Yukgaejang

A red beef soup whose meat is boiled and then pulled apart by hand along the grain, never chopped.

Beef. Not vegetarian — contains beef.

Ingredients

• 700 g beef brisket or shin, in one piece
• 2 litres water
• 1 onion, halved
• 6 cloves garlic
• 100 g dried bracken fern, soaked and boiled
• 200 g beansprouts
• 6 spring onions, in 6 cm lengths
• 3 tablespoons gochugaru
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 2 tablespoons sesame oil
• 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 2 eggs, beaten, optional
• salt

Method

1. THE BEEF IS SHREDDED BY HAND ALONG THE GRAIN, NEVER CHOPPED. Boiled until it gives, cooled enough to handle, and then pulled apart into long strands with the fingers, following the grain. Those strands are the texture of the soup -- they hold the chilli oil and they come up on the spoon with the beansprouts and the spring onion, all of them long. Sliced or diced, the meat sits at the bottom of the bowl in little blocks and the dish loses the one thing that makes it itself.
2. THE CHILLI IS BLOOMED IN SESAME OIL AND THEN STIRRED INTO THE BROTH. Gochugaru and sesame oil warmed together in a small pan for a minute until it turns deep red, then added -- the same principle as the sundubu-jjigae on this site. Thrown in dry it stays raw and gritty and the soup is orange rather than red.
3. EVERYTHING IS CUT LONG. Spring onions in six-centimetre lengths, bracken left whole, beansprouts not touched. The whole bowl should be long strands, which is a decision about how it eats rather than about flavour.
4. THE VEGETABLES ARE TOSSED IN THE SEASONING BEFORE THEY GO IN THE POT, with the shredded beef, the soy and the chilli oil. They take up the seasoning in a way they will not if simply dropped into the broth.
5. AND IT IS NOT BOILED HARD AFTER THAT. Twenty minutes at a gentle simmer. Hard boiling breaks the strands apart and they are the point.
6. Beef simmered in the water with the onion and garlic 1 HOUR 30 MINUTES, skimmed as foam rises, until it gives easily.
7. The beef lifted out and COOLED until it can be handled. The broth strained and kept.
8. The beef PULLED APART BY HAND along the grain into long strands.
9. Bracken soaked, boiled 20 minutes and cut into lengths if very long.
10. The gochugaru and sesame oil warmed in a small pan over a low heat 1 MINUTE until deep red and fragrant. Watched, not left.
11. The shredded beef, bracken, beansprouts and spring onions put in a bowl with the chilli oil, soy sauce, pepper and a little salt, and TOSSED by hand until coated.
12. The broth brought to a simmer and the whole seasoned mixture tipped in.
13. Simmered gently 20 MINUTES, not boiled.
14. The beaten egg poured in a thin stream round the edge if using, left 10 seconds, stirred once.
15. Tasted and salted. Served very hot with steamed rice as on its own page.

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