[Distribution Hot People] "After hundreds of thousands of tests, we achieved professional-level Pyongyang Mandu as HMR"

CJ CheilJedang Launches 'Bibigo Pyongyang Dumplings'
Interview with Labt Food Team Researchers Kyunghoon Jeong and Jina Kim

From the left, Kyunghoon Jeong, Researcher of CJ CheilJedang Labbed Food Team, and Jina Kim, Researcher

[Asia Economy Reporter Choi Saeng-hye] "We wanted to properly recreate the mild, light, and large-sized Pyongyang Mandu that is popular among dumpling enthusiasts. We visited Pyongyang Mandu specialty restaurants nationwide and combined various recipes to create the best taste."

The newly released Pyongyang Mandu by CJ CheilJedang, the number one player in the frozen dumpling market, is gaining popularity. Pyongyang Mandu has a dough diameter of over 12 cm and is filled tightly with minced kimchi, pork, blanched and chopped mung bean sprouts, and tofu, weighing about 60g, which is relatively heavy. It is characterized by a mild flavor, called 'seumseumhan' in North Korean dialect. Although it has a solid fan base, it is rarely handled outside specialty stores and is surprisingly hard to find outside the Seoul metropolitan area.

CJ CheilJedang's 'Wrapped Food Team' conceived the 'Korea's Dumplings' project to discover and commercialize dumplings from all over the country. On the 29th, at CJ CheilJedang's headquarters in Jungnim-dong, Seoul, researchers Jeong Kyung-hoon and Kim Jin-ah explained, "As the number one company in the frozen dumpling market, we wanted to expand the market by trying new things that others haven't done. There were no products on the market that replicated the taste of Pyongyang Mandu, so we started development with the idea of making it at a specialty store level."

The 'Wrapped Food Team' researches dumplings worldwide and develops new flavors. To recreate Pyongyang Mandu, the research team visited about 200 dumpling specialty stores nationwide. They visited 7 to 8 dumpling shops a day, tasted the dumplings, and created a database. For distant locations, they traveled on a 2-day, 1-night schedule, spending a full year eating dumplings and talking only about dumplings.

Since it was their first attempt, problems arose in many places. Before production, the dough and filling separated. Researcher Jeong said, "It was an inevitable problem when making frozen dumplings with high-moisture mung bean sprouts and tofu, but finding a solution and struggling for a whole month is the most memorable experience." Another issue was that the mild seasoning characteristic of Pyongyang Mandu could give the impression of lacking flavor.

Researcher Kim said, "We overcame the mild taste of Pyongyang Mandu by adding sesame oil and sesame seeds for nuttiness, and by adjusting the meat and tofu content, we were able to create dumplings that are thick yet harmonize well with the dough and filling." The unique fishy smell of the main ingredient, mung bean sprouts, was also a problem. Kim recalled, "Blanching removes the fishy smell, but it also loses the unique texture of mung bean sprouts, so we had to conduct numerous tests."

Efforts to create natural folds as if hand-folded were also exceptional. Researcher Jeong said, "To replicate the taste of hand-made folds with equipment, the dough composition is important. I think we made about 2 to 3 tons of dumplings. Through various attempts with starch, rice flour, etc., we ended up adding glutinous rice flour, which not only created natural folds but also prevented the dumplings from bursting when boiled."

Their new goal is to evolve dumplings into a healthy and sophisticated dish. Researcher Kim expressed, "I want to develop products so that dumplings can evolve into a high-end dish." Researcher Jeong said, "Since dumplings have become a representative of K-food, I want to plan a hit product that can lead the global dumpling market."