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Bibimbap with vegetables and egg

비빔밥 · Bibimbap

Bibimbap

비빔밥

What exactly is it?

A one-bowl meal of rice, seasoned vegetables and toppings, mixed with gochujang. Start with a little gochujang and add more after tasting: its heat and saltiness vary. The vegetables, meat and egg change by household, season and region.

Main ingredients

Rice, seasoned vegetables, egg, gochujang

Ordering and serving

Mix in gochujang gradually and eat with a spoon. A vegetable-heavy bowl may still contain meat, egg or animal stock; a vegetarian order needs more than removing the visible beef.

Origins and changes

Older records call mixed rice goldongban. The late-Joseon cookbook Siuijeonseo describes rice with meat, vegetables and fried kelp. Accounts involving ancestral offerings or communal field meals are origin theories, rather than one established moment of invention.

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Bibimbap

비빔밥

Main ingredients
Rice, seasoned vegetables, egg, gochujang
Flavor and character
A one-bowl meal of rice, seasoned vegetables and toppings, mixed with gochujang. Start with a little gochujang and add more after tasting: its heat and saltiness vary. The vegetables, meat and egg change by household, season and region.
How to eat it
Mix in gochujang gradually and eat with a spoon. A vegetable-heavy bowl may still contain meat, egg or animal stock; a vegetarian order needs more than removing the visible beef.
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Dolsot bibimbap

돌솥비빔밥

Main ingredients
Rice, seasoned vegetables such as bean sprouts and spinach, minced beef, egg, gochujang, sesame oil
Flavor and character
Dolsot bibimbap serves the familiar components of bibimbap in a preheated stone bowl. The bowl keeps the meal hot and continues cooking the egg and toppings as they are mixed. Rice touching the stone browns into a crisp, nutty crust, so diners scrape and mix the bottom layer into the rest of the bowl.
How to eat it
Keep hands off the hot rim. Leave the bottom layer briefly for a crisper crust, then scrape it into the rice. Mix the egg promptly if you want it more cooked; the hot vessel alone does not guarantee every raw topping is cooked through.
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