Sinseollo

A set-piece casserole arranged in coloured rings around a central chimney that is filled with hot charcoal at the table.

Beef, Fish, Egg. Not vegetarian — contains beef, fish.

Ingredients

For the broth

• 1.5 litres clear beef broth, skimmed
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• salt and black pepper

For the layers

• 200 g beef sirloin, in thin strips
• 150 g beef liver, sliced thin
• 150 g white fish fillet, sliced
• 3 eggs, separated, for two thin omelettes
• 150 g mushrooms, sliced
• 1 carrot, in fine matchsticks
• 1 courgette, in fine matchsticks
• 100 g Korean radish, in matchsticks
• 50 g walnuts and pine nuts
• potato starch and oil, for the fish and liver

Equipment

• 1 sinseollo pot, a ring-shaped casserole with a central chimney

Method

1. THE CHIMNEY IS FILLED WITH HOT CHARCOAL. That is what the pot is for and what makes this dish a set piece rather than a casserole: a funnel rises through the middle, glowing charcoal goes into it at the table, and the broth in the ring around it comes to a simmer from the inside out while everyone watches. Without the pot there is no sinseollo -- it can be cooked in a shallow casserole and it will taste the same, and it will not be this. The page says so plainly rather than pretending a frying pan will do.
2. THE CHARCOAL IS LIT ELSEWHERE AND BROUGHT IN GLOWING, with tongs, and the pot stands on something fireproof. This is a live fire at the table and the practical warnings are part of the recipe: do not light it indoors, do not carry it over anyone, and open a window.
3. EVERYTHING IS ARRANGED IN CONCENTRIC RINGS BY COLOUR and nothing is stirred. White fish, yellow egg, green courgette, orange carrot, brown mushroom, dark liver -- each laid in its own band around the chimney, so the surface is a pattern when the lid comes off. Tipped in, it is a good beef soup and the two hours of knifework were wasted.
4. SO EVERYTHING IS CUT TO THE SAME LENGTH, four centimetres, which is the real labour here. The bands only read as bands if the pieces match.
5. THE EGG IS TWO SEPARATE THIN OMELETTES, yolk and white cooked apart, so there is a yellow band and a white one. Beaten together there is only one colour and the pattern loses half its range.
6. THE LIVER AND FISH ARE DUSTED IN STARCH AND BRIEFLY FRIED before they are laid in. Raw, they cloud the broth and break up; sealed, they hold their shape in the ring.
7. AND THE BROTH IS POURED IN AT THE SIDE, gently, to just below the top of the arrangement -- never over it, which would wash the rings out of place.
8. The broth seasoned with the soy sauce, salt and pepper, and tasted. Kept hot.
9. Yolks and whites beaten separately with a pinch of salt, cooked as two thin flat omelettes, and cut into 4 cm strips.
10. Carrot, courgette and radish cut into 4 cm matchsticks and each fried briefly and separately with a pinch of salt.
11. Mushrooms sliced and fried.
12. Beef cut into strips and fried fast with a little soy sauce.
13. Liver and fish sliced, dusted in potato starch, and fried 30 seconds a side.
14. The sinseollo pot filled: a base layer of the beef, then everything else ARRANGED IN CONCENTRIC RINGS by colour around the chimney, with the nuts scattered in the gaps.
15. The hot broth poured gently in at the side to just below the top of the arrangement.
16. The chimney FILLED WITH GLOWING CHARCOAL, lit outside and carried in with tongs, and the pot set on a fireproof stand at the table. The lid on until it simmers, then off, and eaten from the rings with more broth added as it goes down.

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