Enjoy Maangchi's yummy recipes
By Do Je-hae
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My shrimp pancake after Maangchi's recipe / Korea Times photo by Do Je-hae
Before I got into cooking several years ago, I used YouTube primarily to listen to classical music or learn how to play certain pieces on the piano, such the Chopin Polonaise in A-flat.
Now the video-sharing website has become an indispensable tool for me in learning how to cook Korean food or “hansik.” In the YouTube era, I’m sure this is the case for not just working women like myself, but for countless others who want to improve their cooking skills without having to attend classes or tune into a TV cooking program at a designated time.
My favorite cooking channel on YouTube is
(the pseudonym of the presenter), who was described by the New York Times as “YouTube's Korean Julia Child.” My heart lights up whenever she uploads a new video and I am always tempted to try her latest recipe.
Now the New York-based online cooking star has more than one million subscribers on YouTube and has a revenue-sharing partnership with it that allows her to shoot her videos and cook full time. Since I started my column for The Korea Times a while ago, the first person I wanted to interview was Maangchi because I wanted to share her amazing YouTube work with foreign readers of our paper.
Before interviewing her, I did some research on Maangchi. I was stunned when a New York Times interview in 2015 mentioned that she has more YouTube subscribers than Martha Stewart, the renowned lifestyle queen. This is mainly because I could not believe that someone who specializes in hansik, which is much less well known compared to Japanese or Chinese food globally, has more subscribers than Stewart’s lifestyle channel on YouTube. Stewart’s channel covers not just food but various subjects that women are fascinated with, including interior design and decorating, not to mention the numerous how-to home maintenance videos. I did some fact-checking, and Maangchi has more than one million YouTube subscribers as of this week, whereas the founder of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia has about 259,000.
Besides the YouTube channel, Maangchi also operates maangchi.com, a popular website for Korean cuisine and is the author of the 2015 cookbook “Maangchi’s Real Korean Cooking: Authentic Dishes for the Home Cook.” But her videos bring out the best of Maangchi because she shares delightful stories about the food she makes.
There are many reasons why hansik lovers are hooked on her videos, but for me, the main one is that her recipes are easy to follow and I sort of get the warm feeling of learning how to cook from mom. “I think it’s because when people try one of my recipes and it turns out delicious, they impress themselves, their family, and their friends,” Maangchi said in an e-mail interview. “Then they tell them where they learned how to do it and through word of mouth my videos get passed around.”
Maangchi in her kitchen / Courtesy of Maangchi
Also her bubbly personality makes viewers happy. “I’m always excited about eating delicious food. I’m doing what I like so all my passion is in my work and I feel creative all the time. I never think about my age,” she said.
I still remember the first dish I made following Maangchi’s recipe ― shrimp pancakes. They were delicious, but kind of time-consuming to make. I asked Maangchi for some quick recipes for working women and men. “Home cooking is almost always more delicious than eating out, and much cheaper,” Maangchi said. “My apple ssamjang recipe uses apple instead of sugar, which adds crispness to the ssamjang that is really irresistible. With multigrain rice and a variety of lettuce, it’s a great, quick meal that’s delicious and good for you.”
She also suggested her recent gamjajeon recipe, which is also “super-popular because it’s so easy to make and so tastes great.” Maangchi says mandu-guk is also a good choice. “It’s best with homemade mandu, but store-bought mandu is okay too.”
I was also fascinated that Maangchi started her second career after her children moved out of the house. When she is not on YouTube, she is Emily Kim, who previously worked as a family counselor in Toronto. Her moniker comes from her online gaming phase before she started a YouTube career as a home chef in 2007.
Her journey to YouTube stardom is inspirational particularly for those who are middle-aged or older envisioning and preparing for a second career. Here are some of her tips. “First, your new career should involve something that you love doing. I started making Korean cooking videos because it was fun to do, and it kind of took off. I’m very lucky that without any long-term plan at all, just following my passion, I ended up making a career from sharing Korean food and recipes with the world,” Maangchi said.
“So if you choose something you love to do, even if you’re not hugely financially successful you’ll get a lot of satisfaction in doing it and seeing people enjoy your work. I think YouTube is a wonderful place to share your passion because you can reach millions of people around the world who are eager to learn something new from people just like you and me.”