Sogogi-gukbap (Beef and Rice Soup)

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Heavy 5-quart soup pot or Dutch oven
• •Fine-mesh strainer
• •Large mixing bowl
• •Soup ladle

Instructions

1. 1

   Soak the beef

   Put the brisket in a bowl of cold water for 20 minutes, then drain. This pulls out excess blood so the broth tastes clean instead of muddy. If your beef is very fresh and well trimmed, 10 minutes is enough.

2. 2

   Start the broth

   Put the beef, 10 cups water, kelp, onion, and 3 smashed garlic cloves in a heavy pot. Bring it just to a boil over medium heat, skim the foam, then pull out the kelp after 10 minutes. Kelp left too long gives the broth a slick bitterness, and this soup needs a clean beef spine.

3. 3

   Simmer gently

   Lower the heat and simmer, partly covered, for 1 hour 15 minutes, until the beef can be pierced easily but has not collapsed. Keep the surface moving quietly. A hard boil makes the broth cloudy and toughens the outside of the meat before the inside is tender.

   If the liquid drops below 7 cups, add hot water. You need enough broth to cook the radish and still flood the rice at the end.
4. 4

   Tear the beef

   Lift out the beef and rest it until cool enough to handle. Strain the broth, discard the onion and smashed garlic, and return about 7 cups broth to the pot. Tear the beef along the grain into long bite-size strands. Cutting cubes is faster, but torn beef drinks the seasoning better and eats like gukbap should.

5. 5

   Season the meat

   In a bowl, mix the torn beef with the soup soy sauce, regular soy sauce, gochugaru, sesame oil, minced garlic, salt, and black pepper. Massage it with your hand for 30 seconds. Seasoning the meat first, instead of dumping everything into the pot, gives the broth depth without burying the radish.

6. 6

   Cook the radish

   Bring the strained broth back to a simmer. Add the radish and cook 12 to 15 minutes, until the edges turn slightly translucent and a chopstick slides in with a little resistance. The radish should sweeten the soup but still hold its shape.

7. 7

   Finish the soup

   Add the seasoned beef and soybean sprouts. Simmer with the lid off for 8 minutes, then add the scallions and simmer 2 minutes more. Do not keep opening and closing the lid if you cover the pot for the sprouts; half-cooked soybean sprouts can turn unpleasant. Lid off the whole time is the simpler, safer rule here.

8. 8

   Taste and serve

   Taste the broth before serving. Add salt in 1/8-teaspoon pinches only if it tastes flat; soup soy sauce gives aroma but can darken the broth fast. Put 1 cup hot rice in each bowl and ladle the soup over it, with beef, radish, and sprouts divided evenly. Finish with sesame seeds or sliced green chili if you use them, and serve at once.

Chef Tips

• •Brisket gives a rounded broth and shreds well. Beef shank is leaner and cleaner. Either works, but do not use expensive steak meat here; the market bowl was built from patient boiling, not luxury.
• •Use Korean radish if you can. It is denser and sweeter than small red radishes or many Western turnips. If you substitute daikon, cut it slightly thicker and taste early, because it can soften faster.
• •Two tablespoons of gochugaru gives a warm red broth, not a firepot. Add more at the table if someone wants heat. The soup should still taste of beef and radish.
• •A pressure cooker is a fair modern vessel: cook the beef, water, onion, garlic, and kelp without the kelp after the first simmer, under pressure for 35 minutes, then continue from tearing the beef. The corner you cannot cut is seasoning the meat separately.

Advance Preparation

• •The beef broth and torn beef can be made 2 days ahead. Chill them separately, then lift off the hardened fat before finishing the soup.
• •Cook the rice fresh if you can. If using leftover rice, reheat it until hot before ladling the soup over it, or the bowl cools too quickly.
• •The finished soup keeps 3 days refrigerated, but store rice separately. Rice left in the broth swells and turns the soup heavy.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 900g)