Heug-yeomso-tang (Black Goat Soup)

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Large heavy stockpot, 7 to 8 liters
• •Fine-mesh strainer
• •Large mixing bowl
• •Slotted spoon
• •Optional pressure cooker, 6 liters or larger

Instructions

1. 1

   Soak the meat

   Put the goat pieces in a large bowl with enough cold water to cover by 5cm and stir in 2 tablespoons coarse salt. Soak 30 minutes, changing the water once halfway through. This pulls out loose blood and gives the broth a cleaner start; it will not erase the goat's character, and it should not.

2. 2

   Blanch hard

   Drain the goat, put it in a large pot, and cover with fresh water. Bring to a hard boil and cook 8 minutes, skimming the gray foam as it rises. Drain, then rinse each piece under warm running water, rubbing away clinging scum and bone grit. Wash the pot before the meat goes back in. This is not fussy work. This is the difference between deep broth and muddy broth.

   Do not skip the blanch. Goat has a stronger scent than beef, and the first boil carries away what you do not want in the bowl.
3. 3

   Start the broth

   Return the rinsed goat to the clean pot. Add 3 liters cold water, the cheongju or soju, onion, crushed garlic cloves, ginger, scallion lengths, jujubes, hwanggi, and danggwi if using. Bring to a boil, then lower to a steady simmer. Keep the lid slightly open and cook 2 hours, skimming fat and foam from the surface whenever they gather.

4. 4

   Strain and trim

   Lift the meat into a bowl and strain the broth through a fine strainer. Discard the spent aromatics and herbs. When the meat is cool enough to handle, pull it into large bite-size pieces, leaving some attached to bone if your table likes to work for the good pieces. Skim off the thick layer of fat from the broth, but leave 2 to 3 tablespoons behind for body.

5. 5

   Season the meat

   In a bowl, mix the doenjang, gochugaru, soup soy sauce, minced garlic, sesame oil, fish sauce if using, and black pepper. Add the pulled goat meat and rub the seasoning through it with your hands. Let it sit 10 minutes. Seasoning the meat before it returns to the pot gives the broth depth without forcing you to dump in more paste later.

6. 6

   Season the greens

   Tear the blanched cabbage into wide strips and squeeze it dry, then toss it in the same bowl after the meat comes out, catching the seasoning left behind. Keep the mung bean sprouts and radish plain for now. The cabbage can carry seasoning because it is sturdy; the sprouts would lose their clean crunch if you salt them this early.

7. 7

   Simmer together

   Return the broth to the pot and add the seasoned meat, seasoned cabbage, and radish. Simmer 45 minutes, uncovered, until the meat yields easily when pressed with a spoon and the radish has given its sweetness to the broth. Taste before you adjust. If it needs salt, add it 1/2 teaspoon at a time, waiting 2 minutes between additions.

8. 8

   Add final vegetables

   Add the mung bean sprouts and simmer 6 minutes with the lid off. Add the torn perilla leaves, if using, and cook 1 minute more. The sprouts should bend but still have a bite, and the perilla leaves should darken without collapsing into the soup.

9. 9

   Finish with perilla

   Stir in 3 tablespoons roasted perilla seed powder and simmer 2 minutes, just until the broth turns slightly thicker and nutty. Do not keep boiling hard after the perilla goes in, or it can turn heavy and chalky. Taste once more. The broth should be deep, lightly earthy, and warm from chili, not sharp or salty.

10. 10

    Serve at the table

    Ladle the soup into deep bowls with meat, cabbage, sprouts, and radish in every serving. Finish with sliced scallion, a little red chili if you want color, and extra perilla seed powder on the side. Serve with rice and one or two sharp banchan, like kkakdugi (cubed radish kimchi), because this soup wants a clean bite beside it.

Chef Tips

• •Buy bone-in black goat from a Korean butcher if you can, especially ribs, shank, neck, or shoulder. Boneless meat will cook, but the broth will be thinner and less honest. Ask for pieces cut small enough for soup, about 6 to 8cm.
• •The medicinal herbs are helpers, not a wall. Hwanggi (milk vetch root) gives a gentle sweetness, and danggwi (Korean angelica root) is stronger and more perfumed. Use the measured amounts. Too much danggwi makes the pot taste like an herb shop.
• •Perilla seed powder matters here. It rounds the broth and quiets the edges of the goat without hiding it. Buy roasted deulkkae-garu from a Korean market and keep it frozen, because it turns rancid faster than people admit.
• •A pressure cooker is a safe shortcut for the long simmer, not for the cleaning. Soak, blanch, rinse, and wash the pot first. Then pressure cook the meat with the broth aromatics for 55 minutes at high pressure, natural release, before straining and continuing with the seasoning steps.
• •This soup improves after one night in the refrigerator. The fat lifts off cleanly, the seasoning settles, and the broth tastes deeper. Write down your final salt amount. Memory is a borrowed bowl.

Advance Preparation

• •The goat broth and meat can be cooked through step 4 up to 2 days ahead. Chill them separately, then remove the solidified fat from the broth before continuing.
• •The finished soup keeps 3 days refrigerated. Reheat gently until fully hot, adding a splash of water if the perilla seed powder has thickened the broth too much.
• •For freezing, stop before adding mung bean sprouts, perilla leaves, and perilla seed powder. Freeze the broth, meat, cabbage, and radish up to 2 months, then add the final vegetables and perilla when reheating.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 780g)