Jeon (Korean: 전, 煎) is a fritterinKorean cuisine made by seasoning whole, sliced, or minced fish, meat, vegetables, etc., and coating them with wheat flour and egg wash before frying them in oil.[1]Jeon can be served as an appetizer, a banchan (side dish), or an anju (food served and eaten with drinks). Some jeons are sweet desserts; one such variety is called hwajeon (literally "flower jeon").
Names
Although jeon can be considered a type of buchimgae in a wider sense, buchimgae and jeons are different dishes. Jeons are smaller and made with fewer ingredients than buchimgae.[2]
Jeon can also be called jeonya (저냐),[3] especially in Korean royal court cuisine context. Jeonya is sometimes called jeonyueo (전유어) or jeonyuhwa (전유화).
The variety of jeon made for jesa (ancestral rite) are called gannap (간납). Gannap are usually made of beef liver, omasum, or fish.
Types
Almost all jeons are seasoned, coated with wheat flour and egg wash, and then pan-fried.
Meat
Jeon made of red meat and poultry were used extensively in Korean royal court cuisine, while the food for ordinary folks tends to have some vegetable added to them. Yukjeon (육전, "meat jeon") is a generic term for a variety of jeon made of meat.
Donggeurang-ttaeng (동그랑땡) – little patties made of beef, pork, or fish with crumbled tofu, chopped scallions and namuls. Called don-jeonya (돈저냐, "coin jeonya") in Korean royal court cuisine.
Satae-jeonya (사태저냐) – made of boiled and thinly sliced beef shank.
Seonji-jeonya (선지저냐) – made of blanched and seasoned seonji (blood).
Soeseo-jeonya (쇠서저냐) – made of thinly sliced beef tongue.
Yang-jeonya (양저냐) – made of thinly sliced beef tripe.
Yangyuk-jeonya (양육저냐) – made of thinly sliced lamb.
Seafood
Saengseon-jeon (생선전, "fish jeon") is a generic term for any jeon made of fish. White fish are usually preferred. Haemul-jeon (해물전, "seafood jeon") includes the jeon made of fish as well as shellfish, shrimps, and octopuses.
Bungeo-jeonya (붕어저냐) – made of thinly sliced carp.
Bure-jeonya (부레저냐) – made by stuffing the swim bladder of a croaker with croaker flesh and ground beef, then sealining and boiling it, and slicing it before coating it with wheat flour and egg wash and pan-frying it.
Yeongeun-jeonya (연근저냐) – made of grated and strained lotus root.
Flower
Hwajeon (화전, "flower jeon") is a generic term for any jeon made of edible flowers. Hwajeons are usually sweet, with honey as an ingredient. Jeon made of jujube is sometimes called hwajeon.
