← Nouns Cooking · Korean

Ingredients

• 2 kg beef marrow and knuckle bones, cut into pieces
• 500 g beef brisket or shank
• 4 l Water, plus more for topping up
• 6 Spring onion, finely chopped
• 200 g Somyeon (thin wheat noodles) (optional)
• 600 g cooked short-grain rice, to serve
• sea salt, to taste at the table
• black pepper, to taste

Method

1. Soak the bones in cold water for 2 hours, changing the water a couple of times, to draw out the blood.
2. Cover the bones with fresh water, bring to the boil and cook hard for 10 min. Drain, rinse the bones well and scrub the pot.
3. Return the bones to the pot with the 4 l water and the brisket. Bring to a rolling boil over high heat and keep it bubbling hard, uncovered, over medium-high heat.
4. Take out the brisket after about 1 hour 30 min, once a chopstick slides in easily. Cool it, then slice thinly.
5. Keep the bones boiling for about 2 hours more, topping up with boiling water to keep them covered, until the broth turns milky white. Strain and skim off the fat.
6. To serve, reheat the broth with the sliced brisket and cooked noodles. Ladle into bowls and let everyone add salt, pepper and lots of spring onion, with rice and kimchi on the side.

Tips

• A hard, rolling boil is what turns the broth white; a gentle simmer gives a clear soup instead.
• Many cooks boil the same bones a second time and mix the two batches for an even richer broth. It freezes well in portions.
• Somyeon noodles are made from wheat; leave them out (the rice is enough) to keep the soup gluten-free.

Sources

Written in our own words after cross-checking these recipes:

Korean Bapsang Kimchimari Beyond Kimchee