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Pollock roe, traditional Korean food

Pleasant dinner with Pollock roe

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Everybody knows that myeongran (pollack roe) is a mass of eggs contained in the ovaries of a female pollack. Myeongran-jeot is salted pollack roe, which can be enjoyed in various ways: marinated with sesame oil, grilled, or boiled as soup. The flavor varies depending on regions and recipes, but no matter how you eat it, it’s called a “rice thief” in Korea, which means perfectly delicious.

This delicious salted pollack roe is believed to have come from Japan, but its real origin is Choryang-dong, Dong-gu, Busan. Moreover, the history of Namseon Warehouse Site, currently in Choryang, is the living proof. Established in 1900 as Busan’s first warehouse, Namseon Warehouse served as the largest logistics warehouse in the southern region and was more popular as Pollack Storeroom because it was the gathering place of all pollack caught in Korea at that time. The Japanese who stayed there in those days naturally got to know the salted pollack roe. As they later moved to Japan, they reproduced the flavor of Busan’s salted pollack roe. This was the beginning of Japan’s famous salted pollack roe.

In history, Busan had to be the home of salted pollack roe, and it has the largest number of companies related to pollack roe.Moreover, there is a local company dedicated to making the right pollack roe for over 20 years since its establishment. It applies strict criteria not just for major but also minor ingredients in the hopes to deliver happy memories to people familiar with pollack roe on the dinner table.

This company, which has led the popularization of Korean-style pollack through constant efforts to develop new recipes and novel menus, also opened Korea’s first unique pollack roe showroom.
The name began with a concept of the retro sensibility: Chomyang-dong, well known as Pollack Storeroom, and “there the house,” a renovated house located at the edge of the mountain road of Choryang-dong.

On the first floor, the showroom with the eye-catching neat and clean interior is an exhibition space for food culture. Here, you can enjoy tasting different kinds of pollack roe taken from the maturing container. Simple yet classy, this individually packaged salted pollack roe is perfect for gifts. You may visit and look around the exhibition room.

The showroom on the second floor looks like an old family home, creating a cozy yet profound atmosphere. Why not book a cooking class to practice self-cooking with Deokhwa’s pollack roe? At the end of the class, you can creatively plate your food before serving it. In addition, the curation on local ingredients that go well with pollack roe is impressive.

Pollack roe, which was a rather expensive and rare ingredient, has become familiar through the efforts of Busan’s local companies. They attract people’s attention through different dishes, such as the pollack roe baguette, paste with pollack roe, and omelet roll with pollack roe. Another popular dish is pollack roe that comes in a tube. Let’s enjoy pollack roe until it’s firmly recognized as a Korean ingredient, and not as a Japanese product!