Baechu Kimchi

Name: Baechu Kimchi
Yield: Approximately 4.5 to 5 kg of finished kimchi
Ingredients: 3 kg Napa cabbage; 450 g Daikon radish, julienned; 200 g Carrots, julienned; 200 g Spring onions, cut into 4 cm lengths; 450 g Coarse sea salt; 4 L Cold water; 500 ml Water; 35 g Sweet rice flour, glutinous rice flour; 150 g Garlic; 70 g Ginger; 80 g Onion; 180 g Korean gochugaru, medium coarse; 120 g Fish sauce; 50 g Salted shrimp, saeujeot, minced; 30 g Sugar; 15 g Korean plum syrup, optional but recommended

Napa cabbage salted, rinsed and packed with a rice porridge paste.

The full cabbage kimchi, made properly: six hours of salting, three rinses, a long drain, and paste worked into every leaf rather than smeared over the outside.

Approximately 4.5 to 5 kg of finished kimchi

Cook this

Do not over-salt. The cabbage should bend without snapping and still have a pleasant crunch. And drain it upside down for two to three hours: too much water dilutes the kimchi.
Chef Paul Dukai

Ingredients

Vegetables

Napa cabbage3 kg
Daikon radish, julienned450 g
Carrots, julienned200 g
Spring onions, cut into 4 cm lengths200 g

Salting

Coarse sea salt450 g
Cold water4 L

Rice porridge

Water500 ml
Sweet rice flour, glutinous rice flour35 g

Aromatics

Garlic150 g
Ginger70 g
Onion80 g

Seasoning

Korean gochugaru, medium coarse180 g
Fish sauce120 g
Salted shrimp, saeujeot, minced50 g
Sugar30 g
Korean plum syrup, optional but recommended15 g

Method

Salting the cabbage

Cut each cabbage into quarters, leaving the stem attached.
Dissolve half the salt in the water, dip the cabbage, then sprinkle the remaining salt between every leaf. Place into trays and leave for 6 hours, turning every hour. The cabbage should become flexible but keep its crunch.
Rinse three times, then drain upside down for 2 to 3 hours.

The paste

Boil the water, whisk in the rice flour and cook until glossy. Cool completely.
Blend the garlic, ginger and onion into a purée.
Mix the rice paste, the aromatic purée, the fish sauce, salted shrimp, sugar, plum syrup and gochugaru until smooth, and let it hydrate for 30 minutes.
Fold in the daikon, carrot and spring onion.

Packing and fermenting

Wearing gloves, lift every leaf and apply the seasoning. Do not simply coat the outside.
Fold each quarter neatly and pack tightly into sterilised fermentation containers, pressing firmly to remove air pockets and leaving about 2 cm of headspace. Never fill a container completely: kimchi expands and releases gas.
Day 1: ferment at 18 to 20°C for 24 hours.
From day 2: move to 2 to 4°C and ferment for 2 to 4 weeks.

Chef’s notes

The eating window, from the source: fresh and vibrant at two weeks, beautifully balanced at a month, rich and complex at two to three months, and ideal for jjigae, fried rice, pancakes, dumplings and braises at six.
Use coarse Korean gochugaru rather than fine chilli powder, which makes the texture muddy and the heat harsher. Traditional Korean anchovy fish sauce gives the most authentic flavour, and the salted shrimp is one of the biggest contributors to the umami.

Keeping

Refrigerated at 2 to 4°C the source records 6 to 9 months, up to 12 months vacuum packed after fermentation, and 12 months frozen with a slightly softer texture. DUKAI storage guidance: those are quality windows for a properly fermented, properly submerged kimchi and not a safety guarantee. Keep it cold, keep the vegetables under the brine, use clean utensils, and judge each container on its own smell and appearance rather than on a date.

Allergens and diet

Fish, from the fish sauce. Crustaceans, from the salted shrimp.

Last refined · September 2026