Secret Korean fare sure to tempt Auckland diners

Jin Kyung Youn with some of the dishes at Jami Restaurant, Wairau Valley. Photo / Peter Meecham

A Korean grandmother is using secret recipes passed down from generation to generation in her family to share her culture in her adopted homeland.

Jami Restaurant, loosely translated from Korean as "natural healthy eating", opens today in Wairau Valley serving jongga foods, or meals prepared from ancient family recipes.

A jongga is the house of the firstborn son which is passed down from one generation to the next.

Some of these houses in Korea date back more than 1000 years.

Jin Kyung Youn, 54, said she had been thinking about how best to share her Korean culture with New Zealanders since moving here seven years ago.

"I thought the best and most personal way I can do this is by sharing the dishes that my family has been cooking for generations."

In a jongga house, the eldest son and his wife show their devotion to parents and ancestors by following family recipes. It is the responsibility of the women in the household to prepare recipe books and ensure they are handed down to descendants.

Mrs Youn said the cooking skill of the woman of the house also reflects the dignity and status of the family.

Her mother faced huge pressure to cook the finest foods for visitors because she was the daughter of the Mayor of Anyang City in Gyeonggi.

"I was taught traditional Korean cooking and learned our family recipes from my mother."

After she left school, Mrs Youn said, she became a disciple of a Korean food professor at the Institution of Korean Traditional Food in Seoul.

In Korean culture, food is also regarded as a medicine with healing properties, Mrs Youn said. "When medicine cannot cure an illness, we are taught that cooking certain food in a certain way can heal a person."

Mrs Youn said some of the recipes used at Jami had been in her family for 34 generations.

Dishes such as hongeojjim (steamed skate wings) and mualjjim (radish stuffed with fish roe) will be served on special order or as part of a 20-course meal, costing $89 a head. Simple dishes are also on the menu.

Grandma knows best

• Jongga is the house of the first-born son of the family, which is passed from generation to generation.
• The son and his wife show their devotion to parents and ancestors and love for their children through food.
• The woman of the house is regarded as a "gift from heaven" and must be able to prepare a delicious meal.
• Family recipes are also passed on for generations by the women in the household.

Jami opens today at 20 Link Drive, Wairau Valley. Ph 09 444 9987.