Every. Single. Household. Makes. Kimchi. Differently. Sometimes the cabbage is only brined for a short amount of time. Rice porridge is used. Rice porridge is not used. Seafood? Yes, throw the raw oysters or fermented shrimp in. Oh, but some like it vegetarian. It should be spicy, except not all the time.

To give you a starting point, here are the basic rules of thumb I go by for kimchi: Brine with salt to clean the cabbage for fermentation prep. Make a paste that has some kind of sugar so that it can start the fermenting process. Combine the paste onto the cabbage, making sure to cover all of the leaves and down to the core. Then give it time to ferment.

As long as you honor the process, the way everyone puts their own mark on kimchi-making can be a beautiful thing. Personally, I dry brine, add apples for natural sugar, omit the rice porridge, and use anchovy fillets for a deeper umami punch. I also wait at least three weeks before digging into a batch, knowing each time the fermentation time will probably be different. Treat each batch as a new adventure, paying attention to the tastes and aromas to your final destination. It might take you a few tries to get it right, but that’s part of the journey of giving kimchi the respect it deserves.

Kimchi 김치

Ingredients
½ cup coarse salt (for dry brine)
4 lbs. Napa cabbage head (large)
1 large Fuji apple
2 medium carrots
10 Asian chives (or 5 green onions)
1/2 cup garlic cloves
2” knob of ginger
1 medium yellow onion
1 cup gochugaru flakes
3 TBSP fish sauce
4 anchovy fillets

Steps
1. Quarter the cabbage head. Sprinkle salt on each cabbage leaf. Set aside on the counter in a cool area for at least four hours, up to overnight. Rinse the salt off and shake off excess water.

2. Chop the chives into one-inch pieces. Grate the carrots. Peel and rough chop the onion, ginger, and apple. Peel the garlic cloves. Add the apple, onion, ginger, garlic, fish sauce, and anchovy fillets into a food processor and pulse until most of it is broken up. Add the gochugaru to the food processor and pulse until it turns into a rough paste.

3. Mix the paste, grated carrots, and chives in a large bowl. Using your hands, spread the paste on each cabbage leaf, making sure to get all the way to the core. Put in a BPA-free plastic or glass container and press the cabbage down to get rid of air bubbles. Leave on the counter in a cool area for a few days. Then store in the fridge for about a month for full fermentation, opening once a week to let trapped air out.

Notes
- The kimchi can be kept in the refrigerator for a very long time. As long as there is no mold, you can eat the kimchi.
- I usually keep the cabbage in the quartered pieces and then cut into bite-sized pieces once it’s at the fermentation point that I like.