Korean Beef Stock Recipes

EASY KOREAN GROUND BEEF BOWL

Steps:

• Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add beef and cook, stirring and crumbling into small pieces until browned, 5 to 7 minutes. Drain excess grease.
• Add garlic, ginger, and sesame oil, stirring until fragrant, about 2 minutes. Stir in soy sauce, brown sugar, and red pepper. Cook until some of the sauce absorbs into the beef, about 7 minutes. Add 1/2 of the chopped green onions.
• Serve beef over hot cooked rice; garnished with sesame seeds and remaining green onions.

KOREAN BEEF STEW

Steps:

• Melt butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add onion and garlic; cook for 1 to 3 minutes. Add beef; cook and stir until brown, about 15 minutes.
• Add water, rice wine, soy sauce, brown sugar, honey, mushrooms, and chile-garlic sauce to the skillet with the beef. Simmer until beef is tender, about 60 minutes more.
• Add carrot and sesame seeds to the skillet with the stew. Season with salt and pepper. Continue cooking until 1/2 the liquid has evaporated, about 15 minutes. Drizzle in sesame oil and remove from heat.

KOREAN BEEF BOWL

Steps:

• In a small bowl, whisk together brown sugar, soy sauce, sesame oil, red pepper flakes and ginger. Heat vegetable oil in a large skillet over medium high heat. Add garlic and cook, stirring constantly, until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add ground beef and cook until browned, about 3-5 minutes, making sure to crumble the beef as it cooks; drain excess fat. Stir in soy sauce mixture and green onions until well combined, allowing to simmer until heated through, about 2 minutes. Serve immediately, garnished with green onion and sesame seeds, if desired.

KOREAN SPICY BEEF SOUP (YUKAEJANG)

Steps:

• Gather the ingredients.
• In a large pot, bring brisket and about 4 quarts of water to a boil.
• Reduce heat to a simmer and cook until meat is tender, skimming off fat and foam.
• Remove the meat from the broth but keep the broth in the pot.
• When it's cool enough to handle, hand-shred the beef with the grain.
• In a mixing bowl, combine shredded beef with scallions, bean sprouts, and fernbrake (gosari).
• Season beef and vegetables with garlic, sesame oil, gochugaru, gochujang, soy sauce, and black pepper.
• Add seasoned ingredients to the broth and bring to a boil.
• Simmer for about 5 minutes and adjust soup to taste with soy sauce if necessary.
• Swirl the beaten eggs into the soup.
• Add noodles, if using, and turn off heat.

KOREAN SPICY BEEF VEGETABLE SOUP (YUKGAEJANG)

Steps:

• Add fernbrake in a pot filled with water. Bring it to a gentle boil and simmer for 20 minutes. In another pot, cook the taro stem using the same method. Let it soak in the pot for 1 hour as well. Remove each pot from the heat and let vegetables to soak in the pot, covered, for 1 hour.
• Drain the dried vegetables and rinse them in cold water several times. Squeeze out the extra water from the vegetables. Cut fernbrake and taro stem in 2-inch slices.
• In a stock pot, combine onion, whole garlic (cut in half), chunks of radish and beef brisket. Add 14 cups of water to the pot and bring it to a gentle boil. Reduce the heat to low and let it simmer for 45 minutes.
• Discard the vegetables and reserve the beef. Strain the stock in a skimmer to collect any small particles. Reserve the stock.
• When the beef is cooled to touch, shred the beef into bite size pieces.
• For the Asian leeks, cut them in half lengthwise, then cut into 2-inch slices. As an optional step, remove the pale green core in the center of the white parts of the leeks because they tend to be tough. You can leave it the way it is, if you wish.
• Bring a large pot of water to boil and sprinkle some salt. Add mungbean sprouts, stir, and wait for 10 seconds.
• Add oyster mushroom and leek slices. Cook the vegetables for 10 more seconds. Drain and rinse the vegetables in cold running water. Squeeze out the extra water.
• Heat oil and sesame oil in a large pot over low heat. Add the Korean chili flakes and stir it for 30 seconds to release the fragrance and infuse the oils.
• Add the vegetables and beef into the pot. Stir well to coat them with the chili oil. Pour the reserved stock into the pot. The amount of stock could be between 8-10 cups, depending on how thin you want your stew to be.
• Add a teaspoon of Korean chili paste (gochujang) into the stew and mix well. Chili paste will help your stew to maintain its redness of broth without going dull. Cover the pot and let the stew simmer for 15-20 minutes over med-low heat.
• Season the stew with 3 different Korean sauces; soy sauce, Korean soup soy sauce, and Korean anchovy sauce. Taste the broth and add some salt, if needed. Lastly sprinkle with lots of black pepper according to your taste.

BEEF BONE BROTH (SAGOL-GUKMUL: 사골국물)

Steps:

• Rinse the bones in cold water to remove blood and bone fragments. Place in a large bowl of cold water and soak for 8 hours or overnight. While soaking, change the water a couple of times. Drain the bones and put them into a large stock pot. I use my 10 quart stock pot. Add water until the bones are submerged.
• Cover and boil for about 20 minutes over high heat, until it is vigorously boiling. You will see lots of floating brownish stuff and fat. Remove from the heat. Drain the bones, rinse each bone with cold running water, and drain well. Wash the pot thoroughly and put the bones back to the clean pot. Fill the pot with water (I added 6½ quarts water to my 10 quarts pot). Cover and cook over high heat for about 30 minutes until the water starts boiling. Reduce the heat to low and simmer for 10 hours. If it boils over, crack the lid and when the water level goes down, put the lid back. Open the lid and stir the bones with a wooden spoon. Fill the pot with water, cover and simmer for 9 hours. Fill the pot with water again. Increase the heat to medium high heat and cook for 1 hour without the lid. Remove from the heat. Let it cool down a little bit until you can handle it.
• Remove all the bones from the broth and discard. Strain the broth over a large bowl. Discard the strained bits (or you can eat them). You will get about 22 to 24 cups of white milky bone broth. Let the broth cool to room temperature and refrigerate for several hours or overnight until the thick layer of the fat on the surface is solidified. Remove and discard the solid fat. You can put it into freezer safe containers and freeze up to 3 months.
• Ladle some hot broth into a bowl and serve with rice, chopped green onion, ground black pepper, kimchi, and other side dishes. When you eat it, add some chopped green onion, ground black pepper, and salt according to your taste, then add some rice and mix it together and eat.

KOREAN BEEF STOCK

Steps:

• Put the beef in a stockpot and add the water. Bring to a boil over high heat, skim the scum that rises, and then add the garlic, ginger, onion, scallions, salt, and peppercorns. Lower the heat to gently simmer for about 2 hours, or until the stock has reduced by about a quarter. Throughout the simmering time, skim off the scum and fat as they gather on the surface.
• Remove from the heat. Use tongs to remove the beef from the pot, reserving it for another use (see the Note below). There are usually few impurities in this stock so there is no need to let it stand undisturbed before straining. Position a fine-mesh sieve (or a coarse-mesh sieve lined with cheesecloth or paper towel) over a large saucepan. Gently ladle the stock through the sieve. Tilt the stockpot to ladle out as much clear stock as possible, discarding any sediment-laden liquid and any remaining bits at the bottom of the pot.
• Taste the stock. If it is not as flavorful as you would like, simmer it to reduce the liquid and concentrate the flavors. Once you are satisfied with the flavor, let the stock cool completely, cover, and refrigerate for at least 8 hours, or until the fat solidifies on the surface. Remove and discard the fat. The stock is now ready to use. Or, store in a tightly closed container in the refrigerator for up to 1 week or in the freezer for up to 3 months.
• notes
• The left over meat is not fully tender by the time the stock is done, so you'll need to repurpose it. I often use it for a homey Chinese dish called 1-2-3-4-5 beef.
• In a saucepan, combine 1 tablespoon Shaoxing rice wine or dry sherry, 2 tablespoons unseasoned rice vinegar, 3 tablespoons sugar, 4 tablespoons soy sauce, and 5 tablespoons water. Stir to dissolve and adjust the flavors for a tangy-sweet-savory balance. Add the meat and additional water to cover. Simmer for about 30 minutes, or until the beef is tender. Then raise the heat to vigorously simmer for about 15 minutes to reduce the liquid by about half. Remove from the heat and serve with rice. Scallion, ginger, and star anise can be added during simmering for extra flavor notes.