Eric Kim
New York, New York
A few weeks ago we had the pleasure of attending Eric Kim’s recipe preview party at the (might we say stunning) New York Times Cooking Studio Kitchen. Eric blessed us with his new Gochujang Buttered Noodles, Gochujang-Glazed Eggplant with Fried Scallions, and Gochujang Caramel Cookies — we love a theme!! The beauty of the buttered noodles—he mentioned while demonstrating the recipe for the crowd—is that it’s fast, easy, and delicious. Made to be prepared at 1AM after a night out, which we have done more than once since the event... Allow this interview to be a teaser to more of Eric’s amazing NYT Column, recipes, and recent cookbook Korean American.
Full name, age, where are you from?
Eric Joonho Kim, 31 or 32 (depending on how much coffee I've had), Atlanta
What is your title and where do you work?
Cooking Columnist for The New York Times
Was food a big part of your upbringing?
I think so. We certainly marked occasions with specific dishes: homemade burgers and ice-cream cake for my birthday, broccoli-cheese-rice casserole for Thanksgiving, Argentine empanadas for Christmas, kimchi fried rice with Spam for homecomings. As an adult, I can appreciate those anchors of comfort.
What are your earliest memories of dining out?
I just flashed back to the Macaroni Grill in our neighborhood, where I learned that you could eat red onions raw in a salad splashed with balsamic vinegar, oil and not much else. To this day, that's one of my favorite salads. But the Grill is also where I developed a love for capellini and all of the many sauces it's good at soaking up. I couldn't even drink wine, yet; I must've been, I don't know, 13 years old?
If you could give a piece of advice to someone who wanted to pursue your career, what would it be?
Eat as much as you can, cook as much as you can, watch and learn from as many people as you can, and start to create — whether on a social media platform, on a blog, in a notebook. Think about what your culinary point of view might be. What do you like to eat, what's particular to your cooking style? Which ingredients do you find yourself gravitating toward? It's a lifelong process, but asking yourself what you think about the work really helps, I think, to grow confidence when you're cooking, developing recipes or writing about food, and deciding how you want to contribute to the discourse.
What do you think working in this industry has taught you?
I didn't expect it to teach me this, but I think the best thing it's taught me is that being myself is what works. Every time I've tried to change myself for someone else, the work has flopped. But when I stick to my guns, it doesn't. I'm always grateful for that reminder, for the wonderful people around me who help me be the most me at all junctures. People who have my back, you know?
What's your favorite dish/drink on the menu?
I'll always order the green salad and/or French fries. And I'm in a single-malt Scotch phase again, so probably the Old Fashioned option (most cocktail menus have one interpretation), or a Rob Roy, which is just a Scotch Manhattan.
What is your favorite place to go out and eat at and what are you ordering?
Something happened to me over the holiday: I became a restaurant person. But not just any restaurant. My usual hermetic self started to crave other people's food, made from their hands, so I've been really excited about a lot of work that's out there right now in the form of pop-ups. One of the best brunches — heck, meals — I've ever had was at the Strange Delight pop-up at No. 7 Restaurant (the collaboration between Anoop Pillarisetti, Ham El-Waylly, and Michael Carlo Tuiach, featuring Tyler Kord's fried chicken). Her Place is a stellar supper club in Philadelphia, cooked by Amanda Shulman, whose food tastes singularly Philly and carefully calibrated. I'm ordering whatever they want to cook.
You’re on a desert island, what are the 5 kitchen items you need to run your business?
Oven/stove
12-inch stainless steel skillet
3-quart saucepan
Global chef's knife (unsponsored!)
Flexible spatula
