Making Jang - travel to Yeongam

On May 26, 2025, Chef Yongjun Shin and the entire team of Sool052 traveled to Yeongam, Jeollanam-do.

Their destination was a place where they could reconnect with the roots of Korean cuisine—the Kim Myungseong Fermentation Institute. We visited together to see, hear, and feel firsthand the time and processes behind the ingredients we use every day in our restaurant.

The heart of this journey was doenjang. At the Kim Myungseong Institute, we don’t encounter mass-produced commercial paste, but jang that is steeped in time, care, and craftsmanship. For the jang we will use over the coming year, Sool052 began preparations as early as two years ago—selecting beans, fermenting meju, and carefully aging and managing the jang through each stage. The doenjang we crafted blends four different kinds of beans, each chosen and balanced for their unique properties, resulting in a harmoniously complex and deeply flavorful product.

Behind its rich aroma and deep, concentrated flavor lies the ingredient of time itself—a reminder that jang is not merely a seasoning in Korean cuisine, but a concentrated expression of its philosophy and cultural heritage.

This visit to Yeongam reaffirmed a shared realization among all of us at Sool052: that we must see jang not as something that simply seasons a dish, but as a presence that gives each recipe depth and soul. We are now earnestly exploring how to reinterpret its traditional essence through a modern lens and integrate it into our cuisine with integrity.

Sool052 will continue these kinds of journeys and studies, and bring their outcomes directly to the plate. By understanding the roots of tradition and translating them into the language of our time, we believe we can present a new vision of Korean cuisine—one grounded in honest ingredients and a spirit of learning.

The inspiration we gained in Yeongam doesn’t stop at doenjang. The cycles of nature we witnessed there, the warmth of hands, and the value of waiting will all carry forward into the new stories and dishes of Sool052.