Peter Serpico grew up in what he describes as a “standard-issue American family.” He lived in an unassuming house near Baltimore with a deck and backyard tire swing, played Little League on a team coached by his dad, and ate his mom’s macaroni and cheese most Friday nights.
“But when you’re the lone Asian son of white parents whose other children are Latin and Caucasian, the reality is you stick out, no matter how ‘normal’ you feel,” he confesses in the introduction to “Learning Korean: Recipes for Home Cooking” (Norton, $35).
The acclaimed Philadelphia chef tells how he spent the first two years of his life in an orphanage in Seoul before becoming the third adoptive child in a loving Maryland household.
A summer job in a pizzeria led him to enroll in culinary school with his parents’ enthusiastic support. At 19, he began building an impressive career in top New York restaurants, and eventually helped the famed Korean American chef David Chang grow his Momofuku restaurant empire.
But it was Julie Choi, a hostess he met at Momofuku Noodle Bar and later married, who inspired him to dig into his own identity. He credits his Korean mother-in-law for introducing him to the thrills of savory pancakes, black bean noodles, marinated short ribs, and all manner of banchan, the array of vegetable sides present at any traditional Korean meal.
While developing cutting-edge menus for his Philadelphia restaurants — Serpico, which closed during the pandemic, and now KPOD, a contemporary Korean American concept — he taught himself how to make versions of Korean fare to share with his wife and daughter at home.
He presents those lessons in the chapters that follow, beginning with Countertop Kimchi and proceeding to practical family pleasers such as Ground Beef Bulgogi, BBQ Oyster Mushrooms, Cinnamon-Sugar Rice Cakes, and Chilled Spicy Noodles tossed with Korean Chile Sauce.
Allow him to guide you through a few easy-to-assemble meals, and you’ll understand what he means when he says “when I eat Korean food, I feel better.”
Susan Puckett is a cookbook author and former food editor of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Follow her at susanpuckett.com.
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