Some holidays return to us through fragrance. For Ara Cho, Chuseok carries the scent of pine needles rising with the steam, beef turning golden in a pan, and the familiar voices of relatives gathering in her childhood home.
“What I remember most,” said Cho, CEO of missKOREA BBQ, “is the feeling that everyone was expected home. Someone had been preparing for you before you even arrived.”
There is tenderness in being expected. Before the greetings and the first shared bite, someone has spent hours preparing a meal, leaving a place for you at the table.
Chuseok, pronounced “choo-suhk,” is Korea’s Mid-Autumn harvest festival, often called “Korean Thanksgiving.” Families return home to give thanks for the harvest and to honor their ancestors. Traditionally, food is prepared for charye, an ancestral memorial ceremony, then shared among the family.
Across Korea, journeys home and markets filled with seasonal treats signal the holiday’s arrival. Among those treats are songpyeon, small, filled rice cakes shaped into half-moons. For Cho, she recalls sitting beside her mother, folding and sealing the dough together.
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Their fillings included sesame, black beans, or chestnuts. Steamed over pine needles, the cakes took on a delicate woodland fragrance. When they were ready, the family shared them with neighbors—the pleasure of making them continued in the giving.
Her mother’s jeon offered another expression of care. Thin slices of beef, dusted with flour and dipped in egg, cooked gently until golden. Peppers and mushroom caps were filled with beef, tofu, and vegetables. Together, they made a colorful platter that Cho still associates with her mother’s care.
The wider Chuseok feast includes galbijjim, slowly braised beef short ribs, and many varieties of savory jeon. Some family tables also hold toranguk, taro soup, and sanjeok, skewers of seasoned beef and vegetables. Pears, apples, jujubes, and persimmons add the sweetness of the autumn harvest.
At missKOREA BBQ, those childhood flavors become a welcome for New York diners.
Established in 2009, the restaurant has been serving guests for approximately 17 years. Today, Cho works with seven master chefs, bringing dishes from her mother’s holiday kitchen to the restaurant’s special Chuseok menu.
“Sometimes food explains a culture much faster than I can,” she says.
That same personal connection guides BUEOK, whose name means “kitchen” in Korean. For Cho, it draws on the everyday meals through which someone quietly shows they care: lunch packed before school, side dishes left in the refrigerator, dinner made after a long workday.
In Korea, she explains, asking “Did you eat?” often conveys the concern behind “How are you?” BUEOK’s words, “From my kitchen to your table,” carry that spirit into a meal—something wholesome and familiar, prepared with another person in mind.
For Cho, that is the feeling Chuseok brings back each autumn: someone has thought of you, cooked for you, and waited for you to come home.
A familiar dish passes across the table, and for a moment, the years between childhood and today grow quiet. Her mother’s kitchen feels close again.
From Ara’s mother’s kitchen
Simple preparation notes inspired by the dishes Cho remembers.
Yukjeon: Season very thin beef slices with salt and pepper. Lightly coat with flour, dip in beaten egg, and pan-fry in a little oil until golden and cooked through.
Stuffed pepper jeon: Halve Korean peppers lengthwise and remove the seeds. Fill with seasoned ground beef, tofu, finely chopped vegetables, garlic, and sesame oil. Coat the filled side lightly with flour and beaten egg, then pan-fry gently until golden and the filling is fully cooked.
Stuffed mushroom jeon: Spoon the same filling into mushroom caps. Lightly coat the filled side with flour and beaten egg. Pan-fry gently until the mushrooms are tender and the filling is fully cooked.
Songpyeon: Enclose prepared sesame, bean, or chestnut fillings in rice dough, sealing the cakes into small half-moons. Traditionally, they are steamed over pine needles for a delicate fragrance.
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