Sea Bay Seafood & Meat Market: Roasted Seaweed – The Bite

THE BITE: Today on The Bite, it’s seaweed time!

Seaweed comes in many varieties as it is an umbrella term for all species of ocean plants, and it can be prepared many ways. The one pictured here is Korean kim (or sometimes spelled gim, pronounced with a hard “g”), which is actually a type of red algae. It is harvested in cold waters usually during the winter, and is boiled and dried in big lumpy masses.

This is the same stuff that gets fried up to make Welsh laverbread, or left in big plain sheets as nori to roll Japanese sushi. The type we have here is a Korean side dish where paper-thin sheets are toasted with sesame oil, cut into little rectangles and seasoned with salt. Not only is kim a popular dish in Korea, it is also the last name of about 21 percent of the population there.

Some people, including myself at times, can be averse to seaweed because of its slimy coldness, but this is a whole different textural experience. Gim is super crispy at first bite, sometimes leaving little green flakes behind. If you eat it too slowly, the heat inside your mouth makes it seem to melt on your tongue, which can be counted as a point for or against it, depending on what you’re into.

In the same way that American bars sometimes serve free pretzels or peanuts to keep patrons thirsty, bars in Korea and Japan sometimes serve this kind of seaweed as a salty bar snack. Surprisingly delicious as it is with beer (or soda for the kids), I don’t really see this taking off as a trend at Southern Brooklyn watering holes any time soon, so if you’re interested in trying it, better to buy it at Sea Bay Seafood & Meat Market Inc. (1241 Avenue U, at East 13th Street) where this A+ brand kim comes in a 3-pack for $1.39. Crispy, sesame-flavored, and salty, this is filled with all the goodness I would expect from kim.

If the super saltiness of it gives you pause, know that it also contains a wealth of nutrients, including iodine, iron, amino acids, B vitamins, and protein, so acquiring a taste for it has some perks.

Cheers!

Sea Bay Seafood & Meat Market Inc., 1241 Avenue U at East 13th Street, (718) 382-8889.

– Sonia Rapaport

The Bite is Sheepshead Bites’ weekly column where we explore the foodstuffs of Sheepshead Bay. Each week we check out a different offering from one of the many restaurants, delis, food carts, bakeries, butchers, fish mongers, or grocers in our neighborhood. If it’s edible, we’ll take a bite.