Naengmyeon

Cold noodles in a broth served half-frozen and slushy, which is a temperature rather than a flavour.

Beef, Egg. Not vegetarian — contains beef.

Ingredients

For the broth, made the day before

• 1.5 litres beef broth, from the galbitang or seolleongtang page, skimmed and cold
• 200 ml dongchimi radish water, if you have it
• 3 tablespoons rice vinegar
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt

To serve

• 500 g naengmyeon buckwheat noodles
• 4 slices cold cooked beef brisket
• 2 eggs, boiled 9 minutes and halved
• half a Korean pear, in matchsticks
• half a cucumber, in matchsticks
• Korean mustard and rice vinegar, at the table

Method

1. THE BROTH IS SERVED HALF-FROZEN AND SLUSHY, and that is a temperature rather than a flavour. Into a shallow box in the freezer for four or five hours until ice crystals have formed through it, then broken up with a fork and ladled over the noodles with the ice still in it. Merely cold from the fridge, this dish is thin and rather dull; at freezing point it is sharp, bracing and makes sense. If you serve it cold you have not made it wrong, you have made something else.
2. SO THE BROTH IS MADE THE DAY BEFORE. It has to be completely degreased and completely cold before it is frozen, and warm broth in the freezer is still warm in the middle four hours later.
3. IT MUST BE DEGREASED COMPLETELY. Chilled overnight the fat sets as a cap and lifts off in one piece. Any left behind congeals into white specks in a near-frozen broth, which is unpleasant in a way hot soup never shows.
4. THE NOODLES ARE RINSED IN ICE WATER UNTIL THEY SQUEAK. Boiled three to four minutes, then into cold water, rubbed between the hands and rinsed through two or three changes until they are cold and faintly squeaky. Surface starch left on them clouds the broth and makes them stick in a single clump.
5. AND THEY ARE CUT WITH SCISSORS AT THE TABLE. They are extremely chewy and very long, and every Korean restaurant brings scissors with the bowl. Saying so is more useful than pretending they can be managed with chopsticks.
6. Broth skimmed of every trace of fat, seasoned with the vinegar, sugar and salt, and tasted -- it should be noticeably sharp and slightly sweet, because freezing mutes both.
7. Poured into a shallow container and FROZEN 4 to 5 HOURS, until slushy with ice crystals through it. Not frozen solid.
8. Pear and cucumber cut into matchsticks and kept in the fridge.
9. Eggs boiled 9 minutes, cooled and halved.
10. Noodles boiled 3 to 4 MINUTES, tasted for a firm chew.
11. Drained and plunged into ice water, rubbed between the hands, and RINSED through 2 or 3 changes until cold and squeaky.
12. Shaken dry hard and coiled into 4 deep chilled bowls.
13. The slushy broth broken up with a fork and ladled over, ice and all, to come about two thirds up the noodles.
14. The beef, egg, pear and cucumber arranged on top, and scissors, mustard and vinegar put on 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