Dwaeji-gukbap

Pork broth over rice, where the broth is ladled on and poured back twice to bring the rice up to temperature.

Pork, Shellfish. Not vegetarian — contains fish sauce, pork, shellfish.

Ingredients

For the broth

• 1.5 kg pork neck bones
• 800 g pork shoulder, in one piece
• 3 litres water
• 1 onion, halved
• 1 head garlic, halved
• 1 piece ginger, 5 cm, sliced
• 4 spring onions
• 2 tablespoons doenjang

For the bowls

• steamed short-grain rice for 4, as on its own page
• a large handful garlic chives, chopped
• 4 spring onions, sliced
• salted shrimp, to season at the table
• gochugaru paste, to season at the table
• kimchi, as on its own page

Method

1. THE BROTH IS LADLED OVER THE RICE AND POURED BACK TWICE TO WARM IT. A ladleful into the bowl, swirled, tipped back into the pan, and again -- then the bowl is filled properly. It takes fifteen seconds and it is the difference between a soup that is hot all the way down and one with a cold lump of rice at the bottom. Rice at room temperature will drop a ladle of boiling broth below eating temperature instantly, and this is how the stalls deal with it rather than by heating the rice separately.
2. THE BONES ARE SOAKED AND BLANCHED AND THE WATER THROWN AWAY, as with every bone broth in this collection. Two hours in cold water, ten minutes at a boil, then scrub the bones and the pot.
3. IT IS BOILED HARD, NOT SIMMERED, and that is deliberate: this broth is supposed to be cloudy and milky white, so the marrow is driven into emulsion exactly as on the seolleongtang page. A clear pork broth is a different soup.
4. THE SHOULDER COMES OUT AND IS COOLED BEFORE SLICING, and the broth goes on without it. Left in for the full three hours it shreds to threads; out at ninety minutes and cooled, it slices into the thin pieces that go on top.
5. AND IT IS SEASONED AT THE TABLE, NOT IN THE POT. The broth arrives deliberately bland with salted shrimp and chilli paste alongside, which is how each person makes it their own and how a pot that has reduced for hours avoids being over-salted.
6. Bones covered with cold water and SOAKED 2 HOURS, the water changed once.
7. Drained, covered with fresh water, boiled 10 MINUTES, and the WATER THROWN AWAY. Bones rinsed and the pot scrubbed.
8. The bones returned with the 3 litres of water and brought to a rolling boil. Skimmed.
9. Boiled HARD 1 hour. The shoulder, onion, garlic, ginger and spring onions added, and boiled 1 HOUR 30 MINUTES more.
10. The shoulder lifted out, cooled 20 minutes, and sliced thinly.
11. The bones boiled a further 30 minutes until the broth is opaque. Strained, the fat skimmed, and the doenjang whisked in through a sieve.
12. Steamed rice made as on its own page.
13. For each bowl: rice in, A LADLE OF HOT BROTH POURED OVER AND TIPPED BACK INTO THE PAN, and that repeated once.
14. The bowl then filled with broth, the sliced pork laid on top, and the chives and spring onions heaped on.
15. Taken to the table with salted shrimp, chilli paste and kimchi as on its own page for each person to season their own.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under South Korea · All recipes