The depth of maturation

Kim Myung-soo

Seafood master artisan · Kim Myung-soo Jeotgal — fourth generation, succeeded in 1961 · Gampo, Gyeongju

He leaves the anchovies from the sea off Gampo to salt alone and waits three years

Succeeded in 1961
Four generations
Matured 3 years or more
600 tons a year

Portrait coming soon

PROFILE · introduction

Who he is

Kim Myung-soo Jeotgal is a jeotgal house in Gampo, Gyeongju, now in its fourth generation. His great-grandfather Kim Gyeong-yong learned an anchovy fishing method called hu-ri during the Japanese colonial period, and the family business began when he took over a jeotgal factory after liberation. Kim Myung-soo took the work on in 1961.

The sea off Gampo, where a warm and a cold current meet, has long been rich in anchovy. He selects only the large-grade anchovy caught there, adds nothing but salt, and matures it for at least three years. Around 600 tons of fish sauce a year come out of the roughly 20 fifty-ton maturation tanks buried under the Cheonbuk plant. In 2021 his son Kim Heon-mok was designated Korea Seafood Master No. 10, carrying this method into a national credential.

Affiliation: Kim Myung-soo Jeotgal · Gampo-eup, Gyeongju, Gyeongsangbuk-do
Lineage: Great-grandfather Kim Gyeong-yong → Kim Myung-soo (succeeded in 1961) → Kim Heon-mok
Master designation: Korea Seafood Master No. 10: Kim Heon-mok (designated 29 December 2021 · anchovy fish sauce)
Facilities: Around 20 underground 50-ton maturation tanks · 600 tons a year

PATH · the road here

What he did to get here

Colonial period
Learning the hu-ri method
His great-grandfather Kim Gyeong-yong learned how to catch anchovy with a hu-ri net. This is where four generations begin.
After liberation
Taking over a jeotgal factory
The family business began when he took over a jeotgal factory left behind by its Japanese owner.
1961
Kim Myung-soo takes it on
In the year his great-grandfather died he took on the family business and began making anchovy fish sauce in Gampo.
1996
Passing the craft to his son
His son Kim Heon-mok took over the anchovy fish sauce craft at 22. He later expanded and ran the Cheonbuk plant.
2020
New Intellectual Award in Oceans and Fisheries
Named a jeotgal master artisan, which brought the Gampo way of making anchovy fish sauce to wider attention.
2021
Korea Seafood Master No. 10
On 29 December his son Kim Heon-mok was designated Korea Seafood Master No. 10 for anchovy fish sauce.

VALUES · principles

What he sets out to protect

He waits three years
He does not shorten the time protein needs to turn fully into amino acids. At least three years of maturation is the rule.
Nothing but salt goes in
The salt-curing method carried down from the Joseon period, unchanged: anchovy cured with salt alone. Nothing is added to build up savory depth.
Starts on instinct, held by numbers
He says you cannot work with anchovy without instinct — and yet, after losing one batch, he has measured and managed salt content ever since.
Only the sea off Gampo
He selects the large anchovy caught off Gampo, where a warm and a cold current cross, himself. Change the raw material and the taste changes.

“Without instinct you cannot work with anchovy.”
Yeongnam Ilbo interview — Kim Myung-soo and Kim Heon-mok, father and son jeotgal artisans

WORKS · what he has left

Results you can verify

Products

Anchovy fish sauce — two grades, salt content 10 (reduced-salt) and salt content 14
Ppeokppeogi fish sauce, thick and unstrained
Saeu-jeot · whole shrimp
Gift sets

Facilities and scale

Cheonbuk maturation plant, Gyeongsangbuk-do — around 20 underground 50-ton maturation tanks
600 tons of fish sauce a year
Main store in Gampo · stocked in premium department store channels

ROLE · planned scope of collaboration

His role in this product

The place this person holds among the four axes: taste, health, tradition and maturation.

Sourcing and selecting raw material
Only 100% Korean-produced raw material is used. Seasonal Korean raw material is secured through a network of producing regions on the East, West and South Seas and graded for jeotgal.
Reduced-salt maturation
Measuring salt content and holding long, cold maturation so savory depth builds without spoilage in the reduced-salt range. His role is to seat the bamboo-salt blend in the actual maturation process.
The reference for savory depth
Taking the savory depth of three-year matured fish sauce as the reference, he provides the sensory baseline a reduced-salt recipe has to reach.
Production and quality control
He covers everything from prototypes to volume production with his maturation tanks and production equipment, and manages salt content and sensory checks lot by lot.

* The detailed scope of participation is under discussion and will be updated once confirmed

The other three

See all four

Sources

Compiled from publicly available material. If anything here is inaccurate, tell us through the contact page and we will correct it.