Making Wanjat’ang: Fish Meatballs
“…A good memory is not as good as poor writing. How could this knowledge be helpful if not recorded for the time when I will [inevitably] forget?” - Madame Yi
Brief History: Chosŏn Dynasty Korea
The Chosŏn dynasty in Korea (1392-1910) was founded by General Yi Song-Gye and can be distinguished by its bureaucratic government system, establishment of social classes, prevalent Neo-Confuciansim, and developement of Hangul, or the Korean alphabet [1].
Neo-confuciansim influenced societal values and expectations for men and women during this time period.
The Sadaebu class, which founded the Chosŏn dynasty, saw decline in morality as one of the reasons the previous Koryŏ dynasty fell, so to institute neo-Confucianism and a patriarchal society, they enforced regulations on the behaviors and activities deemed appropriate for women. Although there were different classes in the Chosŏn dynasty, such a royalty, yanban (elite), commoners, individuals in special professions, and lowborn class/slaves, so that the lifestyles of women varied depending on which class they were born into, there was a common theme of women being expected to marry, raise children, and oversee internal home matters. Regulations related to yangban women restricted them from visiting temple monasteries, hosting shaman rituals, dressing in certain styles, and having extended contact with the opposite sex. Instead, they were expected to focus on weaving, accommodating guests, reading Confucian texts, and other activities to cultivate virtue [2].
Image: Korean mean and women during 18th century Chosŏn dynasty. By 단원 김홍도 (檀園 金弘道, 1745 - 1816 이후) - 국립중앙박물관, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=28189915
During the late Chosŏn dynasty around the 17th century, there was an increased availability of novels and an increased number of literate yangban women. Yangban women were originally learning to read so they could read Confucian texts, but over time they began to read books for leisure and other knowledge, especially as commerce and distribution outlets continued to develop in the 18th century, and they also began to write books more frequently.
Prior to female cookbook writers, male scholars primarily kept records on Korean food with interests related to medicinal uses of food. Over the Chosŏn dynasty, food was written about from new perspectives, and increased female involvement lent female experience and knowledge that had not been expressed before. However, female cookbooks differed from those of men by targeting literate females instead of elite males, “expanding the boundaries of their space and [imagining] their own concept of civility” in the process [3].
One of these female authors, Yi Pinghogak, or who I will refer to as Madame Yi, is the author of The Encyclopedia of Daily Life: A Woman’s Guide to Living in Late-Chosŏn Korea. This the encyclopedia is a collection of not just food recipes, but knowledge of first aid, childbirth, and more, and it is the source from which I chose my rework project recipe. Madame Yi grew up in a successful yangban family following Confucian ideals and received a good education. During her time, there was a shift in thinking concerning women’s education, the growing sentiment being that education should be for one’s own benefit instead of just for a government role. She was a prolific writer during her life, but her encyclopedia is of special importance since it was published in the 19th century using woodblock printing, allowing it to be more widely circulated and making her the first female author of printed practical literature [3].
Madame Yi is also notable for helping expand what was considered appropriate for women to partake as their duties. She did so by spreading her knowledge in her books in vernacular Korean, which was more accessible to women, and instead of trying to extremely distance women from the kitchen and household, she expanded what could be considered a woman’s scope of duties and justified women’s education and writing as a way for them to become more virtuous.
Inspiration
As someone who has recently started cooking often for myself, reconstructing an original recipe seemed like a natural choice for me. Not to mention, the vague descriptions of techniques and omitted ingredient measurements seemed familiar, reminding me my mother teaching me how to cook rice or cook chicken over the phone, telling me to leave the rice boiling “for a while” and that she cannot tell me how much water or tomatoes or onions she usually adds because they are never set measurements. This innate knowledge that one gains through experience, a concept integral to Madame Yi’s The Encyclopedia of Daily Life: A Woman’s Guide to Living in Late-Chosŏn Korea, attracted me to choosing a recipe from her book.
Not only does Madame Yi provide extensive cooking recipes, but she pushes against the limits of what were considered domestic duties for women during her time by discussing topics outside of cooking and because of her somewhat scientific experimentation-like approach to passing on her knowledge of these activities. For example, as the quote above suggests, she wrote down her knowledge on topics ranging from food to first aid to weaving, making strong assertions and adding her personal opinions from time to time. Even if she was not the first or only woman to make such progress, her work certainly goes against the norm of male scholars as the sole authorities on keeping records on Korean food, especially as she did so by writing in vernacular Korean, which is more accessible to a wider audience. As someone pursuing science and research, I connected with her dedication to convey evidence from her own experiences that would hopefully reach a large audience of women who could then replicated her instructions. However, I enjoy that there is still vagueness, allowing for personal interpretation and leaving room for oneself to add on to her findings.
In that spirit, I chose to recreate Madame Yi’s recipe for fish meatballs, or Wanjat’ang for my Rework Project. The ingredients seemed minimal and familiar, and I was intrigued by the combination of fish and meatballs since I had never had the two together in this kind of dish. I sought out to compare the original recipe with a more modern recipe from a Korean cookbook [4] and a Youtube video [5] that contains both traditional and modern aspects of the recipe.
Recipe
The name Wanjat’ang can be broken down into:
Wanja (meatballs)
tang (formal term for guk (soup), usually takes a longer time cooking, key component is the broth)
Original text: “Remove the bones and scales of a large fish and finely pound the flesh. Thoroughly pound one meat such as pork, beef, pheasant, or chicken, and then add black pepper powder, ginger, green onion, p’yogo mushroom, and oil sauce, and mix thoroughly. Make a meatball about the size of a chestnut. Put one pine nut inside of the meatball and cover it with egg or starch, and then boil in soy-sauce soup.” [6]
Limitations—>Solutions
There is no description of what kind of fish to use—> Other Korean recipes that require fish suggest white fish, such as tilapia. [7]
Difficulty purchasing a full tilapia fish—> I bought a bag of tilapia fillets, which seemed cheaper and would allow me to have more supply for more trials if necessary.
No physical description of what “thoroughly pound” or “finely pound” should look like—> Knowing that these ingredients will have to be mixed thoroughly and kneaded into a ball shape, I assumed they should result in a doughy-like texture.
Unsure of what “oil sauce” means—> Upon looking at a modern recipe and a Youtube video of Wanjat’ang from the channel TheKoreafood [5], they both employ sesame oil in the same step where oil sauce is mentioned, therefore I took oil sauce to mean sesame oil, or at least let it be a good substitute.
Unsure of what “soy-sauce soup” means—> After discussion with my professor, we determined that the phrase “soy-sauce soup” most likely did not leave too much room for interpretation and a simple process, such as that used in the Youtube video by TheKoreafood [5], in which a Korean woman demonstrates how to cook Wanjat’ang similarly to Madame Yi’s recipe, can be used. However, upon researching the name “Wanjat’ang, I found that “tang” refers to a more formal “guk” with broth as a key component, so I decided to also use a beef stock recipe as the soup the beef will boil in in case this is also an accurate interpretation of the recipe. [8]
No time limit for boiling the meatball—> Based on the Youtube video and the modern recipe, both share the characteristic of the meatballs floating in the soup in the final product, therefore I chose to boil until I reached the same outcome. [4][5]
Madame Yi’s text does not specifically mention how to serve this dish—> Given the modern recipe, the Youtube video, and the name “tang,” I decided to show my final products in soup. [4][5][8]
Trial 1: Original Recipe with Beef Stock
The following images show the steps I took for trial 1. [6]
First thaw the fish fillet
Rinse the pieces of beef
Pound the pieces of beef with a wooden spoon and tear by hand until it is in fine pieces
Repeat step 3 for the fish fillet once thawed
Add ground black pepper, minced ginger, finely minced green onion and p’yogo mushrooms, sesame oil, and mix thoroughly by hand
Make meatballs by rolling a portion of the mixture in your hands
Place one pine nut in each meatball
Crack one egg in a bowl
Coat each meatball with egg yolk
Boil the meatballs in the soy-sauce soup until they float to the surface
This trial was more time-consuming and difficult than I had previously anticipated. This is due to having to make the beef stock before/during making the meatballs. The steps for making the beef stock are as follows [4]:
Soak beef for 30 minutes in cold water
Pat dry
Sauté green onions and garlic in a stockpot for 2 minutes
Add the beef and sauté for 2 minutes until light brown
Add soy sauce and sesame oil and sauté for 1 minute
Add 6 cups of cold water
Boil and then simmer for 45 minutes
Strain through a sieve lined with cheesecloth
In addition, finely pounding fish and beef with a wooden spoon was also very time-consuming and tiring. I did so as to not use a blender, which would not have been available during Madame Yi’s time, but this resulted in the mixture of fish and beef not being very homogenous. Also, the meatballs did not float in the soup in the end. The amounts of each ingredient are not given, so I used my tacit knowledge from prior cooking experiences and my personal tastes when adding each ingredient.
Trial 2: Original Recipe with Beef Boiled in Water
The steps I took during this trial are shown below. In this trial, I attempted the other possible interpretation of soy-sauce soup where the meatballs are boiled in only water that had beef and 2 tablespoons of soy sauce boiling (no other added ingredients) [5]. In addition, in this step I switched from Angus stew beef to Korean flank steaks and incorporated using a meat tenderizer and a blender. The flank was easier to finely pound with the tenderizer and the blender only made the fish and beef mixture even more homogenized, creating a much doughier texture. Otherwise, the steps I followed for making the meatballs were exactly the same as in Trial 1. This did not seem to have any difference in the final product as the meatballs were not a different color nor did they float.
Video used as reference for Trial 2’s soy sauce soup made from beef boiled in water and soy sauce.
Trial 3: Modern Recipe
For the modern recipe, I followed the recipe in the 2001 cookbook Growing up in a Korean Kitchen: A Cookbook, except for the rice wine and flank steak [4]. The steps are similar to those in Madame Yi’s recipe, except they contain specific measurements and time limits. It also includes a step of covering the meatballs with flour before coating them in egg and specifically suggests 6 cups of water for the beef stock. Since this recipe includes beef stock, it is time-consuming.
Ingredients:
1/2 tablespoon sesame oil
2 green onions, white part only, finely minced
1 garlic clove, crushed and finely chopped
Pinch of salt
Pinch of freshly ground black pepper
5 ounces lean ground beef tenderloin* substituted with flank steak
4 cups Beef Stock
2 tablespoons flour
1 egg, lightly beaten
2 green onions, sliced into thin rings, for garnish* substituted with egg garnish
It also suggests garnishing the final product with either green onions or egg garnish in the shape of diamonds, for which the recipe is also in the cookbook. However, I also relied on a Youtube video to examine what the final egg garnish should look like [9]. In this trial, I successfully achieved the meatballs floating in the soup at the end, however, I misjudged how long it would take me to make the egg garnish, so by the time the diamonds were ready, the meatballs were soggy and were no longer floating.
Although I did not taste the meatball itself, I did taste the soup. It was very hearty and had a good flavor. If anything, it was perhaps a bit too salty.
Lessons Learned
Although there were various points of confusion, tiredness from the long wait time for certain cooking steps, and a less than perfect end product, I am excited about what I have learned and have left to learn.
After the first two trials, I was a bit discouraged that the meatballs did not float in the soup, however they did do so in the third trial. This raises questions about what happened in the third trial that resulted In this different outcome. Some possibilities are that the flour helps the meatballs float, since I only used it during the third trial, or perhaps a large volume of water is necessary when making the soy-sauce soup. In the first two trials, I used about 2 cups of water per the Youtube video, but given that my pot was wider than the one used in the video, the water did not cover the meatballs. 6 cups of water in trial 3 did, though.
I also learned how to better portion my time with each step. Especially when making beef stock, it is important to start that process before making the meatballs, so as to shorten the total cooking time. One should also start making the egg garnish while the meatballs are boiling to avoid them becoming soggy.
I believe these points are aspects that can be further elaborated on and tested with more trials. Although there are some aspects to this recipe that can be changed according to personal taste, such as how much garlic, ginger, soy sauce, etc. one uses, the main criteria for a successful Wanjat’ang is that the meatballs float.
Thank you and enjoy cooking!
References:
[1]Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. "Chosŏn dynasty". Encyclopedia Britannica, 25 Sep. 2019, https://www.britannica.com/topic/Choson-dynasty. Accessed 9 May 2022.
[2]Han, Hee-sook. “Women’s Life during the Chosŏn Dynasty.” International Journal of Korean History, vol. 6, Dec. 2004, pp. 113–162.
[3]Sang-ho, Ro. "Cookbooks and Female Writers in Late Chosŏn Korea." Seoul Journal of Korean Studies, vol. 29 no. 1, 2016, p. 133-157. Project MUSE, doi:10.1353/seo.2016.0000.
[4]Hepinstall, Hi Soo Shin. Growing up in a Korean Kitchen: A Cookbook. Ten Speed Press, 2001.
[5]“[Korea Food] wanjatang (한국음식완자탕),“ YouTube video, 5:20, posted by “TheKoreafood," October 10, 2011, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bxpq2HgBNg0.
[6]Pettid, Michael J., and Kil Cha. “Volume 1, Liquor and Food, Part 1.” The Encyclopedia of Daily Life: A Woman’s Guide to Living in Late-Chosŏn Korea, vol. 11, University of Hawai’i Press, 2021, pp. 39–91, https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv1bn9jks.7
[7]“A Look at Korean Fish Cakes.” Lotte Plaza Market, Lotte Plaza Market, 29 May 2020, https://www.lotteplaza.com/korean-food/a-look-at-korean-fish-cakes/.
[8]Park, Yerica. “Korean Soups: What's the Difference between Guk, Tang, Jjigae and Jeongol?” MICHELIN Guide, MICHELIN Guide, 16 Apr. 2017, https://guide.michelin.com/sg/en/article/features/korean-soups-guk-tang-jjigae-jeongol-sg.
[9]“How to Make Korean Egg Garnish (달걀 지단, DalGyal JiDan) | Aeri’s Kitchen,” Youtube video, 2:52, posted by “Aeri’s Kitchen,” July 10, 2013, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L9CvtTO6hgc