Hoe (Korean: 회; Hanja: 膾/鱠; pronounced[hwɛ]) is a Korean seafood dish that is eaten by trimming raw meat or raw fish. In addition to fish, it is also made with other marine products such as shrimp and squid, raw meat of land animals, and vegetable ingredients, but without any special prefix, it mainly refers to raw fish. It is called Sukhoe that is blanched by applying heat.[citation needed]
Hoe (회), the raw fish or meat dish, can be divided into saengseon-hoe (생선회), filleted raw fish, and yukhoe (육회), sliced raw meat.[3][4]Saengseon-hoe (생선회) can be either hwareo-hoe (활어회) made from freshly killed fish, or seoneo-hoe (선어회) made using aged fish. Mulhoe (물회) is a cold raw fish soup.[5]
There is a variant of the dish in Sakhalin Korean cuisine[7] called khe. One reported version of the dish served in the Uzbek Korean restaurant Cafe Lily in New York City used catfish that was cured in vinegar, then seasoned.[8]
Hwareo-hoe (활어회) is prepared by filleting freshly killed fish, while seoneo-hoe (선어회) is made with aged fish in a similar way as Japanese sashimi: removing the blood and innards and aging the fish at a certain temperature before filleting.[9][10] Fish or seafood hoe is often served with gochujang-based dipping sauces, such as cho-gochujang (chili paste mixed with vinegar) and ssamjang (chili paste mixed with soybean paste). Hoe is often eaten wrapped in ssam (wrap) vegetables, such as lettuce and perilla leaves. After eating hoe at a restaurant, maeun-tang (spicy fish stew) made with the bones, head, and the remaining meat of the fish, can be served as an add-on dish.
History
[edit]Gangbyeon hoeeum (lit.'Eating hoe at riverside') drawn by Kim Deuk-sin (1754‒1822) depicts Korean people gathered to eat saengseon-hoe (raw fish dish) after fishing.
According to records, hoe appears to have been eaten from Goryeo Dynasty (918–1392) at the latest. During the Joseon period, the state promoted Confucianism, and, as Confucius was known to have enjoyed eating raw meat, hoe consumption greatly increased.[11]
