Asian pear

Grated pear tenderises and sweetens at once. Korea files it optional; most cooks disagree.

The pear is the sugar in the paste-based marinade. Heat needs a body to sit in.

Salt draws pear water out and carries it into the meat. Pure osmosis.

Toasted sesame is heavy; pear juice thins it without diluting the flavour.

Sliced into the paste, it feeds the ferment and softens the chilli.

Both are watery and sharp-fresh. Ginger supplies the burn pear cannot.

Allium bite against sugar water: the standard Korean cold-noodle garnish logic.

Korean dessert pairing. Resin and fat against a fruit that is mostly nothing.

Poached whole with peppercorns, the way it is served for a cough.

A fruit with almost no acid needs the mildest vinegar there is, not lemon.

The pear sugar feeds the ferment and softens the raw chilli edge.

Slice both thin. Pear water reads as the fish own moisture, one texture.

Pear has no acid; yuzu peel gives it the sharpness and keeps it Japanese.

Perilla aldehyde over sugar water: all aroma, no weight, entirely Korean.

Sweet water is the perfect vehicle for a burn that dies in three seconds.