''Anban'' () is a traditional

Korean Korean may refer to: People and culture * Koreans, people from the Korean peninsula or of Korean descent * Korean culture * Korean language **Korean alphabet, known as Hangul or Korean **Korean dialects **See also: North–South differences in t ...

cooking utensil used to make rice cakes known as ''

tteok ''Tteok'' () is a general term for Korean rice cakes. They are made with steamed flour of various grains, especially glutinous rice, glutinous and non-glutinous Japonica rice, rice. Steamed flour can also be pounded, shaped, or pan-fried to make ...

''. It consists of a wooden board usually measuring 1m wide, 1.5m long, and 15–20 cm thick, with short legs attached on its corners for support. It is accompanied by a ''tteokme'' (), a wooden pounding mallet made from a thick, short log with a handle attached. When making ''tteok'', the rice cake is placed on the ''anban'' and pounded with a ''tteokme''. Depending on the region, ''anban'' is also known as ''byeongan'' () or ''tteokban'' (떡반; 떡盤). A variant of ''anban'' consists of a long, narrow wooden board measuring 2m wide and 50 cm long, with one side left flat and another side hollowed out, the latter of which the rice cake is to be placed. During the

Joseon Joseon ( ; ; also romanized as ''Chosun''), officially Great Joseon (), was a dynastic kingdom of Korea that existed for 505 years. It was founded by Taejo of Joseon in July 1392 and replaced by the Korean Empire in October 1897. The kingdom w ...

period, ''anban'' and ''tteokme'' are common household items, but in modern times it is much less widespread in the advent of mechanical rice mills. ''Anban'' is still used to make ''tteok'' the traditional way, and also in

Korean Chinese Korean Chinese, also called Chaoxianzu (; ), is the Korean (Joseon) ethnic minority group in China. They are one of the 56 officially recognized ethnic groups by the Government of China and the Chinese Communist Party. They account for the vast ...

restaurants to knead dough and stretch noodles. ''Anban'' made with

zelkova ''Zelkova'' (from the Georgian language, Georgian ''dzelkva'', 'stone pillar') is a genus of six species of deciduous trees in the elm family Ulmaceae, native to southern Europe, and southwest and eastern Asia. They vary in size from shrubs (''Ze ...

wood is regarded as having the highest quality, as with ''tteokme'' made with Hwangyang wood (), a variant of ''

Buxus sinica ''Buxus sinica'', the Chinese box or small-leaved box, is a species of flowering plant in the family Buxaceae, native to central and southern China, Taiwan, South Korea, and Japan. A shrub or small tree, in the wild it is found in a variety of ha ...

'' found in Korea. However, ''anban'' made with

pine A pine is any conifer tree or shrub in the genus ''Pinus'' () of the family Pinaceae. ''Pinus'' is the sole genus in the subfamily Pinoideae. ''World Flora Online'' accepts 134 species-rank taxa (119 species and 15 nothospecies) of pines as cu ...

wood is also widely used because it rarely splits or cracks.

Proverb

The Korean proverb "숙수가 안반만 나무란다" () literally translates to "the cook-in-charge criticizes the ''anban''", which means that someone who lacks of skill does not blame his inability for the failure; he blames the tool instead. Similar sayings include: * "쟁기질 못하는 놈이 소를 탓한다", meaning "he who cannot plow blames the ox"; * "굿 못하는 무당 장구만 타박한다", meaning "the

shaman Shamanism is a spiritual practice that involves a practitioner (shaman) interacting with the spirit world through altered states of consciousness, such as trance. The goal of this is usually to direct spirits or spiritual energies into ...

who cannot do good hits the ''

janggu The ''janggu'' (, also transliterated as ''janggo'' or ''changgo'') or ''seyogo'' () is a drum often used in traditional Korean music. It consists of an hourglass-shaped body with two heads made from various types of leather. The two heads pr ...

''".

Notes

References

{{reflist Korean food preparation utensils Korean words and phrases Kitchenware Tteok