As a millennial that has grown up on too much technology (mind you I didn't get TEXT MESSAGING until college). Perhaps one day I will be able to wean myself off the socials or feel like I'm using the internet responsibly instead of it using me and my data - BUT UNTIL THEN I draw the line at TikTok. And if it's that important on TikTok, I will eventually hear about it through other channels. Like how Tufts University decided to serve "scallion pancakes" on Asian food night by putting literal scallions on an American buttermilk pancake. Is this a setup for a bad Netflix holiday movie? Like...bad comedy, some sadness, a blurry line between cultural appreciation and appropriation, and things that I just don't understand? So as much as I rag on TJ's for doing questionable things at times to Asian food that has been around longer than TJs has...I must say, at least Trader Joe's TRIES. Maybe we should rename this blog to Trader Joe's TRIES - I TRY Trader Joe's food and Trader Joe's TRIES to do the culturally ok thing without alienating middle America and pissing off everyone else.
When I first saw this on IG, I was mostly irritated that they couldn't put "hotteok" as the main product name. It's 2021 and 26 Korean words have been added to the Oxford English dictionary. We can all learn what "hotteok" is. But apparently English-speaking people also have trouble with the English language...so I get that it's a marketing thing to call this "sweet cinnamon filled Korean pancakes" (because right now Korean is synonymous with "OOO, interesting, branching out and trying new and delicious cool things") to entice the average TJ's shopper.
*Also - can we just appreciate that the packaging photo has styled this hotteok with what looks like a latte or a coffee with perhaps a whipped dalgona topping? Like a shoutout to the country with a very formidable coffee culture. I love the detail. Does coffee go with hotteok though?
This is not a health food at all. But it's a nice frozen street food with AIR FRYER INSTRUCTIONS WHOOOOOO. Also I'm sure you could eat the hotteok with ice cream, although if this a Korean street food you eat while walking around outside in the depths of winter, consuming it with ice cream is perhaps not the most authentic application. What is nice is that the ingredient list seems much shorter than the ingredient lists for frozen hotteoks found at Asian grocery stores, so that might make health-conscious people feel a little better.
I chose to air fry the pancakes per package instructions. Note that each package only contains 4 pancakes, which means these hotteoks are about $1 each. They are about the size of a hockey puck. The air fryer did not really crisp these up much but it's fine.
1) As a Taiwanese person, my instinct is that the middle should be filled with red bean paste, probably because all the Asian desserts I am used to that have this color filling are actually red bean-flavored. So it's a weird sensation to bite into something that my brain thinks should be something that it is actually not. When trying new stuff or stuff you aren't familiar with, it's nice to be aware of your own cultural biases as to not unfairly judge someone else for being different.
2) I much prefer this over a donut (unless it's a mochi donut). The discs are like greasy in an indulgent way. It has that mochi-esque chew without being too chewy, which makes for a very pleasant mouth feel. I don't speak Korean, but I'm assuming the "tteok" in hotteok is the same as "tteok" meaning rice cake, which means that the chew is VERY VERY important. The only thing that would make this texturally even better is if the outside was a bit crispier, which I think you could achieve on a stovetop, so then the crisp exterior contrasts with a chewy interior. The filling is oozy and not too thick and gives a nice pop of flavor.
2b) This goes without saying - they taste much better HOT. Which is why I'm not a fan of pairing this with ice cream because doesn't the ice cream cool down the pancake and detract from the chewy texture of the hotteok?
3) I think they overdid the cinnamon. My understanding of traditional hotteok (through Korean food blogs and cross referencing the frozen hotteoks at H-Mart heh) is that cinnamon IS used but the cinnamon sugar flavor here, I *think*, is closer to the flavoring of a cinnamon roll vs an Asian dessert. It's still not as sweet as a cinnamon roll but I think using less would have been better.
4) "Is it authentic though?" How about...I'm 90% confident that it's mostly authentic or mostly TRIED to be authentic based on my limited personal experience? :P
5) $3.99 for a frozen pack of four pancakes. Is that expensive? Yes maybe...but no if your alternative is getting on a plane to somewhere where they have street stalls that sell actual hotteok.
TL;DR: Trader Joe's Sweet Cinnamon Filled Korean Pancakes. I only wish they would call it by its name. In public. On the packaging. In the grocery store. And make America learn its actual name. 8 out of 10. Mantou Joe repurchase? Probably not but I'm glad I tried it.
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