South Korea The Hairy Bikers' Asian Adventure

'We've packed our passports.'

'And bought our phrase books.'

HE SPEAKS JAPANESE

'Because we're off on our biggest, craziest adventure yet.'

ALL: Delicious. Delicious. Meow, meow, beep.

HE ROARS LIKE TARZAN

'We're travelling further than we've ever done before.'

'To uncover the authentic roots

'of Britain's favourite takeaway foods.'

I've always wanted to know how to make proper sweet and sour sauce.

'Going off the beaten track

'and being welcomed into some of Asia's hidden worlds.'

How marvellous is this?!

'From the high rises and hot woks of Hong Kong...'

The heat on this is really, really intense,

but listen, it's like a jet engine.

GAS ROARS

I love it!

'..to the sweltering tropics of Thailand.'

We love a tuk-tuk!

'..where they say it's impossible to eat badly.'

Thai food's arrived in Britain,

but, by crikey, it's only the tip of the iceberg.

'And we fulfil a lifelong ambition to explore Japan.'

-That is perfect.

-Wow, look at that!

I've just had a sushi-gasm.

'We finish up in South Korea,

'where the spicy cuisine is sensational.'

This would go down a bomb down the local.

'So leather up and take to the road.

'For one extremely hairy...'

BOTH: 'Asian adventure!'

Look at that, Si.

-Wow.

-Seoul.

The capital city of South Korea,

home to more than 10.5 million inhabitants.

The Korean Peninsula is bordered by China and Russia to the North

and the Yellow Sea to the South.

It's a tantalisingly unexplored slice of East Asia.

But what do we know about Korean food?

Well, in the UK, precious little. But it's coming.

In the UK already there are more than 50 Korean restaurants.

This exciting cuisine is gaining popularity fast,

and with good reason.

It's the spiciest in Asia, with chilli a key ingredient.

And boy do they love a pickle - thanks to their long cold winters,

they've learnt to preserve pretty much anything!

They love their meat, too. They inherited a huge appetite for beef

from the Mongols, who invaded in the 13th century.

You're getting me all excited!

We'd best get on our bikes and see what this country has to offer.

You know, Kingy, Korea was all one country as recently

as the 20th century.

Oh, look, the Royal Palace. Ah, it's beautiful, isn't it?

It was divided up after World War II - with the United States

backing the South, and the Soviet Union the North.

In 1950 the North invaded and for three years the South Koreans,

plus nearly 2 million American troops, fought back.

Ah, mate, this is the old part here, isn't it?

And this is the only part that survived the war.

The war brought intense poverty. But in the 1970s,

government schemes kick-started massive industrial growth and

an export economy - and the South Koreans haven't looked back since.

In just 40 years they've gone from being one of the poorest

to one of the world's richest countries.

You know, Si, these folk have experienced such rapid change,

I'm keen to find out what it's meant for their cuisine.

Ah, now we're in the area where all the young, hip folk hang out.

But nobody's over 30!

Yeah, and before we find out about their traditional dishes,

I want to know what's popular in Korean food now.

So we're heading for the hip district of Hongdae,

an area packed with bars and restaurants.

We're meeting two locals who've offered to give us

a tour of some of their favourite eateries.

Teacher Keith and his actress friend Song-a-Min,

they run a blog about life in Seoul in their spare time.

What a great vibe here, so what is this area?

-It's lovely, isn't it? Gentle.

-Yeah, it is.

This area's called Hongdae and Hongdae is basically a college town.

But it's... Hongdae is the name of a university here,

and it's an art university, it's hers.

-See that white building.

-That's the university?

-Yeah, that's my university there.

-Hooray! You haven't to move far.

Lots of clubs, lots of bars, lots of restaurants, 24 hours,

lots of sub-culture, as well.

I see a lot of parallels between this area

and Barrow-in-Furness where I live.

It's that kind of chic, artistic,

community bar on every corner, kind of vibe.

I'm really loving it.

SHE LAUGHS

And our first stop is a type of Korean food that's just

starting to take off in the UK - Korean barbecue.

Here in Seoul, you find places like this on almost every street corner.

You see, I think this is fantastic.

It's basically the most popular Korean food there is.

The reason being is because people eat it for dinner,

it's pretty much eaten from noon until like, 4.00 or 5.00am.

No meal here is complete without an array of banchan, or side dishes.

They're normally pickles, stir fries or broths.

-Oh!

-Now that's a nice piece of rib-eye.

That's beautiful.

You don't cut? You just put the whole thing on and then cut it up?

Yeah, the whole thing on.

-Put the whole thing on, let it grill and then....

-Then after you cut it.

Koreans like their meat lean,

marinated in soy sauce and sesame oil,

and cooked by way of a table-top grill with a mini extractor fan.

What's the Korean barbecue etiquette?

You get these different kind of leaves.

-Oh, right. So you stack your leaves.

-In here.

-Yeah.

And you put all the vegetables on your table one by one.

So you put it like that.

-And here.

-Fantastic.

OK, you can try.

How is it? It's OK?

Ah, brilliant.

That's beyond OK.

The leaf it's wrapped in is an Asian herb called perilla,

which has a hint of mint.

-Whoa! This is seriously tasty.

-Epic.

Keith is one of Seoul's growing army of private tutors

who are popular with parents who want to give their children

the opportunities that they didn't have.

I teach at an after-school programme.

It starts at five o'clock and ends at ten.

Wow.

Yeah, students do that all the time.

After they finish school, they go to an academy for English.

-Yes.

-Stay for a couple of hours,

then they'll go to a math academy in the same day.

They'll finish around 10 or 11, go home and do their homework,

finish around like 2-3am, start all over again.

-Yeah.

-That's insane.

74% of all pupils here have private after-school tutors.

Korean students consistently outperform those from

other countries in maths.

-So do you guys wish there were more Korean restaurants back at home?

-Yeah. Definitely.

When you want something hearty and lovely and tasty,

share with your friends,

it's fabulous and the meat quality is superb.

Oh, it is, absolutely.

Korean food round one - a massive meat feast! Result.

It must be so exciting to be young in South Korea today, Kingy.

It seems like the land of opportunity.

It's also the home of a massive music phenomenon, Korean pop,

or K-Pop for short.

You might even recognise the odd track.

# Oppa Gangnam Style

# Gangnam Style... #

Got to put shapes together! What are you doing?

# Oppa Gangnam Style

# Eh... # MUSIC STOPS

They've run out of batteries. Thank God for that.

-What sort of dance is that?

-That is Gangnam Style.

-It's wrong.

It's cool, funky and everybody's doing it.

We've been invited to cook for K-Pop singer Jessica HO

at the home of stylist Sarah and her husband, architect Jiwan.

Jessica is a product of the hugely successful South Korean

hit factory system.

Now, what was that?!

# Oh, up on the roof... #

'And what do you do when you meet a pop star?

'Challenge them to a rap off, of course.'

-You won.

-Ah, right.

-You won.

-So scissors cut paper, right.

-Right. So I'll go first, eh?

OK, you ready?

# Me name is Dave and this Si

# We come here to cook some curry and pie

# The Koreans, they like their chilli

# But wash your hands cos you get a red hot willy. #

Nice. That was pretty good.

-Korea!

-That's pretty good. That was a freestyle?

OK, well you've got to do, what do you want, 16ths?

-OK, I'll just do like a five-second thing, ready?

-Yeah!

Ready?

# This one goes out to the bimbos

# Trying to copy my style Go to Kinko's

# Is your boy sweating me? Bingo

# I had your wally back little bow. #

THEY CHEER

Can musicians make money here? How does it work?

Definitely musicians can make money here.

I mean, the K-Pop right now is so big and viral right now so...

It's definitely a good opportunity right now for me.

She's not wrong! K-Pop is one of Korea's biggest exports

and worth hundreds of millions of dollars a year.

Oh, enough K-Pop already.

It's time for us Hairy Bikers to make our K-cooking debut.

We're going to do a spicy octopus stew,

packed with the chilli kick Koreans love.

This is just a tasty, fiery snack that a K-Popper would have

when he's out on a night out to give you a bit of a lift.

The old hips have gone, don't need replacing any more,

-do you know what I mean?

-HE HUMS

Can you stop?! Will you get on with it?

Yep, right. Octopus. Come on, Cedric.

I'm preparing the baby octopus by removing the beak

and separating the legs from the head.

Whilst Dave deals with Cedric,

I'm whipping up a spicy sauce for the stew.

I'm taking a piece of root ginger about the size of a £2 coin,

and I'm grating it into a bowl.

I will then crush three cloves of garlic,

and add to the same bowl as the ginger.

Koreans love octopus and even eat it live,

cos they think it increases male stamina!

Now pop this in the boiling water for precisely 90 seconds,

not a second more, not a second less, and go.

Swim, Cedric, swim.

Now it's not swimming, it's just bubbling in the boiling water.

Now my sauce gets its fire.

First, two teaspoons of chilli powder,

then a key Korean ingredient - gochujang - or red pepper paste.

The fermentation process mellows the hot flavours of fiery chillies

mixed with rice, soybeans and salt.

Koreans use it in everything.

Then add a teaspoon each of soy sauce and mirin

before adding a dollop of golden syrup for sweetness

and mix it all together. Sauce done.

Five seconds - four, three, two, one.

There you go. And that is your meat.

Dude, you're a star.

Thank you. Now to stop them cooking, put them in cold water.

Now all I want you to do now is to chop the tentacles

up into bite-sized pieces, take the skin off the head pieces

and Bob's your uncle. Juicy, juicy squid, ready to be cooked.

Now it's fry-up time. You want half an onion.

Good sized slices.

Pop in the onion and saute.

After a minute, add five shiitake mushrooms.

Mushys go in.

Come on, Jessica, come and have a look at your dinner.

What are you cooking there?

Right, we've got some onions, some shiitake and we showed people

how to... We blanched the octopus, we prepped it so...

-This goes in.

-Nice and quick.

-That's it, nice, hot pan.

Then my red hot sauce goes in.

Looks really spicy.

So, lastly, just pop in some more chillies...

..some spring onions, quite big bits, a little splash of sesame oil.

There.

It's done. Shall I lift up the thing?

-Yeah. And that should taste...

-Smells really good.

Kind of fiery red and appetising. Bit of sesame seeds.

Right, guys.

This looks like, you know, Korean mother's style.

-Yeah, that's the sort of vibe.

-Korean mum.

-Well, yeah.

Is there a style thing with Korean mums?

Is it worth something to aspire to? The beard would have to go, perhaps.

-You'd have to dye your hair black.

-Fine.

THEY LAUGH

I can live with that.

Really nice.

Good.

'Looks like our octopus stew isn't going to last for long.'

Time to hit the road, mate.

There are three million vehicles on the streets of Seoul

and it feels like they're all out today.

Woo-hoo. Here we go.

I do have to say, Mr King, that the driving here has been

somewhat more aggressive than the rest of Asia.

Aye, you would.

Well, apparently, they have the most aggressive drivers in Asia, dude.

Yeah. Hurry, hurry, hurry, hurry, it's a way of life.

South Koreans are so crazy about rushing things that the term

"ppalli ppalli" - which translates as "hurry, hurry" -

is part of the national psyche here.

Mirror, signal, manoeuvre...and hope.

Well, it stems from the '70s when the president started

rewarding companies that built roads and bridges faster than scheduled.

You know, Kingy, I feel like we've seen the modern face of Seoul

but it's time to get to grips with more traditional South Korean food.

CRICKETS CHIRRUP

-By 'eck, the crickets are kicking off, aren't they?

-Cicadarooney!

-Aye.

Well, you know, Korean food is famous for its side dishes

and there's one that's served with absolutely everything.

That's kimchi. Well, fermented pickled cabbage to you and me.

And still, 50% of all Koreans make their own.

And we've been invited to a family home to learn a recipe that's

been passed down from mother to daughter for generations.

Eat kimchi and live forever.

We're visiting mother-of-two Erin,

who lives in Seoul's Singpa district -

an area popular with families.

Erin learnt how to make kimchi from her grandma,

Mrs Cho, and they've agreed to let us in on the secret family recipe.

It's her role to make kimchi for our whole family.

It takes a whole two days to make the kimchi.

Do you make enough kimchi to last one year?

-Yeah, almost.

-Wow.

Kimchi-making is still a major annual event for Korean families,

who gather in the autumn to pickle and ferment their cabbage.

I don't see my grandma as often as when I was young,

but on the kimchi day we get together.

SHE SPEAKS KOREAN

Mrs Cho starting sitting down. As soon as we started to

talk about the kimchi, she's like, "Ooh, hold on a minute."

THEY LAUGH

OK. So how do we start? All right, here's Grandma, here she is.

Kimchi is part and parcel of being Korean.

People even say "kimchi" when they have their photograph taken.

First, you soak it in salt water.

The salt is what pickles the cabbage,

the fermentation happens later.

Erin soaked some earlier so the next stage is to pack rock salt

into the thicker parts of the cabbage.

-It takes all day, doesn't it?

-Yeah.

SHE SPEAKS KOREAN

You wait for a few more hours and then rinse again.

-It's like rubbing through your socks.

-It is.

Yeah, it's just kind of doing laundry.

-OK?

-OK.

THEY CHEER

Never has the humble cabbage had so much attention lavished to it.

Now it's time to get down and dirty and make the sauce,

starting with spring onions, garlic and ginger.

Oh, wow. It's going to be so fragrant, isn't it?

Oh, fabulous.

-You can see it's still a floor-based society, isn't it?

-Yeah.

Granny Cho's recipe includes this whopping white radish

and some preserved shrimp.

According to the Seoul Museum of Kimchi,

and there is one, there are 187 different recipes,

and some of those include live prawns and octopus!

You don't need a mixer when you've got Mrs Cho.

And this family recipe has fruit in, too.

And these are like the oriental pears which look like a big apple.

-Yeah, this one, we juice the pears.

-Pear juice, yeah.

So that adds a note of sweetness.

This is the Korean chilli powder. Whoa.

It's Korean chilli powder that gives kimchi its killer kick.

There's a lot going on!

The chilli is so powerful we need gloves for protection.

So we're straight in.

-The smells are fantastic.

-Doesn't it?

Taste it.

Try another bit.

It's a bit hotter.

-THEY LAUGH

-Splendid.

I could give you a glass of water.

No, it's all right. It's fine.

I think my hair's started to grow again.

Kimchi's powerful stuff

and it gets stronger still after it's fermented.

Now we need to stuff the cabbage with the sauce, leaf by leaf.

-SHE SPEAKS KOREAN There's too much.

-Too much, sorry!

Kimchi is low in calories, high in fibre, iron and vitamins.

Ah, I see, yeah.

Kimchi used to be stored in clay pots in the ground, you know.

So, after one month, there's treasure in that box.

But these days, most Koreans keep it in a specially-designed

kimchi fridge which keeps the temperature between

nought and two degrees Celsius.

How am I going to buy a kimchi refrigerator in Barrow-in-Furness?

This is our first family meal in South Korea.

We're trying a fully fermented kimchi with the dishes

Erin's family always eat on their annual kimchi-making day.

Ah, here's the boss.

It looks such vibrant, appetising food, doesn't it?

Got to try the kimchi. Bon appetit. Yeah, I think we have.

It's a lot.

-So is it quite powerful?

-Yes.

Oh, hey!

ERIN LAUGHS

That is a taste sensation.

That is fantastic, isn't it?

What's so great is to find something that tastes

so good that actually does you good.

Yes, I can see kimchi catching on back home,

perking up comfort food, like we use piccalilli or horseradish.

-This is lovely.

-Isn't it good?

-Oh, God, yes.

It's so fun to cook for people.

THEY LAUGH

Absolutely brilliant.

-Thank you.

-So, so good.

Over half the visitors to South Korea get no further than Seoul.

-Nice roads.

-Beautiful, isn't it?

And we don't want to join that number.

So we're leaving the capital behind and heading 100 miles East

to the coastal city of Sokcho.

Do you know, it's not a bad life - lovely motorbike,

sun's going down, one of the most beautiful lakes in Korea

and my belly's full of chillies.

Doesn't get much better, really.

There's hardly anybody here.

You know, we're not far from the border with North Korea here, mate.

It's the world's most heavily guarded frontier.

Our route passes just below the 160-mile-long,

two-mile-wide strip of land running across the Korean peninsula

which is known as the Demilitarized Zone.

Oh, mate, fantastic!

Look at that!

I know. Doesn't it look a very dark, mysterious lake?

Well, mate, I didn't know what to expect from the Korean seaside

-and it is a surprise, isn't it?

-Well, yeah.

Now Sokcho may lie on the shores of the Sea of Japan,

but if you're longing for white sands and palm trees,

you won't find them here.

Koreans love a day at the seaside.

They get 28 paid days' holiday a year,

and, you know, there's nothing better,

glimmer of sunshine, get down to the beach.

I tell you what, you know what this reminds me of?

North Shields.

And today this seaside resort has gone bonkers for one

scrumptious sea creature in particular.

Do you know, Dave, I'm sensing a recurring theme

in this town of Sokcho.

Yeah, there's certainly a lot of squid.

Overnight fishermen have been hauling their catch from the deep,

but for some squid a curious fate awaits them,

as they are returned back to the sea in celebration of a special event.

Ah-ha! Now it's not some let's-all-save-the-squid moment.

Oh, no. This is an opportunity for holiday-makers to take

part in Sokcho's famous squid festival.

And, of course, we're going to join in.

Luckily we've got Charles, a Sokcho local, to guide us through.

What do you do at a squid festival, Charles?

You see, when you join up for the squid festival,

you're given a plastic bag for your squid, some gloves,

because apparently the squid bite, your official wristband,

like Glastonbury but for squid, and your T-shirt.

The only slight snag is, all the PA is in Korean,

so we're trying to find out what Korean is for go.

-Gagi.

-Gagi.

-Let's go!

The anticipation is overwhelming. As the crowd is silent...

ANNOUNCEMENT IN KOREAN

Come on!

Hey, Dave, be careful. We're not far from where

they found that giant squid a few years ago in Japan, you know.

Oh, you mean that 23ft one with an eye the size of a beach ball?

Yeah, that's the one, that's the one. Better go carefully, yeah.

There's some kids that have got three or four in each bag.

I mean, they're really quite good.

-That's Charles' squid.

-Oh, that's a good 'un.

-Aye.

And I've got two little 'uns.

-But, you know what? That's enough.

-I think so.

-That's enough for a nice little meal.

-It is.

Most people here line up to have their squid

prepared at a beach restaurant.

Some have it steamed but others opt for the squid sashimi option.

Which means it's minced and eaten raw.

What are we going to do with them, Charles?

Er, squid soonday.

-DAVE AND SI:

-Squid sundae!

-Right.

-Read about that and it's got nothing to do with ice cream.

-Isn't it?

No, it's not an ice cream sundae.

-It's not, it's a squid sundae. Then let's do that.

-Yeah.

-It's not a sundae, it's a soonday.

-Soonday.

-Total different word.

And there's you putting a glace cherry on the top.

Soonday is a dish dating back to ancient Mongolian times,

made from stuffing animal intestines with a range of ingredients.

Here in Sokcho, they stuff squid instead

and serve it as a beach snack.

So you've got the squid tubes. What's in the stuffing?

SHE SPEAKS KOREAN

Ah, there's sticky rice and vegetables and onion

-and chopped squid legs.

-Ah, the tentacles.

-Ah, top tip from the lady.

-Ah, yeah.

-Have you got that, mate?

-Yeah.

-We need to write that recipe down.

So you use a sawn-off water bottle as a squid stuffer.

'And we can't resist making our own squid soonday.'

So easy with this method.

Where did you get recipe from?

THEY SPEAK KOREAN

Learned from her mum, who comes from North Korea.

The recipe's originally from North Korea.

SHE SPEAKS KOREAN

Fine. Finished.

'They're put in a steamer for 20 minutes.'

So when they start to look like cartoon bombs...

you know they're done.

Yeah. Beautiful.

Then the squid sausage is sliced, dipped in egg and fried.

Well this is like a very well-dressed squid, isn't it?

It's really nice.

The texture and the stuffing is very, very much like haggis.

-It is.

-It is?

That is good, isn't it?

I loved that squid festival.

There were some really nice families there

having a really proper family day out.

Very lovely it is, too.

You know, what I've realised

is that so many of South Korea's favourite dishes

were born out of necessity, during its poor and troubled past.

And today, with the country changing so quickly,

people really value those food traditions.

You know, I'm going away assured that Korean food, it's original,

it's exciting and it's absolutely bursting with flavour.

I firmly believe that Korean food, it deserves to be as popular

as any other Asian cuisine that we have on our high streets in the UK.

What is reassuring to see is that Koreans are still eating

and still cooking those traditional dishes that they've known

and loved throughout the centuries.

And, actually, with flavours like that, long may it continue.

I'll second that. There's only one thing left to say.

BOTH: Kimchi!