A friend recently dined in a Korean restaurant, and was served a dish that contained things he said “looked like small alien eggs” (I guess like the eggs from the Alien movies). The proprietor told him they were “taegu,” but that was all the explanation he got.
Any idea what these were?
That sounds brilliant. Want.
Yeah, that was the picture I got, too, but it didn’t seem to match the description my friend gave of the “little alien eggs.” He did some more digging and found out the particular item in question was a warty sea squirt. In retrospect, I’m not sure what taegu had to do with it.
Well, knowing very little about taegu, never actually having tried it, and even less about Korean, never having spoke it. I would assume that taegu refers to the condiment, not the particular fish. That is, it can be made with fish besides cod. For example, take ketchup- most people are only familiar with the most popular tomato variety but there is also walnut ketchup, mango ketchup, ketjap manis, etc. Chances are he simply had sea squirt taegu… here is a reference to Cuttlefish taegu.
Nori Linguine Salad
8-ounce package linguine
1-pound package imitation crab, chopped
3 ounces taegu (Korean seasoned cuttlefish), chopped
1/2 bottle Tropic Oriental dressing
1/2 bottle furikake (seasoned dried-seaweed condiment)
Boil linguine about 10 minutes and rinse. Toss together all ingredients. Chill.
I would also deduct from the three types of fish I have seen used (cuttlefish, dried cod shreds, and sea squirt) for taegu, that it is a flavor and texture thing in Korean cuisine. It would seem that taegu might be characterized by a ropy or noodly texture with a fairly flavorless, chewy, fish… I wouldn’t be surprised if it also wasn’t made with jellyfish.
Did he eat them?
If so, with what aftermath?