Originally coming from the Midwest, I’m not much for seafood. But I did stand before the world 30-some years ago and pledged to love, cherish, and honor a woman who loves the stuff. And while over the years she’s been a real sport when it comes to our meat and potato diet, there are still times I can tell she regrets marrying me, and none of those times are more evident than when she wants a good crab soup.
Still, I’m doing my part, and when our usual Sunday expedition came up a few days ago, I thought to treat her to something she just doesn’t get enough of – a trip to the ocean and her choice of seafood. I was willing to dive on whatever grenade she lobbed my way.
Now, when I say “seafood,” I mean something quite a bit different than what a lot of Americans think of when they hear the word. Face it – we smother and slather our “seafood” in butter and sauce and spices to the point it’s near-unrecognizable. Sure, Red Lobster, Bubba Gump, and Joe’s Crab Shack aren’t the “gold standard,” but they’re certainly indicators of what we Americans think of the stuff. Even the good restaurants end up dressing it all up somehow.
But not in Korea. Koreans are the kings and queens of naked seafood. Sure, they’ll put it in stews and soups, and they’ll let you dip it in sauces along the way; but when it comes to preparing it, it doesn’t get much more basic than firing up a grill and tossing the stuff on it right out of the bucket.
And that’s what we did on Sunday. We walked through a good-sized seafood market on the coast; stopped at a place where we picked up a bag of clams, oysters, and snails; and headed for a nearby building set aside just to eat the stuff. They lit up the brazier, gave us each a cloth glove, tongs, scissors, and a small plate of condiments and sauces, and from there it was just a matter of us doing the work ourselves to plow through the bag (which by now they’d transferred to a bucket).
And make no doubt about it – Koreans are all about fresh when it comes to this stuff. Not only have I pulled clams right off a grill as they popped open (like I did on Sunday – that’s why you need the cloth glove); I’ve bought fish right off the boat, had it filleted for sashimi, and then took the guts, head, fins, and bones across the street to be made into a soup while we waited. I’ve even had to slap the cover on a pot of spicy soup so the octopi we’d just put into it didn’t crawl out before it was ready to eat. I’ve had just about everything out of the ocean that I’ve cared to eat, and all usually within minutes of it being alive.
And to tell you the truth, even for this Wisconsin boy, some of it tasted pretty good.
But for the most part, I do it for my wife. Every so often she deserves to get something she likes a lot but has given up because she married a landlubber like me. After 34 years, I still think I’m making out on the deal…
You should take her more… she even tells me she wants to eat seafood! 🤣