National Highway No. 2, which runs from Busan to Changwon with the Namhae close, digs inland after passing through Jinhae Bay. Only after reaching the third point of the tour of the national highway No. 2, the South Sea begins to catch up again. It is because of the castle that protruded from the west of Jinhae Bay toward the South Sea. Goseong, located in the south of National Highway No. 2, passes through this castle to reach the South Sea. The southern countries that stretched from Goseong that protruded toward the South Sea to Tongyeong and Geoje embroidered over the South Sea to announce the beginning of the waterway. Along with Masan (Changwon), the paradise of the nation's great owners, Tongyeong and Geoje, pledges to the following and heads to Jinju.

Gyeongnam Pearl. What is it? Before discussing the taste of Jinju, it may be the first time to find out 'Pearl'. Even if you don't even know Jinju's ‘Namgang’, it ’s okay. The taste of pearls will tell the time and story he had.

The delicacies of Jinju are yukhoebibimbap and cold noodles. First, let's look at yukhoebibimbap. There are quite a number of localities that serve yukhoebibimbap as a delicacy. There are six bibimbap in Iksan and Hampyeong, a little unfamiliar with Jeonju, which was established as the home of Bibimbap. Probably there are countless specialties of Yukhoebibimbap. If you look at the faults you know, most of them have flat terrain. It is located in the surrounding area where cattle are raised in the open grassland or the right market is opened. It is a place where cattle are raised, especially around the right market where cows are caught. Even if they were cooked, they ate a good portion of meat, whether cooked or raw, but it would be difficult for folks to taste a piece of meat before living. The good parts of the cows would have been freshly applied and the remaining parts would have been too fresh to be discarded. I went up quickly to the herb rice I had eaten to meet, and I just guessed if this was a delicacy.

Bibimbap's old name is ‘Goldongban (骨董 飯)’. It refers to food made by mixing various types of rice including meat and rice. The record for the first class comes from the author's cookbook, <Protocol>, published at the end of Joseon. I wrote ‘骨董 飯’ in Chinese characters and ‘Buffet rice’ in Korean. ‘I cook rice, and I stir-fry the meat and stir-fry the various herbs… . … You can see that it was similar to bibimbap right now in the recipe written “Jangguk is used as jjatangguk”. In addition, the rest of the food does not pass the year, but it adds to the history of the bibimbap, a folk wind speed that gathered all on New Year's Eve on December 30 of the lunar calendar year. In the past, when the side dish was poor or unsatisfactory, he put all the side dishes in the red pepper paste and simmered it to become a bibimbap that can be tasted at any time, but his past is surprisingly colorful.

The story of Jinbibibimbap, the main character of this trip, is a little different from the other 'Goldongban'. It's a must to eat all the side dishes and eat it, because bibimbap must have been there, but our ancestors who ate it didn't know when to die. The time goes back to the Imjin War. The Imjin War, which made Joseon a wormwood field after seven years of war. One of the three great battles of this war is the Pearl Harbor. It was a fierce battle. This is because pearls are an important geographical and military path. In fact, until 1925, when the Gyeongnam Provincial Office moved to Busan, Jinju was the center of Gyeongnam. It would be because it was inland and the South Sea was able to dig deeper and use both waterways and landways. In addition, the west side of Jinju also touches Jeolla-do, a military supply base. The battle itself is impossible if the supply of military rice, which is as important as the bullet on the battlefield, is cut off. Therefore, Jinjuseong was an absolute defense line that must have been guarded by a passageway connecting Jeolla-do, which is a supply area for military weapons, at the same time as the entrance to the Joseon inland.

That is why the Battle of Jinjuseong was bound to be desperate. In addition, Ukseong-gu, a part of Jinjuseong that holds the loyalty of Nongae, who jumped into the Namgang with a red flag in his arms, also adds a share. Jinjuseong is located along the Nam River on one side. This river, named “Namgang”, which flows to the south of Jinju City, also has a lot of talk. It is the stream that watched the Imjin War with Jinju Castle. At the time of the Imjin War, 70,000 Joseon troops and the people who stood up against the 120,000 Japanese troops floated their backs on the Nam River to prevent the invasion of Japanese dwarfs and to say hello to the family. This is where the Yudeung Festival, which colors the Nam River of Jinju in the back of each fall, comes from here.

Let's go back to the Battle of Jinju Castle in Jinjin War. For the fighting men, the women made food for them. Bibimbap, which can be solved in a bowl with side dishes and rice, would have been the best fighting food. Even so, I couldn't have just given me an herb rice to meet. Protein needed for strength was supplemented by adding fresh meat from freshly caught cows. Some people interpret this as 'to taste meat at the battlefield when they might die'. Anyway, the battle of Jinjuseong was the main character who fixed Jinju Bibimbap with Yukhoe Bibimbap. How many stories are in a bowl of bibimbap! The taste is basic, but Jinbibibimbap doesn't seem to be a food to dare to discuss.

To taste Jinbibibimbap, you can find a central market located not far from Jinjuseong Fortress. Jinju Bibimbap specialty stores such as <Emperor Restaurant> and <Cheil Restaurant> have a long history. Fresh herbs are added to the base with various herbs. Here, the dark sunjik-guk comes together as a soup. It is made from fresh blood from freshly caught cows. Did our ancestors who fought in the Battle of Jinjuseong taste this warm seonjiguk? There were two battles in Jinjuseong. Although Kim won the first battle in 1592, led by Kim Min-min, the next year's battle was over 70,000 civil and military forces.

“The most important of the noodles were Pyongyang and Jinju noodles.”
<Chosun Folk Tradition>, published in 1994, is the content of the North Korean Encyclopedia of Science. Pyongyang naengmyeon is very famous, but I have never heard or seen Jinju naengmyeon. I'm a reporter who rushes to say that it's good if it's cold noodles, but I'm afraid of this moment. Can you really express the taste of Jinju naengmyeon? You should know the taste properly to express it, but there is no way to realize the taste of Jinju naengmyeon that you've only tasted once in your life. In fact, I even doubt why Jinju naengmyeon is so famous. Can I continue to write a taste article with this 'tongue'? The confused mind continues to write with comfort in the words, 'Jinju naengmyeon must be tasted three times to know its true value.'

There are three major cold noodles on the Korean Peninsula. The main characters are Hamheung Langmyeon and Pyongyang Naengmyeon, which are familiar to us, and Pearl Noodles, which are relatively less known. The first two are from North Korea and Jinju Naengmyeon is the only South Korean. It is thanks to the ingredients that these cold noodles have become famous. Hamheung-do, located in the north of Gangwon-do, has lots of potatoes (instead of rice). Thanks to this, Hamheung Langmyeon using potato starch was born. The flounder, which is often caught on the beach in Hamheung, is spicy seasoned and eaten. The spicy seasoning is very different from Pyeongyang Naengmyeon, the soba noodles. Hamheung Nangmyeon (Hoeng Naengmyeon), which we now taste in this land, adds redfish sashimi and sweet potato starch instead of potatoes. During the Korean War, the refugees who came down to the south enjoyed the taste of their hometown by adding a lot of ingredients from this land.

In many ways, Pyeongyang Naengmyeon, which is compared to Jinju Naengmyeon, rolls the noodles made of buckwheat flour into cold Naengmyeon soup. Pyongyang is the capital of North Korea and the center of cultural economy. It has a wide field and the Yellow Sea, so it is a place to enjoy eating abundant fish and fruit. The food was plentiful, so the drinking spirit would have developed. The fact that “Pyongyang Gisaeng” has been famous since ancient times will not have anything to do with it. If you've ever tasted hot and cold noodle, it's Pyongyang Naengmyeon. The characteristic of Pyongyang Naengmyeon is its light taste. This also spread throughout the country after the Korean War and became a delicacy of the four seasons.

South Korea's representative pearl naengmyeon is made from buckwheat flour similar to Pyongyang naengmyeon. Thanks to the buckwheat from the mountainous areas of Gyeongnam, I enjoyed eating buckwheat noodles in Jinju and nearby areas. How did this buckwheat noodles become such a gorgeous pearl cold noodle? Pearl, like Pyongyang, comes with 'parasitic'. It was an old saying, a turbulent period. Naro's parasitic and cooks at Jinju Gwana have settled for Kwon No. and a restaurant. In the Battle of Jinjuseong, there was a parasitic like Nongae who hugged a red-crowned captain and threw in the Namgang. Their favorite delicacy is cold noodles. I had to satisfy the tip of the tongue, who was used to precious food, so the taste should have been excellent. The colored garnish supports this.

The characteristics of pearl cold noodles are in broth and garnish. On the cold side of the pearl, which touches the Namhae Sea, seafood such as dried pollock, dried shrimp, and mussels were added to the broth. On top of that, chopped beef jeon, with red pepper, egg crust, cucumber, etc. are put on garnish. Originally, it was a food that added abalone and sea cucumber, but it became unpretentious while being loved as a popular food.

It is a noodle that doesn't get tough like potato noodles and doesn't break like buckwheat noodles. If you went to taste Jinju naengmyeon for the first time, water naengmyeon is the first. If you can afford it, it's also good to taste the meat jeon separately. Those who enjoy Jinju naengmyeon agree that the true value of Jinju naengmyeon is in 'yuksu'. This is because it takes 2 to 3 days to make broth and 10 days to mature. It is not surprising that the taste of pearl cold noodles is only known if you can taste the broth with the sincerity. Until the day when you notice the taste of dim cold noodles, there are still two chances.

How is it? After holding a bowl of pearl bibimbap and cold noodles, do you get a sense of the town called Jinju? Having tasted the food of history hundreds of years ago, I naturally learned about pearls.

1.Nearby Restaurants

Emperor Restaurant : Jinju Bibimbap, Bulgogi / Chokseok-ro / 055-741-2646

Cheil Restaurant : Jinju Bibimbap / Jungang Market Road / 055-741-5591

Namgang Eel : Grilled eel / Bonseong-dong / 055-747-0888

Ha Yeon-ok : Jinju Naengmyeon, Beef Exhibition / Lee Hyun-dong / 055-746-0525

2.Accommodation

Dongbang Tourist Hotel : Nongae-gil / 055-743-0131

http://www.hoteldongbang.com

Asia Lakeside Hotel : Namgang-ro / 055-746-3734

www.asiahotel.co.kr

Lotte Motel : Nongae-gil / 055-741-4886

Motel You : Nongae-gil / 055-748-7458

※ The above information was created in July 2013, and may be changed later, so be sure to check it before you travel.
※ Information, such as text, photos, and videos used in this article, is copyrighted by the Korea Tourism Organization, and unauthorized use of the article is prohibited.