By now you’re acquainted (obsessed, maybe?) with kimchi, the fiery and funky Korean napa cabbage pickle. But as chef Sohui Kim of Korean barbecue restaurant Insa in Brooklyn explains, the word kimchi refers to much more than the variety most Americans are familiar with: “It’s just a loose term Koreans use to mean ‘pickle something.’ ”
Indeed, we’re seeing alt Korean-inspired pickles on many menus, whether it’s the beet greens rendition at Gold Cash Gold in Detroit or the “brussels + apricot chi” at AL’s Place in San Francisco. Kim has dozens of kimchis up her sleeve, most of which are quick-fermented variations she makes with whatever looks best at the farmers’ market. Whether she’s working with kohlrabi or carrots, radishes or rutabagas, she’ll slice them, salt them, and toss them with spicy gochugaru, fish sauce, and some aromatics to produce bright, approachable, probiotic pickles that taste way more of peak-season produce than big-time funk.
“It’s more like veg dressed with vinaigrette,” she says. So when the clock’s ticking on whatever August veggie is kicking around in your fridge, now you know what to do: Just kimchi it.