Gamjatang (Korean Pork Bone and Potato Stew)
Korea's beloved bone stew: slow-simmered pork neck bones and floury potatoes in a spicy gochugaru broth thickened with nutty ground perilla seeds.
Method
Put the bones in a large bowl, cover generously with cold water and soak for to draw out the blood, changing the water once or twice until it is almost clear. This removes the porky smell and keeps the broth from turning murky. Wash hands and bowl with soap after handling raw pork.
Add in this stepPork neck bones (spine) 1,000 g
Fill a 24 cm pot with enough water to cover the bones well and bring it to a boil on high heat. Add the bones, let it return to the boil and blanch for . Tip into a colander and rinse each bone under running water, scraping out the dark clots and bits of scum between the vertebrae with a chopstick. Wash the pot too.
high heatPut the bones in the clean 24 cm pot with the water, the halved onion, the ginger and half the leek cut into big chunks, then stir in half the doenjang. Bring to a boil on high heat, turn down to medium-low heat, set the lid ajar and simmer for . Skim off foam and fat from time to time, and top up with hot water if the bones start to poke out. It is ready when the meat begins to tear easily with a chopstick.
Add in this stepWater 2,200 mlOnion ½Ginger, sliced 15 gKorean leek (large green onion) ½Doenjang (Korean soybean paste) ½ tbsp
high heat→medium-low heatWhile it simmers, make the seasoning paste: mix the gochugaru, minced garlic, soup soy sauce, anchovy fish sauce, cooking wine and the rest of the doenjang in a small bowl. Peel the potatoes and halve them (quarter large ones), cut the napa cabbage into 5 cm pieces and the perilla leaves into 2 cm strips, and slice the rest of the leek and the chilli on the diagonal.
Add in this stepGochugaru (Korean chilli flakes) 1½ tbspMinced garlic 1½ tbspKorean soup soy sauce 1½ tbspKorean anchovy fish sauce 1½ tspKorean cooking wine (mirin-style) 1½ tbspDoenjang (Korean soybean paste) ½ tbsp
Fish out and discard the onion, leek and ginger, then add the potatoes and stir in the seasoning paste. Boil on medium-high heat for , until a chopstick slides easily into the potatoes. As they soften, they thicken the broth naturally.
Add in this stepMedium potatoes 2
medium-high heatAdd the napa cabbage and most of the ground perilla seeds and boil on medium heat for more, until the cabbage wilts and the broth turns cloudy and nutty. Stir now and then so the perilla doesn't catch on the bottom.
Add in this stepNapa cabbage leaves 180 gGround perilla seeds (deulkkae-garu) 1.4 tbsp
medium heatTaste and season with salt and pepper, then add the perilla leaves, leek and chilli and simmer just more. Bring the pot to the table, sprinkle with the remaining ground perilla seeds, and pick the meat from between the bones with chopsticks. Watch out for sharp bone fragments.
Add in this stepSalt to tasteGround black pepper to tastePerilla leaves (kkaennip) 5Korean leek (large green onion) ½Green chilli 1Ground perilla seeds (deulkkae-garu) 0.6 tbsp
Cook's tip
If you can't find ground perilla seeds, grind toasted sesame seeds instead. Ask the butcher for pork neck bones cut for stew. Koreans finish the pot by frying rice, chopped kimchi and crumbled seaweed in the leftover broth.
Cooking it at camp
Do the long simmer (up to step 3) at home, cool the bones in their broth and carry them in a sealed container in the cooler. At camp, add the potatoes and seasoning and simmer for about 30 minutes. Use a heavy pot and keep the flame moderate so the bottom doesn't scorch.