Anban () is a traditional Korean cooking utensil used to make rice cakes known as tteok. It consists of a wooden board usually measuring 1m wide, 1.5m long, and 15âÂÂ20 cm thick, with short legs attached on its corners for support. It is accompanied by a tteokme (), a wooden pounding mallet made from a thick, short log with a handle attached. When making tteok, the rice cake is placed on the anban and pounded with a tteokme.
Depending on the region, anban is also known as byeongan () or tteokban (ë¡ë°Â; ë¡ç¤). A variant of anban consists of a long, narrow wooden board measuring 2m wide and 50 cm long, with one side left flat and another side hollowed out, the latter of which the rice cake is to be placed.
During the Joseon period, anban and tteokme are common household items, but in modern times it is much less widespread in the advent of mechanical rice mills. Anban is still used to make tteok the traditional way, and also in Korean Chinese restaurants to knead dough and stretch noodles. Anban made with zelkova wood is regarded as having the highest quality, as with tteokme made with Hwangyang wood (), a variant of Buxus sinica found in Korea. However, anban made with pine wood is also widely used because it rarely splits or cracks.
The Korean proverb literally translates to "the cook-in-charge criticizes the anban", which means that someone who lacks of skill does not blame his inability for the failure; he blames the tool instead. Similar sayings include: