Michelle told us, "I don't have a recipe for kimchi. I just do a little of this and little of that. Just get the crunchiest cabbage. Get sweet apples. And get rocky salt. Sea salt should be fine".
We begged for a recipe. She gave us the broad strokes. Sea salt was not right. She used Korean salt. Michelle doesn't skimp on the salt, nor should you. She peeled the ginger with a spoon. Glugs of fish sauce too. "Make a tasty paste and your kimchi will be bomb".
Michelle's kimchi: funky, spicy, complex. Michelle, herself: earthly, generous, lovely. Go ahead -- make Michelle's kimchi.
1 head of Napa cabbage
Korean sea salt (or coarse sea salt)
Korean chili flake (or cayenne pepper)
Apples, sweet (or Asian pear)
Garlic Ginger
Yellow onion
Scallions Fish
Sauce Rice Flour
Step 1: Sprinkle a lot of salt on each layer of cabbage (cabbage can also be brined in salt water).
Step 2: Let brine for 2 hours or so. Leaves should not get floppy. Then, rinse off excess salt from the leaves. Chop to any size if you wish. Paper off any excess water.
Step 3: Cook rice flour & water together to make a paste
Step 4: Chop onions, garlic, and apple into pieces.
Step 5: Combine flour water with garlic, ginger, onions, hot pepper flakes, apples & fish sauce until it's a paste. Smell it. If it smells good, this is how good your kimchi will be.
Step 6: Combine paste & cabbage. Add to jars, seal, let sit.
Video: Michelle's recommended kimchi instructions
"When I make kimchi (using a "Tara") with my mom and my aunt... I mean it's so big you can fit like three children in there and they could take a bath. That's how big it gets".
Article: Extending food life by a day saves 250,000 tons of food
Fresh cabbage can last up to a four weeks. But if preserved, cabbage's shelf life can be increased up to six months. And yes -- kimchi spoils since it is continuously fermenting until it gets weird. So share it with friends or just eat it quickly.