Dolsot

[Benjamin Barrett]

Dolsot (also spelled "dol sot") is in the Seattle Times today (http://seattletimes.com/html/localnews/2020208625_sarah25xml.html). It's the "stone" bowl that bibimbap is sometimes served in. The dolsot gives the rice that semi-crunchy texture like half-burned macaroni in a casserole. 

Dolsot isn't in Wiktionary, the OED or the AHD. Wikipedia gives the Korean spelling as 돌솥 under http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bibimbap.

The earliest I see the word in Google Books is 1992 (http://books.google.com/books?id=6xy0AAAAIAAJ&q=%22dolsot%22&dq=%22dolsot%22&hl=en&sa=X&ei=gtoCUZ7wOIaM0QH1voCoBQ&ved=0CEcQ6AEwAw) as part of the name of a restaurant. Surely the term would have been on their menus as well as the menus of other restaurants by that date.

The next appearance on Google Books is 1996 in the phrase "dolsot bi bim bap" (http://books.google.com/books?id=yLyuG2RqlooC&q=%22dolsot%22&dq=%22dolsot%22&hl=en&sa=X&ei=CNsCUZn-DYrV0gHp9oCgBg&ved=0CDkQ6AEwAA).

The Internet has two pages from 1994:

http://www.nytimes.com/1994/05/11/garden/a-treasure-hunt-for-korean-foods.html?pagewanted=2 (dolsot)
http://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/1994-09-15/restaurants/second-helpings/full/ (dol sot)

Benjamin Barrett
Seattle, WA
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