Gamjatang (Spicy Pork Back-Bone Stew with Potato)

Name: Gamjatang (Spicy Pork Back-Bone Stew with Potato)
Prep time: 30 min
Cook time: 2 h 10 min
Total time: 2 h 40 min
Yield: 4 servings
Cuisine: Korean
Ingredients: 1.5 kg Pork back-bones (neck or spine); 3 tbsp Rice wine or soju; 1 tsp Peppercorns; 1 piece Ginger; 1 Onion; 1 Spring onion root end; 2.5 L Water; 2 tbsp Doenjang; 3 tbsp Gochugaru; 1 tbsp Gochujang; 2 tbsp Minced garlic; 1 tsp Minced ginger; 2 tbsp Soy sauce; Salt; 3 large Potatoes; 300 g Ugeoji or siraegi; 2 large Spring onions; 1 pack Enoki mushrooms; 4 tbsp Ground perilla seed; 10 Perilla leaves; 2 Cheongyang chillies

Pork back-bones simmered until they give, with cabbage greens, whole potatoes and a finish of ground perilla seed. Whether it smells porky is decided by the prep rather than the seasoning — soak, then parboil and throw that water away — and the perilla goes in at the very end.

Ingredients

4servings

Bones and their prep
Pork back-bones (neck or spine) · With plenty of meat still on1.5 kg
Rice wine or soju · For the parboil and the simmer3 tbsp
Peppercorns1 tsp
Ginger · Thumb-tip sized1 piece
Onion · Halved only1
Spring onion root end · For the broth; the white part will do1
Water · For the simmer; the parboil water is separate2.5 L
Seasoning
Doenjang · The backbone of taming the porkiness2 tbsp
Gochugaru3 tbsp
Gochujang1 tbsp
Minced garlic · Be generous2 tbsp
Minced ginger1 tsp
Soy sauce2 tbsp
Salt · To taste at the end
In the pot
Potatoes · Halved at most, or left whole3 large
Ugeoji or siraegi · Pre-boiled outer cabbage leaves, or dried radish greens300 g
Spring onions · In long pieces2 large
Enoki mushrooms · Optional1 pack
To finish
Ground perilla seed · The signature. Goes in for the last 5 minutes4 tbsp
Perilla leaves · Added off the heat10
Cheongyang chillies · Optional, for heat2

Steps

Soak the bones in cold water for 1–2 hours to draw the blood out, changing the water two or three times. Skip this and the broth is cloudy and smells porky.
⏲ 90 min
Parboil the bones with the rice wine for 5–10 minutes, then throw that water away entirely. Rinse the bones under running water, rubbing off the surface scum and bone dust. Both the soak and this parboil are needed; one alone does not do it.
⏲ 15 min
In a clean pot, cover the parboiled bones with the 2.5L of water and add the onion, spring onion root, ginger, peppercorns and rice wine. Bring to the boil, lower the heat and simmer 1 hour to 1 hour 20, until the meat is just short of falling off. Collagen takes the time it takes — see Braising: collagen and time.
⏲ 80 min
Skim the foam for the first 10 minutes so the broth stays clean — the same principle as in Stocks and broth.
⏲ 10 min
Prepare the greens. Squeeze the boiled cabbage leaves dry and rub them with 1 tbsp of doenjang. Dried siraegi needs soaking overnight, boiling 40 minutes and peeling or it stays tough.
⏲ 15 min
Fish the onion and spring onion root out of the broth and stir in the doenjang, gochugaru, gochujang, garlic, ginger and soy sauce. The doenjang both tames the pork and builds the base — see Building umami.
⏲ 5 min
Add the potatoes in large pieces and simmer 20–25 minutes. Cut small they disintegrate and turn the broth pasty. A skewer sliding in is enough.
⏲ 25 min
Add the greens, spring onions, chillies and enoki and simmer 10 minutes more.
⏲ 10 min
Taste. Season with salt after the broth has reduced, not before — see Salt and seasoning.
⏲ 2 min
Stir in the ground perilla seed and give it only 5 minutes. Added at the start or boiled long, it turns from nutty to muddy and slightly bitter.
⏲ 5 min
Take it off the heat, lay the perilla leaves over, and serve. Pick the meat off the bones with chopsticks, and fry rice in what is left of the broth.
⏲ 3 min

Tips & Variations

Variations

Ppyeo-haejangguk: the same broth with only one or two bones, served as a single earthenware bowl. Gamjatang is the shared pot; ppyeo-haejangguk is the solo portion.
Ugeoji vs siraegi: ugeoji is the outer leaves of napa cabbage, siraegi is dried radish greens. Siraegi tastes stronger and is tougher, so soak it overnight, boil it and peel the fibrous skin. Chard or young cabbage will stand in.
Without potato? The name says potato, but one theory holds that gamja here came from an old word for a part of the spine, and some restaurants use very little. It is still worth adding — potato softens the broth considerably.
More perilla: 4 tbsp is standard, and 6 is fine if you like it. The broth gets thicker and nuttier.
Pressure cooker: step 3 comes down to 25–30 minutes. The broth turns out cloudier, so pay more attention to skimming.
Related stews: yukgaejang shreds beef along the grain instead, and doenjang-jjigae uses the same doenjang over a much shorter cook. Long-simmered pork is also what suyuk is, though suyuk discards the liquid.

Tips

Do the soak and the parboil. Nearly every failure of this dish happens here. Do only one and a porky smell stays in the broth, and no amount of extra gochugaru covers it.
Throw the parboiling water away. It looks wasteful; everything you were trying to wash off is in it.
Rinse the bones under running water. Rubbing off the brown scum and bone dust clinging to them after the parboil makes a visible difference to how clean the broth looks.
Do not leave out the doenjang. Gochugaru and gochujang alone will not get you there. The doenjang is what tames the pork and gives the broth its base.
Cut the potatoes large. Halved at most, or whole if small. Cut small they collapse within 20 minutes and the broth goes to porridge.
Perilla in the last 5 minutes. Adding it at the start is the most common mistake; boiled long it goes from nutty to claggy and faintly bitter.
Perilla leaves off the heat. Boiled, they blacken and lose their scent.
It is better the next day. Overnight the seasoning reaches into the bones. Stir in a little more perilla when reheating and the first-day flavour comes back.
Save some broth. Frying rice in what is left, with sesame oil and crumbled seaweed, is part of the meal.

The basics behind this dish

Cooking basics →

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