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Korean Chinese style noodle dish

Jajangmyeon (hangul=자장면) or jjajangmyeon (hangul=짜장면) is a Korean Chinese noodle dish topped with a thick sauce made of chunjang, diced pork, and vegetables. It originated in Incheon, Korea where Chinese migrant workers brought over zhajiangmian from Shandong in the late 19th century. Modifications in Korea such as a darker and sweeter sauce differentiate the Korean version from the Chinese dish. Variants of the dish use seafood, or other meats.

Jajangmyeon was brought to Incheon, Korea during the late nineteenth century by migrant workers from Shandong province, China. At a time when both Qing and Japanese businesses were competing against each other, Jajangmyeon was offered in 1905 at Gonghwachun (hangul=공화춘), a Chinese restaurant in Incheon Chinatown run by an immigrant from the Shandong region. The restaurant is now the Jajangmyeon Museum. Both the name and dish originate from the authentic Chinese dish, zhájiàngmiàn (炸醬麵). The common copied features of both are pork, long wheat noodles, and a sauce made from fermented soybean paste. In the mid 50s in South Korea, immediately after the Korean War, jajangmyeon was sold at low prices so that anyone could eat it without burden. The new Korean style jajangmyeon began to gain explosive popularity among the many merchants visiting the port of Incheon, which was the center of trade, and the many dock workers working in the fish market, and quickly spread throughout the country, being recognized as its "own dish" rather than a copied version of the traditional Chinese one. The lack of acknowledgment faced tough criticism from the supporters of the spelling jjajangmyeon, such as Ahn Do hyeon, a Sowol Poetry Prize winning poet. Later, jjajangmyeon was accepted as an alternative standard spelling alongside jajangmyeon in the National Language Deliberation Council and, on 31 August, included as a standard spelling in the Standard Korean Language Dictionary.

Jajangmyeon uses thick, hand made or machine pulled noodles made from wheat flour, salt, baking soda, and water. The sauce, jajang, is made with fried chunjang with other ingredients, such as soy sauce (or oyster sauce), meat (usually pork, but sometimes beef), seafood (usually squid or shrimp), fragrants (scallions, ginger, and garlic), vegetables (usually onions, zucchini or Korean zucchini, or cabbage), stock, and starch slurry. Gan jjajang (간짜장) – Jajangmyeon with a dry sauce, made without adding water (stock) and starch slurry. The letter gan comes from the Chinese pronunciation of the character 乾 (Korean hanja: 乾; reading: 건, geon; Chinese: 乾; reading: gān) meaning "dry". Samseon jjajang (삼선짜장) – Jajangmyeon which incorporates seafood such as squid and mussel. The word samseon derives from the Korean reading of the Chinese word sānxiān (三鮮) meaning "three fresh ingredients". There can be combinations. For example. samseon gan jjajang may refer to seafood jajangmyeon made without adding water. Dishes such as jajang bap and jajang tteok bokki also exist. Jajang bap is essentially the same dish as jajangmyeon, but served with rice instead of noodles. Jajang tteok bokki is tteok bokki served with jajang sauce instead of the usual spicy sauce. Bul jajangmyeon is a spicy variation of jajangmyeon. Instant jajangmyeon products, such as Chapagetti, Chacharoni, and Zha Wang, are instant noodle versions of jajangmyeon consisting of dried noodles that are boiled in the same manner as ramyeon, using dried vegetable pieces that are drained and mixed with jajang powder or liquid jajang sauce, as well as a small amount of water and oil.