Episode 20: Lettuce Wraps
I opened the freezer and started looking for ingredients.
‘I think I bought some and put them away last time...’
This was absolutely essential for the dish I was trying to make, and I clearly remembered buying some and storing it last time.
‘Here it is.’
I took out a black plastic bag from the freezer, and inside were two squid frozen solid.
"Let’s make lettuce wraps for the first time in a while."
Lettuce wraps.
When I first heard the name, I thought it was so unique—no matter how good fried food was, frying lettuce? But that wasn’t it.
It was a dish where you wrapped various kinds of fried food in lettuce. I first tried it in college.
Personally, I liked putting fried squid in lettuce and wrapping it up with onions pickled in soy sauce, and today, that’s exactly what I wanted to eat.
First, I started thawing the frozen solid squid under running water.
And I started preparing to fry.
I was about to pour cooking oil into a pot when a thought suddenly struck me.
‘If I fry here, won’t everything get completely covered in oil?’
I would try my best not to let it splatter, but still, the gas stove would become a mess.
Then, in my attempt to eat something delicious, I might end up having to do a major cleanup instead.
"Let’s fry outside."
I remembered the brazier and iron pot I used to cook with my father.
They were probably in the storage shed, and if I fried there, I wouldn’t have to worry about oil splattering.
I left the house and went to the storage shed.
And in one corner, I found the brazier and iron pot.
They were a bit dusty, but if I washed them clean with water, there wouldn’t be any big problem.
I brought them to the water faucet next to my house.
And using a scrubber, I started cleaning the brazier and iron pot.
Scrub, scrub, scrub.
The scraping of metal was slightly cringe-inducing, but they quickly began to get clean.
"Shall I get the fire going now?"
Leaving the brazier and iron pot to drain, I went to the pile of firewood.
In the corner of our house, there was quite a lot of firewood stacked up. Father had brought dead trees from the mountain and piled them up whenever he had time.
I brought over firewood, positioned the brazier, and started stacking the logs neatly inside.
I stacked them carefully, leaving gaps for air to flow through. Now I just had to light it.
When I was young, Father used newspaper and a lighter to start the fire. But these days, you could light it quickly with a blowtorch.
I went back to the storage shed and got the blowtorch. But before lighting the fire, I thought it would be better to go back inside and finish prepping the ingredients.
Setting the blowtorch down for a moment, I went back inside.
I touched the squid; it seemed mostly thawed. I took it out, sprinkled coarse salt over it, and started rubbing it in.
Then I rinsed it again under running water. This way, I could remove impurities and season it at the same time, making it tasty.
After washing it several times, I carefully dried the moisture with a paper towel this time. If it went into the oil with water on it, it would explode, and I might get burned.
I placed the well-dried squid on a cutting board and started cutting it into bite-sized pieces.
Since I was planning to fry the squid and wrap it in lettuce, it was important to cut it into easy, one-bite sizes.
I put the cut squid into a bowl and lightly dusted it with flour, coating it evenly.
"Now I just need to prepare the batter, and I'm done."
I mixed frying batter mix with egg whites to make the batter. And into it, I finely chopped and added some perilla leaves I had picked earlier.
‘This should give it a perilla leaf flavor too.’
I had imagined trying it after thinking of fried chicken with perilla leaves, and somehow, it felt like a good idea.
Finally, I dipped the squid in the batter and carried it outside to fry.
I placed the iron pot on the brazier and started pouring in cooking oil. To get it to a certain height, quite a lot of oil went in.
Once it reached a certain level, I used the blowtorch to light the firewood.
Fwoooosh.
Soon, the firewood began to glow red as the flames rose. I turned off the blowtorch and waited for the oil temperature to rise.
"Easier than I thought?"
Truthfully, I had always just watched Father do it; this was almost my first time lighting a fire myself like this.
But for a first time, it was going incredibly well.
"At this level, I could do this when my friends come over."
I had decided to spend vacation here with my friends this summer.
When they came, I planned to light a fire like this, grill meat, and go camping by the sea. But before that, I wanted to master fire-starting.
And from the very first try, I was doing splendidly.
After a short while, I could feel the oil getting hot, so I dropped a single droplet of batter to test it.
Sizzle.
The batter fried into a round shape and began floating on the oil. It seemed ready to fry now.
I picked up the squid pieces one by one and started frying them in the oil.
Sssssss.
Every time I put squid into the oil, the frying sound echoed around the faucet. Listening alone, I felt it was a bit of a shame.
"I should show this to the guys."
My friends liked lettuce wraps too, so intending to brag to them, I started filming myself frying.
The fried food in the iron pot began to cook to a golden brown. I took out the fully cooked fried squid and placed it on a tray.
And after cooling one down, I brought it straight to my mouth.
"Hoo."
It seemed too hot, so I blew on it. Once it seemed cooled down somewhat, I popped it right into my mouth.
"Ow, hot."
The inside was still hot, but it was edible.
Crunch.
The batter crunched crisply as I bit down, and I could feel the chewiness of the squid inside. Since I had seasoned it with salt, it was delicious even without any separate soy sauce dipping.
Maybe because it was so delicious?
Before I knew it, my hand moved on its own toward the fried squid. I had meant to eat just one, but I ended up eating several.
"No. I have to wrap these in lettuce."
Since I had planned to eat lettuce wraps, I tried to hold back, but I suddenly thought that going back inside to get the lettuce and eating there would be a bit annoying.
‘Let’s just eat here. I only need to bring the lettuce and pickled onions.’
I put more squid into the iron pot, then brought out a tray with lettuce, rice, pickled onions, and the lady’s kimchi.
I brought out a chair, roughly laid out a meal, and settled in. It wasn’t too uncomfortable for eating.
Using tongs, I turned the squid round and round as I prepared to make lettuce wraps.
I shook the water off a leaf of lettuce, placed a piece of fried squid on it, then topped it with a pickled onion soaked in soy sauce.
I wrapped it in the lettuce and ate it. It was incredibly delicious.
When I had eaten lettuce wraps before, I had never eaten them while the fried food was this warm. They were still delicious back then, but wrapping freshly made fried food made it so much better.
‘This time, I should eat it with kimchi too.’
I put in fresh kimchi, scallion kimchi, rotated through the different kinds, wrapping the fried food and eating. It was so delicious that before I knew it, I started stuffing the lettuce wraps into my mouth.
‘I’m glad I added the perilla leaves. It tastes completely different.’
Maybe because they were vegetables I had harvested myself, they felt even fresher. I felt a happiness as great as the wrap filling my mouth.
I was eating mindlessly when I suddenly felt a gaze on me.
It was the camera, staring right at me.
I had been filming a video to show the guys, but I had completely forgotten about it. I checked the video, and the recording time had already passed 20 minutes.
I played the video, and the sight of me stuffing lettuce into my mouth was a bit awkward.
I divided the video into short clips of me frying and eating, then sent them to the group chat where my friends were gathered.
And I focused on eating again, but soon, I got messages from my friends.
*Ping*
> Seongil: What is this?
> Minwoo: Lettuce wraps I made.
> Seongil: You? Don’t lie.
> Minwoo: I really made them. I grew the lettuce myself too.
Seongil didn’t believe me easily even after seeing me make it with my own hands.
> Geonhyeong: Oh, that looks tasty. Looking at you like this, Minwoo, you totally look like a farmer. The rubber boots suit you.
> Minwoo: You think so? They’re a limited edition from Haenam Hardware. Super sturdy.
Geonhyeong took an interest in my outfit. I had been wearing rubber boots the whole time, afraid oil might splatter.
> Geonhyeong: Lettuce wraps look delicious. If we visit Haenam, are you making them for us?
> Minwoo: Of course. I mastered starting a fire today.
I felt good boasting about my cooking to my friends when suddenly my phone rang. Checking it, it was Suhyeon.
"Yeah, Suhyeon."
"Are the lettuce wraps good?"
"Yeah, totally delicious."
"You seem to be doing well in Haenam."
At Suhyeon’s words, I thought I knew why he had called.
When I said I was going down to Haenam, my other friends had worried too, but Suhyeon had worried the most.
My other friends were playful, but Suhyeon was a somewhat serious friend. He was also the one who had noticed my condition first and recommended I go to the hospital.
"Yeah, being here definitely puts my mind at ease. I think coming down was the right choice."
"That’s good. It was nice seeing you eat so well. You totally looked like a mukbang streamer."
"Really? I was so hungry earlier that I ate without even caring about the camera."
"I was worried, but I’m so glad to see you’re doing well. That’s what I called to say."
"Thanks. I’m really doing better than before. If you guys come here and rest next time, your stress will melt away too."
"Yeah, I gotta get back to work, so I’ll hang up. Let’s talk later."
Suhyeon hung up like that, and I felt grateful. Even though I didn’t have parents, knowing that someone was thinking of me was a great comfort.
> Geonhyeong: Minwoo, can I post this on social media to get likes?
Geonhyeong’s message made me laugh. They were playful like that, but they were always worrying about me.
> Minwoo: No.
****
"Phew, all cleaned up."
Eating was delicious, but cleaning up was another job entirely.
Clearing away the firewood I had burned and washing the iron pot clean took quite a bit of time. Still, probably because I had eaten so deliciously, I thought I wanted to eat it again next time.
*Ping*
> Geonhyeong: Sorry, already posted it on social media.
Even though I said no, Geonhyeong had ended up posting my video on his social media.
It was a bit embarrassing since I had eaten so ravenously, but he had fewer than 100 followers, so not that many people would see it.
After finishing cleaning up and coming back inside, my phone rang again. I thought it was Geonhyeong, but it was someone else.
"Yes, Hyungnim."
"Can you talk right now?"
The caller was Gu Sangho.
"Yes, I can."
"We’re starting preparations for sweet potato farming next week. Want to come by the farm and take a look?"
At his words, I checked the calendar. It was May now.
I had heard that sweet potatoes were planted starting from mid-May, so it seemed they were beginning preparations now.
Since I was planning to plant sweet potatoes in the field above too, I thought it would be good to go early and learn.
"Yes, I’ll go."