I have to respectfully disagree with bigpan. Making kimchi at home is incredibly simple (cucumber kimchi is even easier than the one that all Americans know). You make kimchi at home the same reason you make anything else: you can control the quality of the ingredients and tailor it to your taste preferences. There is nothing difficult about kimchi-making. The only snag for some people is timing. But I believe that good things come to those who wait!
Karen Solomon just released some pretty awesome new eCookbooks on Asian pickles. I didn't try her oi sobagi yet (is that the cuke kimchi you're looking for?), but her other recipes have been fantastic and well-worth the 2 bucks or whatever it was per country ebook.
I also have my oi sobagi recipe on my fermentation blog:
http://phickle.com/?p=961
I do a short fermentation on mine, which is different from the other sources I've read, but for me it adds a lot for a just a little bit of difficulty. Not a great pic. Sorry!
David "Momofuku" Chang has an outrageously good recipe for kimchi. I'm working on a batch right now. Like yourself I'm absolutely nuts about Korean food and trying to learn as much as I can because there is not much in print on it. You can do a slow fermented kimchi or a quick "white" kimchi which only takes a day. Some of the essential ingredients such as gochugaru can be difficult to find depending on where you live. Where do you live?
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I also have my oi sobagi recipe on my fermentation blog:
http://phickle.com/?p=961
I do a short fermentation on mine, which is different from the other sources I've read, but for me it adds a lot for a just a little bit of difficulty. Not a great pic. Sorry!
Oppan Gangnam Style!!