Pork bone soup (Gamjatang)

Ingredients

Makes 2-3 servings.

• 2½ to 3 pounds of pork neck bones (or spine bones)
• 1 ounce ginger, sliced
• 2 tablespoons doenjang (Korean fermented bean paste)
• 2 dried Shiitake mushrooms
• 1 medium onion, sliced
• 1 large dried red chili pepper (or a few red chili peppers)
• 1 pound of napa cabbage, cut off the core
• 2 or 3 medium potatoes, peeled
• 8 ounces soybean sprouts, washed and strained
• 4 green onions, washed and cut into 2 inch long
• 1 green onion, chopped for garnish
• 8 to 12 perilla leaves, washed

For seasoning paste:

• 6 garlic cloves, minced
• 3 tablespoons gochugaru (Korean hot pepper flakes)
• 1 tablespoon gochujang (Korean hot pepper paste)
• 3 tablespoons fish sauce
• ¼ cup deulkkae-garu (perilla seeds powder)
• ½ teaspoon ground black pepper
• ½ cup water

Directions

Cooking time: 2 hours.

Prepare the bones and broth

1. Rinse the pork bones a couple of times and soak in cold water for at least 30 minutes.

   

2. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Blanch the cabbage for 1 minute and then take it out with tongs.

3. Keep the hot water boiling, we’ll use it later for blanching pork bones.

4. Rinse the cabbage in cold water and strain. Tear the leaves in lengthwise once or twice to make it long bite sized pieces.

   

5. Put the bones into the boiling water and cover. Let them cook for 7 minutes over medium high heat. The water will turn dark and some foam will come to the surface.

   

6. Strain the bones and wash each one in cold running water to remove any extra fat, dark foamy stuff, and bone fragments. Put the cleaned bones into a large pot.

   

7. Add ginger, soy bean paste, dried shiitake mushrooms, onion, dried red pepper, and 11 cups of water. Cover and cook for 90 minutes over medium high heat.

   

While it cooks, make the seasoning paste

• Combine garlic, hot pepper flakes, hot pepper paste, fish sauce, perilla seeds powder, ground black pepper, and ¼ cup water in a bowl.

• Mix well until creamy.

  

Finish

1. 90 minutes later, open the pot. Take out the 2 shiitake mushrooms and put them on your cutting board. Add the cabbage, soy bean sprouts, 3 green onions, and the peeled potatoes.

   

2. Slice the mushrooms thinly and put them back to the pot. Add the seasoning paste. Add ¼ cup water and cover.

   

   

3. Cook for 30 to 40 minutes over medium high heat until the potatoes are fully cooked. Test them by poking one with a chopstick or a bamboo skewer. If the chopstick goes through easily, it’s fully cooked.

   

4. Add the perilla leaves and stir. You can serve right away with rice and a few more side dishes.

   

Serve

There are a few ways to serve, depending on how you like it:

• Ladle the soup into individual bowls and sprinkle each with some chopped green onion. You can also reheat the soup in earthenware bowls and then serve them to the table bubbling hot.

  

• Put all the soup in a large shallow pot, and sprinkle some chopped green onion over top. Put the pot in the center of the table along with the rice and some other side dishes. You can share it all together. I recommend giving out small individual bowls and a ladle so that people can put some soup in their bowl and enjoy it that way, instead of eating from the pot in the middle of the table.