Dolsot facts for kids

A dolsot (Hangul: 돌솥) or gopdolsot (Hangul: 곱돌솥) is a small-sized piece of cookware or serveware made of agalmatolite, suitable for one to two servings of bap (cooked rice). In Korean cuisine, various hot rice dishes such as bibimbap or gulbap (oyster rice) as well as plain white rice can be prepared and served in dolsot. As a dolsot does not cool off as soon as removed from the stove, rice continues to cook and arrives at the table still sizzling.

On the bottom of a dolsot, there forms a thin crust of scorched rice, to be scraped off and eaten in the case of bibimbap, or made into sungnyung (숭늉, infusion) in the case of unseasoned rice dishes. In the former case dolsot can be brushed with sesame oil beforehand to facilitate scraping. To make sungnyung, the unscorched part of rice is scooped and transferred into another serving bowl right after served, and hot water or tea (usually mild grain teas such as barley tea or corn tea) is poured into the dolsot when it is still blistering. The infusion with loosened chunks of scorched rice remains warm til the end of the meal, when it is typically savoured.

Gallery

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  Bap (rice) cooked and served in dolsot

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  Gulbap (oyster rice) in dolsot

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  Yukhoe-bibimbap (beef tartare bibimbap) in dolsot

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  Dolsot in a wood container to prevent injury caused by the heat