''Gwamegi'' () is a

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 ...

half-dried

Pacific herring The Pacific herring (''Clupea pallasii'') is a species of the herring family associated with the Pacific Ocean environment of North America and northeast Asia. It is a silvery fish with unspined fins and a deeply forked caudal fin. The distribu ...

Pacific saury The Pacific saury (''Cololabis saira'') is species of fish in the family Scomberesocidae. Saury is a seafood in several East Asian cuisines and is also known by the name mackerel pike. Biology Saury is a fish with a small mouth, an elongat ...

made during winter. It is mostly eaten in the region of

North Gyeongsang Province North Gyeongsang Province (, ) is a province in eastern South Korea, and with an area of , it is the largest province in the Korean peninsula. The province was formed in 1896 from the northern half of the former Gyeongsang province, and remaine ...

in places such as

Pohang Pohang (; ), formerly spelled Po-Hang, is the largest city in North Gyeongsang Province, South Korea, with a List of cities in South Korea, population of 499,363 as of 2022, bordering the Sea of Japan, East Sea to the east, Yeongcheon to the w ...

, Uljin, and Yeongdeok, where a large amount of the fish are harvested. Guryongpo Harbor in Pohang is the most famous. Fresh herring or saury is frozen at -10 degrees Celsius and is placed outdoors in December to repeat freezing at night and thawing during the day. The process continues until the water content of the fish drops to approximately 40%.Gwamegi
at

Doosan Encyclopedia ''Doosan Encyclopedia'' () is a Korean-language encyclopedia published by Doosan Donga (). The encyclopedia is based on the ''Dong-A Color Encyclopedia'' (), which comprises 30 volumes and began to be published in 1982 by Dong-A Publishing (). ...

There are records of ''gwamegi'' in 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 ...

era document '' Ohjuyeonmunjangjeonsango'' () which mentions: "herring is

smoked Smoking is the process of flavoring, browning, cooking, or preserving food, particularly meat, fish and tea, by exposing it to smoke from burning or smoldering material, most often wood. In Europe, alder is the traditional smoking wood, but ...

in order to prevent rotting". In another document ''Gyuhapcheongseo'' (), it is written: "herring with clear eyes are chosen to be dried, which give an unusual taste". The city of Pohang holds an annual Gwamegi Festival to promote the local specialty food. It started in 1997 to promote ''gwamegi'' and boost local economies. It is held in November every year and hosts various programs, such as a specialty product contest, free tasting events, and playing traditional Korean music. Some of the major events include the auction of ''gwamegi'' as well as guessing the weight of a ''gwamegi''.

History

Pohang's Young-Il Bay, which is full of seaweed, was a place where

herring Herring are various species of forage fish, belonging to the Order (biology), order Clupeiformes. Herring often move in large Shoaling and schooling, schools around fishing banks and near the coast, found particularly in shallow, temperate wate ...

herds scattered in the winter. The herring was a major food item when it was thrown into a net, but the problem was how to keep it so that it could be eaten at all times. However, someone hung the herring in a kitchen window (small ventilated window), which had a smoking effect because the smoke was coming from the kitchen. Since then, people have all hung herring in the kitchen window and started to spend the winter. The herring was frozen in the cold winter winds, then melted and dried during the cooking cycle, leaving half dry. The tooth tasted great. The Young-Il Bay people who learned how to freeze and dry the fish further developed by doing this by placing herring on the beach of

Guryongpo Guryongpo is a town, or '' eup'' in Nam-gu, Pohang, North Gyeongsang Province, South Korea. The township Changju-myeon was upgraded to the town Guryongpo-eup in 1942. Guryongpo Town Office is located in Hudong-ri. One of the local specialties of ...

, where the sun was blazing during the day and the cool sea breeze was hanging at night. Since the 1960s, herring has drastically decreased in the Younh-Il Bay, making gwamegi with

mackerel pike Mackerel is a common name applied to a number of different species of pelagic fish, mostly from the family Scombridae. They are found in both temperate and tropical seas, mostly living along the coast or offshore in the oceanic environment. ...

caught in large quantities, and it tasted as good as herring. Even today, GwamegI is still made from mackerel pike. Acting both as a research center and a tourist attraction, the Gwamegi Culture Museum (), a large museum detailing the history, science and traditions behind gwamegi, was opened in Guryongpo in 2016.

Gallery

Image:Korean cuisine-Gwamegi-03.jpg, Drying ''gwamegi'' Image:Korean cuisine-Gwamegi-02.jpg, Prepared '' gwamegi'' with ''

ssam ' () are dishes in Korean cuisine where one food is wrapped in another. A common variety is meat such as pork wrapped in a leafy vegetable.Soused herring Soused herring is raw herring soaked in a mild preserving liquid. It can be raw herring in a mild vinegar pickle or Dutch brined herring. As well as vinegar, the marinade might contain cider, wine or tea, sugar, herbs (usually bay leaf), s ...

, Dutch raw herring *

Dried and salted cod Dried and salted cod, sometimes referred to as salt cod or saltfish or salt dolly, is cod which has been preserved by drying after salting. Cod which has been dried without the addition of salt is stockfish. Salt cod was long a major export of ...

Hoe (dish) ''Hoe'' (; ) is a Korean seafood dish that is eaten by trimming raw meat or raw fish. In addition to fish, it is also made with other marine products such as shrimp and squid, raw meat of land animals, and vegetable ingredients, but without any s ...

Gravlax Gravlax (), gravlaks or graved salmon is a Nordic dish consisting of salmon that is cured using a mix of salt, sugar and dill. It is garnished with fresh dill or sprucetwigs and may occasionally be cold- smoked afterwards. Gravlax is usuall ...

, Scandinavian cured raw salmon *

Korean cuisine Korean cuisine is the set of foods and culinary styles which are associated with Korean culture. This cuisine has evolved through centuries of social and political change. Originating from ancient Prehistoric Korea, agricultural and nomad ...

List of dried foods This is a list of dried foods. Food drying is a method of food preservation that works by removing water from the food, which inhibits the growth of bacteria and has been practiced worldwide since ancient times to preserve food. Where or when d ...

List of smoked foods This is a list of smoked foods. Smoking (cooking), Smoking is the process of seasoning, flavoring, cooking, or food preservation, preserving food by exposing it to smoke from burning or smoldering material, most often wood. Foods have been smoke ...

Lox Lox is a fillet of brined salmon, which may be smoked. Lox is frequently served on a bagel with cream cheese, and often garnished with tomato, onion, cucumber, and capers. Etymology The American English word ''lox'' is a borrowing of Yiddi ...

, Jewish cured salmon fillet *

Lutefisk ''Lutefisk'' ( Norwegian, in Northern and parts of Central Norway, in Southern Norway; ; ; literally " lye fish") is dried whitefish, usually cod, but sometimes ling or burbot, cured in lye. It is made from aged stockfish (air-dri ...

, Scandinavian salted/dried whitefish *

Rakfisk ''Rakfisk'' () is a Norwegian cuisine, Norwegian fish recipe, dish made from trout or Salvelinus, char, salted and autolysis (biology), autolyzed for two to three months, or even up to a year. ''Rakfisk'' is then eaten without cooking and has a s ...

, Norwegian salted and fermented fish

References

External links

Festivals in Pohang
{{Dried fish Korean seafood dishes Dried fish Smoked fish Herring dishes

History

Gallery

References

Further reading

External links