Like pudding.

Gye-ran jjim

Translation: steamed eggs

There is an art to making gye-ran jjim. The ratio of eggs to water. The temperature at which you steam it. The bain-marie used to cook the eggs to the right consistency. The patience and the will power to not open the lid to check.

So did I figure out all of this on my own? Of course not. This all started with a recipe published in The Korea Times (English version). Do I read The Korea Times regularly? Of course not. I am the Queen of web browsing, and while researching on my health care law paper topic, I ended up in The Korea Times. (Food for thought: Apparently, South Korea is banking on the highly-anticipated boom of the medical tourism industry.)

Gye-ran jjim is comfort food, Korean-style. The truth is: I'm not a big fan. The way I feel about gye-ran jjim is the way I feel about chocolate. I don't care for it, but I'll eat it. For my dad, however, gye-ran jjim is laced with nostalgia for his childhood in Korea, along with sausages (the Korean kind - processed with more fillers, like flour, than meat), Samyang Ramen and Hershey's chocolate. It's all very post-Korean-War/GIs-handing-out-American-candies sort of thing.

Anyways, I made it. The ingredients are simple: eggs, water and salt. I just wanted to achieve the right consistency - more pudding/custard-like than just overcooked/ coddled eggs. The result? "Tastes just like pudding," said my dad.