Friendly
10 min
Active Time
5 min cook•15 min total
Yield2 to 3 servings
Nogari belongs to the hour when dinner is finished but the table is not ready to let people go. In old beer houses, one dried little pollack could sit between three friends with cold beer and a dish of chili-mayo, and nobody felt cheated. A snack is still a dish. It deserves a notebook too.
The whole thing lives or dies by heat. Roast nogari too hard and it becomes a board. Leave it too pale and it stays dry in the jaw. You want the skin to blister in small spots, the flesh to puff and loosen, and the tail to bend when you press it. Then you tear it along the grain, not across it, so the chew stays clean.
The sauce must know its place. Mayonnaise softens the salt, gochujang gives color and a little depth, vinegar wakes it up, and garlic should be a whisper. Let it taste like dried pollack. 손맛 is real; I measure it anyway, so the next plate comes out the same.
Koreans have long given pollack, myeongtae (명태), different names according to age and processing: saengtae for fresh, dongtae for frozen, bugeo or hwangtae for fully dried fish, and nogari for the young dried pollack eaten as an anju (drinking snack). Nogari became especially tied to Seoul's hof beer culture in the late twentieth century, with Euljiro's beer-and-nogari alley growing around printers, office workers, and small pubs. Its history is not palace food; it is wage-work, cheap beer, and a dried fish made generous by sharing.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
dried baby pollack (nogari)
Quantity
3 fish, about 25 to 35g each
neutral oil
Quantity
1 teaspoon
for rubbing the pan or fish
mayonnaise
Quantity
3 tablespoons
gochujang (Korean chili paste)
Quantity
1 teaspoon
rice vinegar
Quantity
1/2 teaspoon
corn syrup or honey
Quantity
1/2 teaspoon
soy sauce
Quantity
1/4 teaspoon
toasted sesame oil
Quantity
1/4 teaspoon
garlic (optional)
Quantity
1/4 small clove
finely grated
toasted sesame seeds (optional)
Quantity
1/2 teaspoon
green chili (optional)
Quantity
1 small
thinly sliced
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| dried baby pollack (nogari) | 3 fish, about 25 to 35g each |
| neutral oilfor rubbing the pan or fish | 1 teaspoon |
| mayonnaise | 3 tablespoons |
| gochujang (Korean chili paste) | 1 teaspoon |
| rice vinegar | 1/2 teaspoon |
| corn syrup or honey | 1/2 teaspoon |
| soy sauce | 1/4 teaspoon |
| toasted sesame oil | 1/4 teaspoon |
| garlic (optional)finely grated | 1/4 small clove |
| toasted sesame seeds (optional) | 1/2 teaspoon |
| green chili (optional)thinly sliced | 1 small |
Equipment Needed
- •Dry skillet or grill pan
- •Tongs
- •Small mixing bowl
- •Kitchen scissors, optional
Instructions
- 1
Check the fish
Look over the nogari and brush away loose scales or dust with a dry towel. If the fish feels very hard, wrap it in a barely damp towel for 5 minutes only. Do not soak it. Soaking washes away the salt and dried-fish savor you came for.
Good nogari smells clean and marine, not sharp or rancid. If the oil in the fish has turned bitter, no sauce will rescue it. - 2
Mix the dip
Stir together the mayonnaise, gochujang, rice vinegar, corn syrup or honey, soy sauce, sesame oil, and grated garlic if using. Taste it. It should be creamy, lightly red, a little sharp, and not sweet enough to cover the fish. Scatter sesame seeds and sliced green chili over the top if you want them.
- 3
Warm the pan
Heat a dry skillet or grill pan over medium-low heat for 2 minutes, then rub it with the teaspoon of oil. Medium-low is the important part. Nogari is already cooked by drying; you are waking it up, not frying it.
- 4
Roast gently
Lay the nogari in the pan and press lightly with tongs. Roast 1 1/2 to 2 minutes per side, turning once or twice, until the skin shows small toasted spots and the body bends instead of snapping. If the fins darken too fast, lower the heat. Burnt dried fish tastes harsh for the rest of the night.
- 5
Tear and serve
Move the nogari to a board and let it sit 1 minute, just until your fingers can handle it. Pull off the head if attached, split the body open, and tear the flesh into long strips along the grain. Serve at once with the chili-mayo. People can tear their own at the table too; that is half the pleasure.
Chef Tips
- •Buy nogari that is pale beige and dry but still a little flexible at the belly. If it is bone-white and brittle, it will chew like old rope. If it feels oily or smells sour, leave it at the shop.
- •A broiler works if you watch closely: 1 to 2 minutes per side, set a hand's width from the heat. This is a safe corner to cut. Walking away from the broiler is not.
- •Keep the gochujang modest. This is not tteokbokki sauce. The dip should round the salt and give a little heat, while the dried pollack remains the main taste.
Advance Preparation
- •The chili-mayo can be mixed up to 3 days ahead and kept refrigerated. Stir it before serving, because the sesame oil can rise to the surface.
- •Nogari keeps well in an airtight bag in the freezer for 2 to 3 months. Roast it straight from frozen over low heat, adding 1 extra minute per side.
- •Roast only what you will eat that night. Once toasted and cooled, nogari toughens and loses the clean chew that makes it worth serving.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 55g)
Calories
225 calories
Total Fat
14 g
Saturated Fat
2 g
Trans Fat
0 g
Unsaturated Fat
11 g
Cholesterol
50 mg
Sodium
650 mg
Total Carbohydrates
3 g
Dietary Fiber
0 g
Sugars
2 g
Protein
22 g
Where cooking meets culture.
Culinary guides, cultural storytelling, and the editorial depth that makes cooking meaningful.
Discover Culinary ExplorerMore from Jangajji & Jeotgal: The Preserved Pantry
Browse the full collection
Chef Jeong-sun
Baek-kimchi (White Napa Cabbage Kimchi)
The kimchi from before chili, salted napa cabbage packed with radish, pear, jujube, and pine nuts in a clear brine that turns quietly tart in the jar.
Chef Jeong-sun
Baek-oi-sobagi (White Stuffed Cucumber Kimchi)
A pale summer cucumber kimchi, split and stuffed with radish and chives, then held in a cool pear brine so the cucumber stays clean, crunchy, and plainly itself.
Chef Jeong-sun
Bomdong Baek-kimchi (Spring Cabbage White Kimchi)
Flat spring bomdong cabbage, lightly brined and tucked into a clear pear-radish kimchi broth, made without chili and eaten young while the leaves still taste like spring.