Gamjatang

Pork spine simmered until the meat falls off, with the potatoes going in whole and late so they hold their shape.

Pork. Not vegetarian — contains pork.

Ingredients

• 1.5 kg pork neck or spine bones
• 4 medium potatoes, peeled and left WHOLE
• 2 litres water
• 3 tablespoons gochugaru
• 2 tablespoons doenjang
• 1 tablespoon gochujang
• 8 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1 piece ginger, 3 cm
• 1 onion, halved
• 2 tablespoons ground perilla seeds
• 200 g napa cabbage leaves, blanched
• 4 spring onions, in 5 cm lengths
• a handful of perilla leaves
• salt

Method

1. THE POTATOES GO IN WHOLE AND LATE. Peeled but not cut, added for the last thirty-five minutes. A whole potato holds together through that and comes out creamy inside with its shape intact, which is what you want to break open against the bone. Cut into chunks at the start -- which is what every instinct says to do with a potato soup -- they disintegrate over two hours and thicken the broth into a sludge, and they are the thing you came for.
2. THE BONES ARE SOAKED AND THEN BLANCHED, and the water is thrown away, pot and all. Two hours in cold water, ten minutes at a boil, then scrub the bones and the pan. Pork spine gives up a great deal of blood and this is the one thing that decides whether the soup tastes clean.
3. GROUND PERILLA SEED IS NOT OPTIONAL AND IS NOT SESAME. Two tablespoons, stirred in near the end, and it is what gives gamjatang its particular nutty thickness. Sesame is the obvious substitute and is wrong -- it tastes of sesame, which this does not.
4. IT GOES IN NEAR THE END, not at the start, because long boiling makes it bitter and it stops thickening.
5. AND THE BONES ARE COOKED UNTIL THE MEAT GIVES TO A SPOON, which is ninety minutes to two hours at a gentle simmer. This is a dish eaten with the fingers and a spoon, so the meat has to come away without a knife.
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 2 litres of water, the onion, ginger and half the garlic. Brought to a simmer and skimmed.
9. Simmered gently 1 HOUR 30 MINUTES, topped up with boiling water as needed.
10. The onion and ginger lifted out. The gochugaru, doenjang, gochujang and remaining garlic stirred in.
11. THE WHOLE POTATOES added and cooked 35 MINUTES, until a skewer goes through without resistance.
12. The blanched cabbage leaves added for the last 10 minutes.
13. The ground perilla seed stirred in and cooked 5 MINUTES more. Tasted and salted.
14. Spring onions and perilla leaves thrown on.
15. Served in the pot with steamed rice as on its own page, and the potatoes broken open against the bones as they are eaten.

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