Gejang

Gejang
Gejang
Korean name
Hangul
게장, 게젓
Hanja
게醬, (none)
Revised Romanizationgejang, gejeot
McCune–Reischauerkejang, kejŏt
IPA[kedʑaŋ], [kedʑʌt̚]

Gejang (Korean: 게장) or gejeot (게젓) is a variety of jeotgal, or salted fermented seafood in Korean cuisine, which is made by marinating fresh raw crabs in either ganjang (soy sauce) or a chili pepper powder based sauce. The term consists of the two words; ge, meaning "a crab", and jang which means "condiment" in Korean.[1] The crabs selected for the Gejang dish are mainly female crabs with eggs.

While gejang was originally used to refer to crabs marinated in soy sauce, it is now also called ganjang-gejang (Korean: 간장게장) to differentiate it from yangnyeom-gejang (양념게장). The latter is a relatively new dish that emerged alongside the boom in South Korea's restaurant industry. Its origins appear to come from the Chungcheong and Jeolla provinces, which both have long-standing traditions of mixing raw fish or dried pollock with a spicy red pepper flake or gochujang sauce.[2] People later began preparing crab in a similar fashion, resulting in what is known today as yangnyeom-gejang.[2][3] "Yangnyeom" means "seasoning" or "seasoned" in Korean, and refers to the spicy sauce of the dish that is made with chili pepper powder.

Gyeongsang, Jeolla, and Jeju Island are famous for their own types of gejang.[4] It is a representative specialty of Yeosu in the South Jeolla Province, and a traditional Jeolla cuisine dish.[5] According to Korean traditional medicine, crabs possess a 'cold nature' that can cool one's body temperature, and so gejang is believed to be good for driving away the spring fever.

According to a poll of tourists to Korea, gejang is difficult to eat because the dish is too spicy and salty.[6]

  1. ^ 게장 (in Korean). Doosan Encyclopedia. Archived from the original on 2008-09-22.
  2. ^ a b "한국국제교류재단 KF". www.koreana.or.kr (in Korean). Retrieved 2024-05-08.
  3. ^ 전필호 (2006-02-23). (서울) 맛집 스파이 잠입! - 간장게장 편 (in Korean). JoongAng Ilbo. Archived from the original on 2011-07-13.
  4. ^ 게장 (in Korean). Empas / EncyKorea.
  5. ^ Moon, Gwang-lip (14 July 2012). "Traditional cuisines to savor at the World Fair". Korea JoongAng Daily. Archived from the original on 16 June 2013. Retrieved 22 May 2013.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  6. ^ "외국인이 먹기 힘든 한국음식 1위는 '게장'…2·3위는 청국장, 산낙지" [No.1 Korea Food for foreigner hard to eat is "Gejang"]. JoongAng Ilbo. 13 June 2016.