Dotorimuk!

Well, as promised, today I went, with my good friend Mr. Abram, to the Chicago Food Co., a Korean grocer's, at 3333 N. Kimball, and purchased some acorn jelly. The supermarket was a charming place, with all sorts of yummies on display - such as some seaweed, which, whenever I see some for sale, I am sorely tempted to buy, as seaweed is delicious! But, that was not my aim to-day, and so instead I purchased a package of dotorimuk, which Abram quickly found almost as soon as we entered the store.

When we returned to my apartment, we proceeded to look on the intarweb for any recipes we could find. In general, those we located consisted of cold salads, in which the acorn jelly was seasoned with sauces and garnished with lettuce, and requiring foodstuffs that Jane & I do not stock in our apartment. Deciding to taste the damn stuff before reaching any conclusions about what to do with it, we unwrapped it from its package and cut off a couple of slivers to eat. The jelly had a pleasant taste, very slightly salty, and with a mild, but quite distinct, nutty flavor. It reminded me, faintly, of walnuts. Being as gelatinous as it was, it would crumble and melt in one's mouth in a rather interesting way.

After thus having tried the stuff, we pondered in what manner we should use it, and rummaged through the contents of my 'fridge to see what was available. Eventually, what we decided to do (and, to give credit where credit's due, it was mostly Mr. Abram's plan) was to stir fry the dotorimuk in olive oil, with some garlic, ginger, and baby spinach leaves, adding some vinegar-based salad dressing and sugar for flavor afterwards.

I am pleased to report that this concoction tasted pretty damn good. Even though the dotorimuk's flavor isn't terribly strong, and it was surrounded by powerfully-flavored ingredients (like garlic), its nutty note was still unique enough to be detectable in the dish. Abram & I gobbled it down happily, and seeing as how there is plenty of dotorimuk left from the glop we bought, I'll probably be making it again in the future. So, there you go, kids: Acorns are nutritious, and delicious!

Being nutritious and delicious since 1986,
--mark