Name: Pyeonyuk (Pressed Boiled Beef, Sliced Thin)
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 1 h 55 min
Total time: 2 h 15 min
Yield: 6 servings
Cuisine: Korean
Ingredients: 1.2 kg beef shank; 3 L water; 2 spring onions; 1 onion; 1 head garlic; 1 thumb ginger; 1 tsp peppercorns; 100 ml rice wine; 1 tbsp doenjang; 1 tbsp salt; 3 tbsp saeujeot; 1 tsp mustard; 200 g kimchi

Ingredients

6servings

beef shank · brisket or tongue also work. The more sinew and connective tissue, the better it sets1.2 kg
water3 L
In the pot
spring onions2
onion · halved1
garlic1 head
ginger · sliced1 thumb
peppercorns1 tsp
rice wine100 ml
doenjang · for the smell; it barely affects the flavour of the broth1 tbsp
salt · in the cooking water1 tbsp
To serve
saeujeot · salted shrimp, or soy sauce with vinegar3 tbsp
mustard1 tsp
kimchi · wrapped up with the meat200 g

Steps

Soak the whole piece in cold water for 1 hour to draw the blood out, changing the water once.
⏲ 60 min
Bring a large pot to the boil, blanch the meat hard for 5 minutes, then lift it out and rinse it. The scum and the smell go down the sink here.
⏲ 5 min
Put it in 3L of fresh water with the aromatics, rice wine, doenjang and salt. Once it comes to the boil, turn it down and simmer 1 hour 45 minutes. Never let it boil hard — a rolling boil tightens the muscle, squeezes water out and separates the fibres, and separated fibres will not bond under the weight (heat control).
⏲ 105 min
Push a skewer into the thickest part: no resistance means done. That is more reliable than the clock (cooking meat and resting).
Lift it out and wrap it in muslin while it is still hot. This is the whole dish — right now the gelatine dissolved out of the collagen is still liquid, and it sets as the meat cools, gluing the fibres to each other. Press it cold and no amount of weight will make it bond.
Set the wrapped meat on a tray, lay a board on top and put something heavy on it, then refrigerate. A water bottle or a mortar is enough. 4 hours minimum, overnight is better.
⏲ 240 min
Unwrap it and you have a firm, square-edged block. It is smaller than it went in, because liquid has been pressed out.
Slice it across the grain, 2-3mm thin, in one pull of a sharp knife. Meat that has not been pressed simply falls apart at this thickness (knife skills).
Stir a little mustard into the salted shrimp and serve it alongside, with kimchi. Serve it cold — warmed, the gelatine melts again and the block falls apart (serving temperature).
Skim the broth and keep it for soup or a noodle stock. The pressed block keeps, wrapped, for 3 days in the fridge and can be sliced to order.

Tips & Variations

Variations

The cut: shank and brisket are standard. Tongue was the prized version on a banquet table and, being all connective tissue, sets the firmest of all. Made with pork it becomes dwaeji-meori pyeonyuk, head meat — so rich in skin and gelatine that it sets hard under a short press.
Against suyuk — this is the page's central contrast: the simmering is effectively identical. What differs is one further step, and that step decides the thickness. Unpressed suyuk has fibres that are no longer attached, so it has to be cut thick to hold its shape; pressed pyeonyuk can be cut at 2-3mm. Being sliceable that thin is the whole point of it as banquet food — one block feeds a table.
Against jokbal: jokbal is also full of gelatine and also firms up as it cools, but it is not pressed, so it keeps the shape of the bone. The same gelatine, used to make a form or not.
Against seolleongtang: there the broth is the point, so it is simmered for hours to move the flavour into the water; here the meat is the point and the broth is a by-product — though not a wasted one.
Against sundae: both are banquet food, and in both a protein that sets is what makes the shape. In sundae the blood does that job; here it is gelatine. And both collapse if you slice them hot.
With chogochujang or vinegar-soy: plenty of households dip it in soy sauce cut with vinegar and sugar rather than salted shrimp. It divides by region and family.

Tips

It has to be pressed hot. Every failure in this dish is here. Only while the dissolved gelatine is liquid can it spread between the fibres, and it is the setting of that gelatine on cooling that bonds them. Press it after it has gone cold and you squeeze out liquid without making a block.
Use a cut full of connective tissue. Shank, brisket, tongue, pork head. A clean cut like fillet has no gelatine to give up and stays crumbly however hard you press it. Here sinew is not a defect, it is the ingredient.
Never let it boil hard. A rolling boil contracts the muscle fibres, drives water out and separates them — and separated fibres do not bond. The odd bubble breaking the surface is right.
Wrap it tight, but do not twist it. Twisting sets the fibres out of alignment and the slices come apart in layers. Wrap it square and give it edges.
Less weight than you think. Two or three kilos is plenty. Too much and the juice is all driven out and it goes dry. A full water bottle is the benchmark.
Overnight beats four hours. The gelatine sets fully and the liquid comes out evenly. Four hours is the minimum if you are in a hurry.
A sharp knife, one pass. Sawing shifts the fibres however well the block has set. Push the blade through in a single movement (knife skills).
Serve it cold. Gelatine starts melting somewhere around 35°C, so warming it undoes the bond you worked for. Out of the fridge, sliced, straight to the table.
Keep the broth. Two hours of simmering leaves a good stock. Skim it and use it for noodles or soup.
The next day slices better. It is firmer on day two than on the day you made it, and it holds for three days with almost no change.

The basics behind this dish

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