Kimchi-jeon김치전

No clear record says when kimchi-jeon (김치전) was first made. It is a home dish that every family has cooked its own way. What can be said is that the red, chili-seasoned kimchi in it is relatively recent: chili peppers first appear in kimchi in Jeungbo sallim gyeongje, a book from 1766. Since all it takes is chopping kimchi into a flour batter and frying it, it is also a familiar way to use up kimchi that has grown well-fermented and tangy.

There are several explanations for why pancakes like this come to mind on rainy days. One says the patter of rain sounds like batter sizzling in oil. Another traces it to farming life: when rain kept farmers out of the fields, they made flour pancakes and drank makgeolli, and the habit stuck. One large supermarket chain even reported that on the first weekend of the monsoon season, its sales of flour and pancake mix were more than 50 percent higher than on a sunny weekend.