it’s fucking raw

I like to pronounce salmon with the L. Sal-mon. Not sam-on. Salmon like how it’s pronounced in salmonella. I know it’s wrong but I think it’s fun to keep people on their toes like that. Anyways, salmonella, amongst other bacterias, are a large part of why many are apprehensive of consuming raw foods, particularly meats, seafood, and eggs. But if you’ve been on Tiktok and seen people hyperfixating on their flavoured waters or savoury onion cups, I’m here hyperfixating on raw foods. So here are three raw dishes I think you should know about.

The first time I had raw marinated crab, it was pouring rain. I think I watched a town lowkey flood earlier in the day. My friends and I ran through the streets and piled into a restaurant we had been recommended. We were the only customers there and we ordered the only thing they had on their menu, crab. Raw marinated crab can be a daunting dish. There’s just a crab, or three, laying on their backs on the plate waiting for you to mix their insides up. I remember how striking the orange roe and green peppers were against the murky soy sauce marinade. The mouthfeel of the crab was a smooth paste of umami. It was salty, rich, melt-in-your-mouth with an undertaste of the ocean somewhere where the salt of seaweed and crab rice met the spice of gochujang. It was a faultless meal, perfectly suited to warming our bellies while our socks and hair dried in the small restaurant. And because I’m a cheapskate that has a thing about food waste, I sucked the soul out of those crabs. Claws and all.

Now, I could describe yukhoe as a korean beef tartare but tartare is more minced and paste-like. It’s often served with toast and you can spread the tartare onto it. Yukhoe is raw beef sliced into strips so I find it has a more satisfying bite to it. The raw beef is usually marinated with a medley of seasonings such as gochujang, sesame oil, and garlic. It’s often topped with a raw egg yolk–I’m undecided if I prefer yukhoe with yolk. It gives the beef pieces a richer flavor and creamier mouthfeel but it kind of masks the chewiness of the bite, a characteristic I quite like. Yukhoe is often served and eaten with thin slices of asian pear. The pear adds a subtle sweet flavor and some variety in texture which is useful against palate fatigue. I remember eating this in a stall in Gwangjang Market with the thin walls doing little to drown out the hustle and bustle of the marketgoers. My two friends and I were so consumed with the yukhoe, we overordered. We didn't even notice another group of our friends had taken their dinner at a noodle stall right across the row until they sent a photo of us hunched over our plates in the group chat.

Tamago kake gohan is the simplest of dishes on this short listicle. It’s literally just a raw egg on top of rice. You can crack the egg right on top of the steamed rice and mix it in. Or be extra and first crack the egg into a separate bowl just to slide it on top of your rice afterwards anyways. I’ve heard tamago kake gohan be described as carbonara-eqsue and there are plenty of common add-ins like soy sauce, furikake, green onions, or extra egg yolks if you’re gluttonous for eggs like that. I could make this in my kitchen at any moment if I truly wanted to but I fear I do not trust American eggs enough to actually go through with it. I’ve resigned myself to waiting until I can make my way to Japan to have a bowl of raw egg and rice.