Most of what I know about Korean cooking, I learned from watching my unofficial food fairy godmother, YouTube cook Maangchi. Through her channel, two cookbooks, and online community, she taught me—a Korean American adoptee raised by white parents—many lessons on my journey to discover more about my culture. Things like the savory superpowers of toasted sesame oil—every time I use it, I feel more Korean somehow. It’s almost as if the ingredient connects me to my birth parents and extended family back home.
So I was already a toasted sesame oil devotee when the discovery of toasted sesame paste blew my mind.
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