Melted and fondue
Corn cheese
Korean bar food of sweetcorn with mayonnaise and sugar, covered in mozzarella and cooked in a sizzling pan.
Corn cheese is a Korean side dish and drinking snack of sweetcorn mixed with mayonnaise, a little sugar and butter, covered with grated mozzarella and cooked in a hot iron pan or under a grill until the cheese is bubbling. It is served in pubs, barbecue restaurants and at home, often with beer or soju.
What goes in
- Mozzarella529%, Grated low-moisture cheese.
- Sweetcorn741%, Tinned, drained.
- Mayonnaise212%, Binds and enriches.
- Butter16%, In the pan.
- Sugar16%, A little.
- Peppers or spring onion16%, Optional.
Rough parts by weight. The ring shows each ingredient's share of the dish.
Made step by step
Each drawing shows the operation for that step. Quantities and timings differ from house to house; this is one traditional way, in outline.
Step 1: Layer Drain the corn and mix it with mayonnaise, sugar and chopped vegetables. Step 2: Fry Melt butter in a cast-iron pan and spread the corn mixture in it. Step 3: Grate Cover with grated mozzarella. Step 4: Melt Cook covered over medium heat, or grill, until the cheese melts and bubbles. Step 5: Serve Serve sizzling in the pan. Finished Corn cheese, by share.
A modern Korean favourite
Cheese is not traditional in Korean cooking, but it became hugely popular from the late twentieth century onwards, appearing in tteokbokki, ramyeon, fried chicken and buldak, spicy fire chicken. Corn cheese is one of the simplest examples, combining tinned sweetcorn with mayonnaise and melted mozzarella. It is sweet, salty and rich, and it suits the spicy food it is usually served beside.
At the table
In Korean barbecue restaurants, corn cheese is often cooked in a small dish on the edge of the grill while meat cooks in the middle. In pubs called hof or pocha it is served sizzling in a cast-iron pan. Some versions add chopped peppers, onion or ham. The cheese is meant to stretch, and it is eaten with a spoon.
Where it is used
The cheeses in it
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Sources and further reading
Original text and drawings by the EveryCheese desk, written with AI assistance and checked against the sources above. The shares are a rough, illustrative ratio, not a recipe: every family and kitchen makes it differently. If we have something wrong, tell us.
Photo credits on this page
The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.
- Mozzarella: Popo le Chien, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Mozzarella: Photograph by Greg O'Beirne, CC BY-SA 3.0, source