Jjim — Korean Steaming and Braising Technique (찜)

Pan-Korean; jjim appears at every formality level from royal court (galbi-jjim at surasang) to everyday home cooking (haemul-jjim as weeknight dinner)

Jjim (찜) describes a category of Korean cooking that encompasses both steaming (in a bamboo or metal steamer, no direct liquid contact) and braising in a small amount of seasoned liquid that reduces as it cooks. In galbi-jjim (갈비찜), short ribs are braised in a soy-pear-ganjang marinade until the collagen melts; in haemul-jjim (해물찜), seafood is braised in a gochugaru sauce; in gye-jjim (계찜), whole chicken is steamed with aromatics. The unifying principle is enclosed cooking where steam — either from a steamer or from liquid in a covered pot — carries heat evenly around the ingredient, producing a tender, moist result distinct from dry-heat grilling or open-pot boiling.

• French braising (braisage) uses the same enclosed, small-liquid-volume principle; Chinese hong shao (red braising) is structurally identical; Japanese nimono (simmered dishes) covers the same covered-liquid cooking technique

Galbi-jjim served over rice with its own reduced braising liquid as sauce. Haemul-jjim served in the braising vessel, still bubbling, with banchan rice alongside. The braising liquid — once thickened to a glaze — is as important as the protein itself.