Maeuntang

A fierce red fish stew built from the head and frame left after filleting, rather than from the fillet.

Fish, Tofu. Not vegetarian — contains fish.

Ingredients

• 1.2 kg fish heads, frames and trimmings, from white fish
• 300 g Korean radish, in thick slices
• 1 onion, in wedges
• 200 g firm tofu, in thick slices
• 1 courgette, sliced
• 2 tablespoons gochugaru
• 1 tablespoon gochujang
• 1 tablespoon doenjang
• 6 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• 2 tablespoons rice wine
• 1.5 litres water
• a large handful crown daisy or watercress
• 4 spring onions, in 5 cm lengths
• 2 green chillies, sliced
• salt

Method

1. IT IS MADE FROM THE HEAD AND BONES, NOT THE FILLET. That is the dish rather than a thrifty version of it: the gelatine and marrow in a fish frame give the broth a body and depth that fillet cannot, and the scraps of meat round the head and collar are the best eating on the fish. Made with fillet you get a thin spicy soup with dry white cubes in it. Ask the fishmonger for the frames when they fillet something for you; they usually cost nothing.
2. THE HEADS AND FRAMES ARE RINSED HARD AND THE GILLS REMOVED. Gills hold blood and grit and turn the broth bitter and cloudy. Cut them out with scissors and rinse under a running tap until no more blood comes.
3. THEY GO INTO ALREADY-BOILING LIQUID, not cold water. Fish bones brought slowly up from cold leach out and cloud the broth; dropped into boiling seasoned water the proteins set at once and the stew stays clear-ish and tastes cleaner.
4. IT IS COOKED TWENTY MINUTES AND NOT AN HOUR. This is not a beef bone broth -- fish gives everything it has in twenty minutes and after that the bones start giving bitterness instead. The radish needs longer, so it goes in first.
5. AND THE GREENS GO IN AT THE VERY END, off the heat if possible. Crown daisy collapses to a grey thread in two minutes of boiling and its scent is most of the difference between this and any other spicy fish soup.
6. Fish heads split, gills cut out with scissors, and everything rinsed thoroughly under cold running water until no blood comes.
7. The water, radish, onion, gochugaru, gochujang, doenjang, garlic, soy sauce and rice wine brought to a hard boil in a wide pot.
8. Simmered 10 minutes, until the radish is beginning to soften.
9. THE FISH ADDED TO THE BOILING LIQUID. Brought back to the boil and any grey foam skimmed off.
10. Simmered 15 MINUTES, barely stirred, so the frames do not break up.
11. The tofu and courgette laid on top and given 5 MINUTES.
12. Tasted and salted. It should be fierce.
13. The spring onions and chillies added.
14. THE CROWN DAISY laid on top and the pot taken off the heat at once, covered for 1 minute so it wilts in the steam.
15. Served in the pot with steamed rice as on its own page, and the head picked over at the table.

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