Jjolmyeon refers to either a type of Korean noodles

Korean noodles

Korean noodles are noodles or noodle dishes in Korean cuisine and are collectively referred to as "guksu" in native Korean or "myeon" in hanja. Preparations and cooking with noodles are relatively simple, so the history is longer than that of bread, dating back around BCE 6000 to BCE 5000 in China...

 that have a very chewy texture and are made from wheat flour

Wheat flour

Wheat flour is a powder made from the grinding of wheat used for human consumption. More wheat flour is produced than any other flour. Wheat varieties are called "clean," "white," or "brown" if they have high gluten content, and they are called "soft" or "weak" flour if gluten content is low...

 and starch

Starch

Starch or amylum is a carbohydrate consisting of a large number of glucose units joined together by glycosidic bonds. This polysaccharide is produced by all green plants as an energy store...

 or a cold and spicy dish made with the noodles and vegetables. The spicy and hot sauce is a combination of gochujang

Gochujang

Gochujang is a savory and pungent fermented Korean condiment. Traditionally, it has been naturally fermented over years in large earthen pots outdoors, more often on an elevated stone platform, called jangdokdae in the backyard...

(chili pepper

Chili pepper

Chili pepper is the fruit of plants from the genus Capsicum, members of the nightshade family, Solanaceae. The term in British English and in Australia, New Zealand, India, Malaysia and other Asian countries is just chilli without pepper.Chili peppers originated in the Americas...

 paste), vinegar, sugar, and minced garlic

Garlic

Allium sativum, commonly known as garlic, is a species in the onion genus, Allium. Its close relatives include the onion, shallot, leek, chive, and rakkyo. Dating back over 6,000 years, garlic is native to central Asia, and has long been a staple in the Mediterranean region, as well as a frequent...

. It is also a type of bibim guksu

Bibim guksu

Bibim guksu, a cold dish made with very thin wheat flour noodles called somyeon with added flavorings, is one of the most popular traditional noodle dishes in Korean cuisine. It is also called guksu bibim or goldong myeon, all of which literally mean "stirred noodles" or "mixed noodles"...

(mixed noodles).

Etymology

The first syllable of the name comes from the adverb

Adverb

An adverb is a part of speech that modifies verbs or any part of speech other than a noun . Adverbs can modify verbs, adjectives , clauses, sentences, and other adverbs....

 jjolgit-jjolgit (쫄깃쫄깃) in pure Korean language

Korean language

Korean is the official language of the country Korea, in both South and North. It is also one of the two official languages in the Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture in People's Republic of China. There are about 78 million Korean speakers worldwide. In the 15th century, a national writing...

 which means "chewy", while myeon is a hanja

Hanja

Hanja is the Korean name for the Chinese characters hanzi. More specifically, it refers to those Chinese characters borrowed from Chinese and incorporated into the Korean language with Korean pronunciation...

 word meaning "noodles". Thus, the name literally means "chewy noodles".

History

Jjolmyeon is one of the most popular noodle dishes in South Korea

South Korea

The Republic of Korea , , is a sovereign state in East Asia, located on the southern portion of the Korean Peninsula. It is neighbored by the People's Republic of China to the west, Japan to the east, North Korea to the north, and the East China Sea and Republic of China to the south...

, especially among young people at bunsikjeom

Bunsik

Bunsik is a generic term used to refer to inexpensive Korean dishes available at bunsikjeom or bunsikjip snack restaurants. Since the term bunsik literally means "food made from flour," foods such as ramyeon and bread can be considered bunsik...

(Korean snack restaurant). It is a representative dish of Incheon

Incheon

The Incheon Metropolitan City is located in northwestern South Korea. The city was home to just 4,700 people when Jemulpo port was built in 1883. Today 2.76 million people live in the city, making it Korea’s third most populous city after Seoul and Busan Metropolitan City...

, where jjolmeyon originated in the early 1970s by a mistake made while making naengmyeon

Naengmyeon

Naengmyeon is a Korean dish of long and thin hand-made noodles made from the flour and starch of various ingredients: buckwheat , potatoes, sweet potatoes, 칡냉면, naengmyun made with the starch from arrowroot , and kudzu...

. Noodles larger than regular naengmyeon noodles were made at a factory and instead of being thrown out, were given away to a nearby bunsikjeom. The owner mixed the noodles with gochujang sauce and jjolmyeon was born.

External links

• Jjolymyeon recipe Jjolmyeon recipe at Naver Kitchen