Smacked Cucumber ‘Quick Kimchi’

Nope. Gochujang is a fermented red pepper paste. Gochugaru is crushed, ground red pepper flakes without the dried seeds. Substituting gochujang for gochugaru is akin to using tahini for sesame seeds. If you look closely at the photo, you'll see ground pepper flakes. Those flakes are gochugaru. I would recommend blitzing any crushed red pepper flakes to smaller flakes. Not too fine, though.

My two cents in response to the gochujang/gochugaru sub debate: they are two ingredients with very different characteristics, but it doesn’t mean making a dressing similar to this with gochujang would be bad per se, just a different recipe. I often dress cucumbers with a dressing like the one above, but with gochujang and honey, to good results. But if you can find gochujang you can probably find gochugaru, so why not get both and see for yourself?

No. Two different ingredients. Gochugaru is a type of Korean red pepper flake while Gochujang is a mixture of pepper, rice paste etc etc.

Actually, you can make a great quick cucumber kimchi with gochujang - it's fermented already, so it adds that umami funk. Since gochujang already has a little sugar, you don't need the sugar (and you can leave out the fish sauce if you like). Absolutely do not use cayenne or another red pepper -- the flavor profile is completely different than gochugaru. Gochujang is made with gochugaru. So go ahead. If you have scallions, add them. You can eat right away or pack into a jar.

I think a better substitute would be cayenne or another chile powder

Gochugaru often comes in large bags and can go stale. Do what Korean cooks do and keep your bag of gochugaru in the freezer—it'll last longer that way. Use straight from the freezer, no need to thaw.

Legit recipe. Just the way my Korean mom makes it. I would not sub kochujang for the kochugaru. It’s easy enough to buy at an Asian grocery store or online.

Easy Vegan Phish Sauce: 9 squares (sheets) dried kombu seaweed, 1 1/2 C water, 1 1/2 to 2 T mushroom seasoning*, 1/2 t fine sea salt, 1/2 t soy sauce 1. Tear seaweed into pieces, soak overnight at room temperature in water. 2. Add mushroom seasoning*, salt, and soy sauce. Stir. Let sit for 3 hours. 3. Filter through paper coffee filter. *Mushroom Seasoning: In a spice grinder, grind together 6 T dried porcini mushrooms, 2 t salt, 1/4 t white pepper, 
1 1/2 t dried thyme, 1 T lemon zest

The recipe writer started by stating, "This is not a traditional kimchi". So, you've added nothing to that part of the discussion. Did you make the recipe? If not, you again added nothing by saying "This is HORRIBLE".

Flat knive works fine to crush the cuke slices, and I really like my kitchen knife...but my wife saw me doing it, and gave me a small kitchen hammer (the one for tenderizing meat), and that was much easier and faster.

I didn’t have cucumbers or gochugaru but had some radishes and kohlrabi I wanted to use up and read that Aleppo pepper was an acceptable substitute for gochugaru in a pinch. I julienned the vegetables rather than smashing. It was very good! I know it sounds like a lot of changes, but the article suggested that the included recipes were just jumping off points. This is a great way to use CSA vegetables.

"garu" means powder and "jang" means sauce (ganjang, for example, is the Korean for soy sauce). "gochu" or "kochu" means pepper. and the "ju" in "soju" means alcoholic beverage (makju is beer, podoju is grape wine, etc.)

Seems you missed the first sentence: This is not a traditional kimchi, but it approximates the flavor profile, bypassing a lengthier fermentation and instead relying on vinegar. So sure, it is not kimchi in the strict sense, but the author states that it is "Considered a muchim in Korean — which can refer to any number of “seasoned” or “dressed” salads or other preparations"

I had neither gochugaru nor gochujang. The closest thing in my pantry that was like chilli powder with that coarse texture was indian pickle masala (methiyo masalo) - so I used that, and stayed very true to the rest of the recipe. Gobsmacked at how good this is!! (Licking bowl)

This was delicious! Simple to make. I followed the instructions exactly and it was perfect. I looked at these comments to see if there was anything about gochugaru, and luckily there was some explanation, and then I googled it. I looked in my spice cabinet to see if anything I had would do, and against all odds, I had a jar I had never used before, labeled “Korean chili flakes”. It must be the right thing, because this is yummy! I will be making it a lot!