Drinks editor
Sam Park
Sam Park edits Open Burner's drinks section from a small apartment kitchen in central Seoul. He keeps his cocktail shaker on the windowsill.
Beats
Published in Open Burner
Weeknight
The Broth Bowl as a Weeknight Default, in Three Variations
Sam Park makes a case for the broth bowl — a quart of stock, a handful of noodles, an egg, a green — as the dish that closes a hard day without effort. Three versions, all under twenty minutes.
Slow Cooking
An Overnight Pot of Pho Broth on a Quiet Stove
Sam Park learned to make pho broth from his neighbour in Cleveland, a Vietnamese cook named Tran Thi Lien, who simmered her bones for twelve hours and then waited until the morning to do anything else with them.
Bread & Baking
The Kettle Loaf and the Cold Apartment
Sam Park bakes a small enriched loaf in a Seoul apartment kitchen with no oven. It rises on top of the rice cooker and bakes in a heavy pot on the stove.
Kitchen Notes
The Kettle as the Day's Metronome
Six tea drinkers describe the small ceremony of the kettle, and how it organizes the hours of a working day.
Pantry
The Olive Oil Bottle You Actually Finish
Sam Park argues for keeping two olive oils on the counter, not five, and explains how to choose them without spending a small fortune.
Preserving
Salt-Cured Egg Yolks
Sam Park keeps a tray of curing yolks in his refrigerator most weekends. By Wednesday they are firm enough to grate over rice.
Slow Cooking
Brisket That Starts on Friday and Is Dinner on Saturday
Sam Park's mother brined a brisket for two days, baked it overnight, and served it on Saturday at seven. He has been trying to match her result, in a Seoul apartment with a single oven, for fifteen years.
Weeknight
The Fried-Rice Rule for Tuesday Leftovers
Sam Park argues that every honest kitchen needs a default dish for the half-cups of cold rice, the egg about to turn, and the spring onion at the bottom of the produce drawer — and his is fried rice.
Drinks
A Pitcher of Mugicha for the Summer Refrigerator
Sam Park's wife introduced him to roasted barley tea in 2019. Seven summers later, the household keeps a two-litre pitcher of it on the bottom shelf from June through September.
Tools
A Kettle That Works After Eight Years
Sam Park's Bonavita gooseneck has boiled water four times a day since 2018. The thermostat clicks the way it did the first morning.
Drinks
A Cold Brew Morning, Held Across Four Seasons
Sam Park keeps a glass jar in the door of his refrigerator most of the year. What changes, season by season, is everything else around it.