{"id":32366,"title":"Authentic Korean Eomuk – Homemade Fish Cakes","modified":"2025-05-27T10:53:25+02:00","plain":"A super simple recipe to make your own Korean fish cakes at home\n\n\n\nOn a January morning on a Busan avenue, briny steam wafts from a stainless steel cart, fogging the vendor's glasses and enveloping passersby in a marine aroma. Schoolchildren stick wooden skewers into a cup containing an anchovy broth, break off a soft ribbon of fish cake, then warm their hands around it. \n\n\n\nFor many Koreans, the scene is the \u201cinstant equivalent of\u201d a comfort food, as nostalgic as \u201ca jar of grandmother's kimchi. At the center stands\u201d eomuk: Busan's artisanal and seafood-rich answer to \u201cJapanese oden. More than\u201d a snack, these golden and elastic cakes have become a civic emblem. Their story: how a port city transformed bycatch into industry, how artisans achieve that characteristic chew from simple fish, and how home cooks perpetuate the tradition, offers a vivid window into Busan's resilient palate.   \n\n\n\nThey are perfect mixed into jjimdak\n\n\n\nOrigins of Korean Fish Cake\n\n\n\nEomuk arrived in Korea with Japanese oden during the colonial period, and Busan's first fish cake factory was established near the Bupyeong market at that time. After the Korean War, waves of refugees flocked to the port city in search of affordable protein; small workshops like Samjin (founded in 1953) and Donggwang rose to the challenge: they ground pollock with salt and starch before frying this paste to make an easily transportable food.  \n\n\n\nOr instead of ham in Cantonese rice\n\n\n\nThe idea, however, was not entirely foreign. An 18th-century royal banquet register mentions saengseon-sukpyeon, a molded delicacy made from minced fish, suggesting pre-modern Korean roots. \n\n\n\nBy the late 20th century, Busan's frying artisans had set the national standard: today, over 95% of Korean fish cakes are fried, a method popularized by manufacturers in the port city. Tourists queue for tasting tours, and Samjin's museum displays brass mortars once used to pound fish by hand. \n\n\n\nPreparation, Texture, and Authenticity\n\n\n\nQuality begins at the grinder. Veterans sprinkle salt on the fillets before the first pulse, allowing proteins to unfold and intertwine into a sticky web. In Yeongdo's old workshops, this paste is still slapped against steel vats by gloved hands, the rhythmic \u201cpoc\u201d aerating and strengthening it. Modern factories rely on refrigerated grinders, but the principle remains: the colder and faster the grind, the bouncier the bite.   \n\n\n\nIn a good homemade miso soup it's a pure delight\n\n\n\nShaping allows for creativity. Flat sheets for lunchboxes, accordions skewered on bamboo sticks for street carts, walnut-sized balls for winter soups: each shape undergoes a brief baptism in 170\u00b0C oil. The target is what Koreans call \u201c\ud0f1\uae00\ud0f1\uae00\u201d, an elastic crunch that resists the teeth then yields. Conveyor belts now float the cakes on rivers of oil, but Busan's small-batch artisans still surpass industrial brands in this decisive chew.   \n\n\n\nHow to Spot Quality when Buying Eomuks?\n\n\n\nTurn the package over: a fish cake worthy of the name displays at least 70% seafood, little starch, and little or no added glutamate. Hold it up to the light: a quality eomuk shows a dense, fine crumb with very few air bubbles and only a golden halo on the edges. Bite into it: it should bounce back like al dente pasta, not crumble like bread.  \n\n\n\nAlso be wary of marketing superlatives: \u201cBusan\u201d plastered on a package means nothing without a high percentage of fish or a lineage like Samjin or Hyosung.\n\n\n\nThe Main Ingredients of Korean Fish Cakes\n\n\n\nIt's far from being the recipe requiring the most exotic ingredients\n\n\n\nFish: Cod is generally the most affordable option, but any white fish will do\n\n\n\nShaoxing Wine: Chinese rice wine often used in Asian cuisine, it adds depth and helps mitigate strong odors from fish and seafood.\n\n\n\nPotato Starch: Light starch used here to bind the dough and make the croquettes soft.\n\n\n\nPerilla Leaves: Also called shiso, they have a fresh, slightly minty taste that enhances the seafood mixture.\n\n\n\n\n\n\tAuthentic Korean Eomuk - Homemade Fish Cakes\n\t\t\n\t\tA super simple recipe to make your own Korean fish cakes at home\t\n\t\n\t\tAsian fried food\t\n\t\n\t\t200 g of cod fillet0.5 squid6 shrimp (raw and peeled\/deveined beforehand if necessary)5 leaves of perilla0.5 onion0.5 green onion0.25 red bell pepper0.25 carrot1 egg whiteSeasoning2 pinches pepper2 pinches salt1 tablespoon shaoxing wine1 tablespoon potato starch\t\n\t\n\t\tPreparationThaw the fish, squid, and shrimp if necessaryRemove moisture from the fish flesh with a paper towelCoarsely chop the fishRoughly chop the shrimpCut the squid into small piecesBlend the fish, shrimp, and squid until a paste is formedAdd pepper, salt, and Shaoxing wine to the paste and mix wellCut the perilla leaves, onion, green onion, red bell pepper, and carrot into very small pieces; they should be finely mincedPress the vegetables to extract as much moisture as possibleAdd the chopped vegetables to the mixtureAdd the egg white and potato starchBeat the mixture wellHeat a large amount of oil to 150\u00b0CScoop the paste with a spoon and shape the fish cakesFry the eomuks until they are well-cooked on both sidesDrain the fish cakes on a paper towel to remove excess oil\t\n\t\n\t\tThese fish cakes are delicious dipped in mustard, ketchup, or even plain\nYou can bake, steam, or even air fry them according to preference\nUsing frozen seafood allows you to make this recipe conveniently and economically\nLess starch makes the croquettes more tender and flavorful than the store-bought version\n\t\n\t\n\t\tMain course, Side dishKoreanCrevettes, Poisson, Sans sucre\t\n\n\n\n\n\nCulinary sources\n\n\n\n\n  History and Origins of Busan Eomuk (Fish Cake)\n  History and Origins of Eomuk \u2014 Wikipedia (Korean)\n  18th Century Reference on Korean Fish Cakes\n\n  Definition and Manufacturing Processes of Fish Cakes\n  Preparation Steps and Ratios from Various Research\n\n  Typical Ingredients of Eomuk (Surimi, Flour, etc.)\n\n  Premium Busan Eomuk: High Fish Content, Rice Flour, No MSG\n  Another Reference on Premium Busan Eomuk\n\n  Hyosung Eomuk: 79.99% Fish, Very Little Flour\n  Cultural Context: Street Food and Nostalgia Around Eomuk\n\n  Homemade Recipe: Fish, Squid, Shrimp, and Seasonings\n  Homemade Recipe: Detailed Ingredient Proportions\n\n  Traditional Preparation: Steps and Ratios Explained","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/marcwiner.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32366","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/marcwiner.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/marcwiner.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marcwiner.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marcwiner.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32366"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/marcwiner.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32366\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marcwiner.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31860"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/marcwiner.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32366"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marcwiner.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32366"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marcwiner.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32366"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}