Hoe (; ) is a Korean seafood dish that is eaten by trimming raw meat or raw fish. In addition to fish, it is also made with other marine products such as shrimp and squid, raw meat of land animals, and vegetable ingredients, but without any special prefix, it mainly refers to raw fish.
There are uncooked hoe () as well as blanched sukhoe ().
Hoe (), the raw fish or meat dish, can be divided into saengseon-hoe (), filleted raw fish, and yukhoe (), sliced raw meat. Saengseon-hoe () can be either hwareo-hoe () made from freshly killed fish, or seoneo-hoe () made using aged fish.
Sukhoe () is a blanched fish, seafood, meat, or vegetable dish. Ganghoe () is a dish of rolled and tied ribbons made with blanched vegetables such as water dropworts and scallions.
Mulhoe () is a dish made by mixing chopped freshly caught fish or squid with seasoning such as green onions, garlic, and chili powder and pouring water on them. It is considered a summer delicacy. Fishermen created this dish so they could have a simple meal while they were on board. It began to be sold commercially in the 1960s.
The dish differs by region. In Gangwon Province, squid mulhoe is consumed and vinegar is added. Gochujang is the main seasoning in Gangwon Province and North Gyeongsang Province while doenjang is used in South Gyeongsang Province and Jeju Island.
There is a variant of the dish in Sakhalin Korean cuisine called khe. One reported version of the dish served in the Uzbek Korean restaurant Cafe Lily in New York City used catfish that was cured in vinegar, then seasoned.'
Hwareo-hoe () is prepared by filleting freshly killed fish, while seoneo-hoe () is made with aged fish in a similar way as Japanese sashimi: removing the blood and innards and aging the fish at a certain temperature before filleting. Fish or seafood hoe is often served with gochujang-based dipping sauces, such as cho-gochujang (chili paste mixed with vinegar) and ssamjang (chili paste mixed with soybean paste). Hoe is often eaten wrapped in ssam (wrap) vegetables, such as lettuce and perilla leaves. After eating hoe at a restaurant, maeun-tang (spicy fish stew) made with the bones, head, and the remaining meat of the fish, can be served as an add-on dish.
Hankyoreh states that hoe was introduced to Korea from China during the Three Kingdoms period. From the midâÂÂThree Kingdoms period until the late Goryeo Dynasty, hoe consumption declined because Buddhism discourages killing. It was consumed again in the late Goryeo dynasty and the Joseon dynasty because the state promoted Confucianism and Confucius was known to have enjoyed raw meat.