[Hundred Year Gourmet] Emerging eel… Lightness created through a process of grilling and coating 8 times
│ Add rich umami flavor with a special sauce made from boiled eel bones
Eighty-one restaurants from around the country were selected for the “Hundred Years Store,†which connects generations. Following 59 last year, an additional 22 were designated in the first half of this year. These are places that have been silently meeting customers in one place for over 30 years. A place that impresses with “uniformity†while protecting faith and determination. These efforts have stolen the government's taste. The 59 restaurants selected directly by the government are currently known through the food tech platform “Shikigami.†Under the title “Hundred Years Gourmet,†AJU Keizai will introduce the Hundred Years Restaurant and the food restaurants filled with memories one by one.
*Image source: Courtesy of Shinheung Eel owner
“Freshwater eel†is known as a summer health food expert. As Dongbogam also says, “If you eat it with seasoning while boosting energy, you will look good on your body,†eel has an excellent rejuvenating effect. The Gujinpo area in “Naju†in Jeollabuk-do is an area where seawater and fresh water meet, and has been famous for its excellent taste of eels since ancient times. Eel specialty stores have sprung up one by one around Gujinpo Intersection, forming Eel Street, and it has continued to be famous until now.
The history of “Shinheung Eel†began in 1964 when the founder, Grandma Moon Jeong-sun, opened Eel Street in Gujinpo. After that, the store moved to its current location due to a road construction project in 2013. Since around 2000, her son Lim Young-taek has continued the 56-year tradition after his mother, and due to that steadiness, it was designated as a famous food district in Namdo in 2017. If you order grilled eel, eel dishes such as deep-fried eel bones and stir-fried eel entrails with mushrooms, and plenty of side dishes such as kimchi, pickles, and salted fish made from local agricultural products are prepared. The signature menu “Grilled Eel†uses only Japonica eel, which is known as the finest variety of freshwater eels produced in Korea. Also, the special sauce made by adding soy sauce, ginger, and about 20 kinds of herbal ingredients to the essence made from eel bones and aged it perfectly captured the eel's flavor. A special sauce was applied to the freshly grilled eel and the grilling process was repeated 8 times to remove the fat and preserve the lightness. If you eat grilled eel and have a bowl of rice, it comes with a savory shiragi soup, so you can enjoy a rich meal.
[Hundred Years PICK] “Grilled eel†= A dish eaten by sprinkling coarse salt on the front and back of a clean eel and grilling it until golden brown. Grilling is the best way to enjoy the natural light yet savory flavor of eel. If you like, you can enjoy adding soy sauce or gochujang sauce instead of salt. Eel contains a large amount of beneficial ingredients for the body, such as omega-3, unsaturated fatty acids, and vitamin A, and is well known to have effects such as beautifying the skin and preventing aging.