LET’S COOK KOREAN GOCHUJANG EGGS

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Eggs. So many people think they’re either too much effort or too simple. Chefs consider this fundamental ingredient a test of skill. A decent egg is easy to make. A great egg is very difficult. It’s a rainy-bleh day here today and a perfect time for a hearty meal. So if you’re a newer cook let me point out some common mistakes and if you’re a more experienced cook but don’t tend to use Asian ingredients you may get one thing out of joining me for making breakfast today.

Let’s start with the pan. If you’re a lover of stainless carbon steel or cast iron, as I am, I suggest you make an exception for a modern non-stick pan for your eggs, otherwise, you will waste a lot of eggs on a thin layer of baked eggs that will be a pain to clean out the pan.

This is a Japanese-style omelette pan but it works fine for scrambled eggs too. Laid out I have the seasonings I like to use for scrambled eggs. A few are absolutely common and for good reason: salt and black pepper. A few are less common but hardly unusual: paprika adds smokiness, red pepper flakes add a specific kind of heat, and chili powder adds yet another. Yes, this is basically red peppers in three ways.

And then a fourth, gochujang. If you’re familiar with Korean food then you’re already familiar with it. The red pepper paste comes in various flavors with this one being extra hot. For those who don’t like heat, you may be surprised that each of these forms of adding red peppers has a distinct flavor, and combined they make the eggs rich and fill you with warmth.

Add to your taste and heat preference. I’m actually not a heat junkie – I like just enough pepper to warm me and let me combine the flavors. I grab the gochujang paste with the chopsticks and mix it directly in as I scramble them.

Finally, I want to provide a note about consistency. If you’re like me you do not like slimy eggs but many end up cooking them until they’re completely firm. And some people like slimy. Both are wrong. Properly cooked scrambled eggs need to be in-between to evoke the full flavor of the egg, cooked past sliminess but stopped before firm.

And how long does it take? About five minutes. You want to use a low heat and just bring it up to medium right at the end to make sure you don’t overcook. And the result is a delicious bowl of eggs. You can serve it with rice or toast or if you want some carbs.

Leto Armitage was born in America under a set of circumstances that prophesied that he would one day unite the lost tribes and return the Ever Summer. Somewhere around twelve, he realized he had been left unsupervised and binged too many Arthurian movies in his formative years and that he was just another kid who accidentally got an education while reading above his age level.

By the time he turned old enough to get a passport, he started finding excuses to travel determined to find out what culture, food and women there were to experience. After learning to grill in Oaxaca, do kinbaku in Japan, and being banned from several former Soviet block countries, he returned home to settle down and see what damage he could do locally.

After working jobs including being a short order cook, bodyguarding strippers and professionally doing reader’s advisory for erotica he realized the most reasonable path forward was to become a writer. Today he lives with cats, dogs, and humans who seem to like him despite actually knowing him. He prefers to sit on his back deck, listening to the birds and Barry the Bumblebear bee, while he writes cozy, uplit romance and raunchy erotica.