ACLU Of Wisconsin Releases New Information In Its Class Action ‘Stop-And-Frisk’ Lawsuit Against Milwaukee Police, Cooking Korean Food

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This week on Food Friday we learn about Korean food and how to make the savory, sweet, salty, and spicy flavors accessible in your kitchen. We also take a look at new information in a class action lawsuit the ACLU of Wisconsin brought against the city of Milwaukee over racial profiling.

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  • ACLU Of Wisconsin Releases New Information In Its Class Action 'Stop-And-Frisk' Lawsuit Against Milwaukee Police

    The American Civil Liberties Union of Wisconsin released new information this week in its ongoing lawsuit against the city of Milwaukee and its police and fire departments. According to the ACLU, experts found that between 2010 and 2017, the MPD failed to show “reasonable suspicion” in its stops. It also found that traffic stops were placed in predominantly Black and Latino neighborhoods. Karyn Rotker is the Senior Staff Attorney for the ACLU of Wisconsin. She joins us to tell us about the suit and the new research.

  • How To Incorporate Korean Flavors Into Your Home Cooking

    While the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang have come to an end, you can keep the Olympic flame alive — along with your interest in Korean food and culture — by incorporating both the flavors and techniques of Korean cooking into your own kitchen.

    Experimenting with Korean food gives cooks the freedom to highlight a variety of flavors, combining savory, salty, sweet and spicy, Sueng Hee Lee, one of the authors of “Everyday Korean: Fresh, Modern Recipes for Home Cooks,” says.

    “(Korean food is) very harmonious, and in fact, it’s good for you,” said Lee, who has studied traditional Korean royal court cuisine and is an epidemiologist for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “A lot of the fermented sauces, like gochujang, is good for your gut.”

    Lee and her co-author, Kim Sunée, met in Seoul, South Korea, in 2008, when Lee was Sunée’s translator during her book tour for the Korean-language edition of her memoir, “Trail of Crumbs: Hunger, Love, and the Search For Home.” Sunée, who was born in South Korea and adopted as a young child by a family in the southern United States, said that she and Lee were a “match made in culinary heaven.”

    “She ended up being my guide through Seoul and helping me learn the flavors and basically, doing everything with me and guiding me through,” Sunée, a food columnist, added.

    Their collaboration, “Everyday Korean,” includes recipes based on traditional Korean ones — many from Lee’s family — with “a modern twist.” But if you’re worried that trying some of these recipes means buying a lot of ingredients, that isn’t the case. Lee said most people should have a lot of what they need in their pantry already — ingredients such as soy sauce, brown sugar, apple cider vinegar and sesame oil.

    She advised picking up a few ingredients, though, like gochujanga spicy, fermented red chili paste — and gochugaru, Korean chili powder. Other basic ingredients to get you started, according to their book, include Asian or Korean pears, fish sauce and kimchi.

    Kimchi, which is made from salted and fermented vegetables (frequently cabbage), often gets a bit of a bad rap, Sunée said. However, Lee added, she thinks it’s because many people don’t know how to make it.

    “If you really think about, especially Wisconsin and folks, love sauerkraut, it’s a really similar concept, with just a little bit of garlic, a little bit of ginger and chili flakes to bring everything together,” she added.

    One way to take the “funk” out is to sauté it in brown butter over a low temperature, “mainly because you don’t want to burn the chili flakes in the kimchi and it’s going to mellow down, bring out all the sweetness from the cabbage,” Lee said.

    In “Everyday Korean,” kimchi finds a home in modern recipes like focaccia with fried kimchi and kimchi and bacon mac and cheese.

    “It’s so surprising that people who think they’re kimchi-averse, you make these dishes for them, and they are true converts forever,” Sunée said.

    If you’re dubious about the idea of combining kimchi and cheese, know this: it’s “surprisingly delicious,” per Sunée, and Lee calls it “a home-run dish.”

    “Everyone comes for seconds and thirds and they shake their heads, ‘I can’t believe it’s so, it’s this good,’” she added.

    While “Everyday Korean” includes many recipes for different types of — and the authors encourage readers to make their own — both say it’s OK to buy kimchi from a store.

    Editor’s Note: Find Lee and Sunee’s recipe for gochujang-cured pork belly barbecue online.

  • Food Friday: Korean Flavors And Techniques

    As the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang are coming to a close, keep the flame – and your interest in Korean food and culture – alive by trying new meals! We talk with the authors of “Everyday Korean: Fresh, Modern Recipes for Home Cooks” to learn about Korean flavors and cooking techniques and get instructions for trying new recipes like focaccia with fried kimchi and gochujang-cured pork belly BBQ.

Episode Credits

  • Rob Ferrett Host
  • J. Carlisle Larsen Producer
  • Breann Schossow Producer
  • Karyn Rotker Guest
  • Kim Sunée Guest
  • Seung Hee Lee Guest

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