MtnTraveler wrote:
>
> One ingredient that most Westerners seem to avoid when making kimchee is
> some sort of smelly fermented fish added into the recipe. If you have an
> Asian market near you, look for Japanese 'shiokara,' and add 1-2 TBS to
> your recipe. (It's often sold in small bottles and has a very strong
> smell!) In Korea people store their kimchee in large pots OUTSIDE their
> homes; on roofs, back stairs, etc., as the smell is too strong to keep
> them inside. This might be what is missing from your recipe. Many
> westernized recipes tone this down by using dried shrimp which gives a
> very different flavor.
>
>

My mother-in-law will add chopped raw oysters to her kimchee. I kid you not!

My understanding is that the Koreans in the cities will keep their
kimchee in a separate refrigerator like my mother-in-law used to before
she moved in with us. They put the refrigerator in the bedroom farthest
from the kitchen. I used to think "why the heck is there a full size
refrigerator in the bedroom?" Typically, you can get small refrigerators
at Korean stores. I believe they call these "kim chee refrigerators."