Talk:Doenjang

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[edit] Literal meaning

What is the literal meaning of doenjang? "Jang" means "paste" or "sauce," but what does "doen" mean? Badagnani 05:57, 1 April 2006 (UTC)

Strong or thick. This is one of the relatively uncommon senses of 되다 (adjectival form 된), which usually means something like "become." At least, that is the explanation given by the few Korean sites I can find which deal with this etymology, such as [1] (copied at [2]), [3]. More authoritative sources would be welcome. -- Visviva 07:29, 1 April 2006 (UTC)
Ah, as in doen( )sori? Wikipeditor 12:47, 10 July 2006 (UTC)
Right.--Shineyhj 08:52, 17 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Vegetarian preparation?

Is this preparation completely vegetarian (assuming anchovies are not used)? Also how does one pronounce Doenjang? Siyavash 12:21, 9 July 2006 (UTC)

Ordinary doenjang is made from soy and brine only, with a possible hint of chili pepper. Doenjang may be considered vegetarian in that sense, but since there's no concept of vegetarianism in typical Korean diet(despite many of them are based on vegetables), I think there's no point in defining doenjang as vegetarian. And, my approximate pronunciation of doenjang would be "dön-djang", if you're familiar with Germanic umlaut. -- noirum 22:42, 9 July 2006 (UTC)

Is the fungus used in the process the same as the koji fungus used to make miso and sake? The description sounds similar, can anyone verify this? Mathan 00:18, 13 August 2006 (UTC)

One Korean source [4] asserts that Korean doenjang makes use of bacillus subtilis, not aspergillus oryzae that is referred to as Koji. It says the difference occurs because doenjang is made with soy and brine only, without ingredients like rice or wheat. Koreans do use aspergillus oryzae (누룩;nuruk in Korean) though, in brewing traditional liquors that are typically made from rice. -- noirum 08:36, 13 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] IPA

In response to Siyavash's question above: In the IPA, it is probably something like [ˈd̥ʷɛ̝nʤa̠ŋ], where the initial consonant is notably more voiceless than the only-slightly-devoiced German /d/ [d̥]. Of course, results may differ depending on who pronounces the word and who hears and transcribes it – most notably, some speakers will use the sound noirum mentioned above for ㅚ, but no young speaker I know does so. Also note that I am not that good in IPA yet. Wikipeditor 12:49, 10 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] With onions?

I've seen Koreans mix doenjang with chopped onions (not green onions, but regular yellow ones) and use that as a sauce for dipping. Is this traditional and should it be added to the article? Badagnani 02:11, 24 January 2007 (UTC)

You mean without water (i.e. not doenjangguk)? I only know mixing it with garlic and sesame oil for ssambap. Wikipeditor 05:30, 24 January 2007 (UTC)
I know that Koreans mix small chopped green onions with a dilute form of doenjang to use for makchang, but outside of this and for anything else, I am not exactly certain. --MerkurIX(이야기하세요!)(투고) 15:13, 24 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Photo

Can we get a photo of actual doenjang rather than doenjang jjigae? Badagnani (talk) 02:04, 8 December 2007 (UTC)