Kristen Kish's Favorite Breakfast-For-Lunch Is A Korean Stew That Packs A Potent Punch

Breakfast in Korea looks a bit different than in the United States: You can expect options like eggs with rice and bean porridge. But there's one particular dish that caught the eye of "Top Chef" winner-turned-host Kristen Kish on a trip there. Speaking with EatingWell, Kish recalls going out for breakfast with chef Esther Choi while the duo were visiting Korea and sampling what Choi described as a traditional breakfast: a kimchi stew with bean sprouts, vegetables, and tender pork neck on the bone.

Since encountering it, Kish has devised her own spin on the stew as a quickly thrown together lunch. She takes kimchi and mixes it with stock (meat or vegetable, as you like), while adding in cubes of soft tofu, whatever vegetables are floating around, and a protein. This makes for a quick stew that's both deeply flavorful and uses up extra odds and ends from the refrigerator.

While Kish's dish and the breakfast that inspired it sound tasty, the bad news for purists who want to recreate it is that she hasn't named the dish. But we have some guesses: It could be kimchi jjigae, which features pork (although recipes usually suggest belly or shoulder), tofu, and vegetables, with broth and a kick from spicy gochujang and gochujaru. Another dish that roughly fits the bill is kimchi jjim. It has similar ingredients to kimchi jjigae but uses a bit less liquid, and adds umami soybean paste, mirin (a sweet rice wine), plus ginger and garlic for some kick.

It should be little surprise that Kish is a fan of kimchi stews — and not just because she's Korean-born. While Kristen Kish was adopted by a family in Michigan and raised with only moderate knowledge of Korean cuisine, she's reconnected over time. (Although in one anecdote, she says as a kid she would insert it into fast food burgers, since she loved the tanginess of pickles, and found kimchi to have similar qualities.) She's now worked with iconic Korean chefs like Maangchi, and has a partnership with kimchi company Jongga, describing kimchi as one of her most beloved ingredients.

Classic kimchi is made with relatively few components, the most important of which are fermented cabbage and chili flakes, and Kish finds kimchi super-versatile. While it obviously features prominently in Korean dishes like the aforementioned stews, she's a pro at working it into American dishes. She notes that its spicy and tangy qualities cut through greasy, fatty flavors. 

One way Kish does this is to work it into mac and cheese. Another great classic twist she has is to pair it with ham and cheese wrapped in puff pastry, as a take on pigs in a blanket. One other idea pairs kimchi with tater tots and creamed corn, for a clever comfort food with a kick. But there's plenty more possibilities beyond Kish's ideas: She says if you're unsure what to do with kimchi, no need to dive into classic Korean dishes; instead, you can pair it with something familiar like a hot dog.