I was reading this NYT op-ed piece about the salmon shortage this year and it made me think.... What is my madeleine? What's that one food that is a taste of your childhood?
The madeleine is a French cookie and a reference from Proust's In Search of Lost Time. In the book, the protagonist takes a bite of a madeleine and is immediately flooded with memories of his childhood. If you've seen "Ratatouille", the evil critic Anton Ego's madeleine is ratatouille.
I have a few, but my ultimate culinary memory from childhood is my grandmother's sahm-kae-tahng (chicken soup with ginseng) with rice and pickled radishes (not spicy). One spoonful of rice soaked in the soup, and then my grandmother would place one piece of radish on top of the rice mound. Then down the hatch. So good.
Another meal that has a lot of good memories attached is Sunday afternoon ramen and kimchi with the family. I think it may have even been Sapporo Ichiban. A little bit of egg, some green onions, and if we had it, ggak-du-gi (radish cubes).
What's your madeleine?
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3 comments:
my mouth was watering thinking about that samgaetang. for me, shi-kae (also thanks to halmuni) brings back the feel-good childhood memories.
yum.. i love that chicken soup!!! my madeleine when i was little was my dad's kalbi. eating it with my fingers like i didn't care!! then later on it was my mom's bibimbop. it's crucial for every element to be perfectly delicious, and my mom did it the best. totally brings back memories..
it took a minute, but it came to me.
mmm... for me, my madeline's this seaweed banchan made with go-choo-jang, vinegar, and sesame oil called "ji-noo-ah-ri." it's sort of a local thing where i grew up in sokcho. what can i say? i'm a country bumpkin from an oceanside village. :) my mouth is watering too. i may have to ask my aunt to send some from korea...
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