What to use instead of gochugaru
It depends entirely on what it's doing in the dish. Here's the job, what else does it, and what to skip.
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Red colour and fruity heat in kimchi and stews
Sun-dried Korean chile with the seeds mostly removed, so it colours strongly at a low heat level and the burn arrives round and slightly smoky instead of sharp.
Aleppo pepperRan out
1:1 by volume
The closest match on both heat and colour. It carries a little salt and oil from processing, so hold back a pinch of salt in the paste.
Sweet paprika with cayenneRan out
1 tbsp sweet paprika + 1/4 tsp cayenne per 1 tbsp gochugaru
Matches the colour closely and the heat lands sharper and further forward in the mouth. Use plain sweet paprika, since smoked paprika reads as barbecue in kimchi.
Ground Kashmiri chileRan out
1:1 by volume
Deep red with a mild heat and a faint bitterness that shows up in a raw kimchi paste more than a cooked stew.
Crushed red pepper flakesRan out
Half the volume, sieved to drop the seeds
Hotter and seedier with an orange rather than red colour, and the seeds stay gritty in a paste. Sieving them out helps a lot.
What doesn't work: Cayenne on its own at the same volume. It runs four to six times hotter with almost no colour and none of the fruit, so the kimchi comes out searing, pale orange and one-dimensional.
Chile bloomed in fat for a red sauce or marinade
The red pigment is fat-soluble, so it releases into hot oil and colours the whole sauce, and the heat mellows in the process.
GochujangRan out
1 tbsp paste per 1 tbsp gochugaru
Brings sugar, salt and fermented soy with it, so the sauce comes out sweeter and thicker. Cut the sugar and soy in the recipe to match.
Aleppo pepperRan out
1:1 by volume
Blooms the same way and gives a slightly duller, browner red. Fruitier on the finish.
Chili crispRan out
2 tsp per 1 tsp gochugaru, and cut the recipe oil by 1 tsp
Already bloomed in oil, so it colours instantly and adds crunch and fried garlic that were never in the original.
Sweet paprika bloomed in oil with cayenneRan out
1 tbsp paprika + 1/4 tsp cayenne, fried 30 seconds in the oil
Strong colour with a cleaner burn. Paprika scorches in about 45 seconds and turns bitter, so it goes in off the heat.
What doesn't work: Sriracha or another bottled hot sauce. It is mostly vinegar and water, so it thins the sauce and turns it sour, and the colour stays a dull orange no matter how much goes in.