Korean Spicy Beef Soup

I love spicy soup, you can read my love declaration in my previous post about how I love ramen and I only eat spicy ramen. So when I was traveling to Seoul and passed by a small restaurant and saw everything was cooked by Ajumma I had to go in and eat there. Even if I had just eaten my lunch that day.

Going in they greeted me with greeting that just take me right back to all these Korean Drama shows that I enjoyed watching while in high school, until now actually, but I’m not as crazy about it now. Like, I don’t have a Korean Drama shows discussion club, anymore.

I didn’t understand anything in there, and the Ajumma barely spoke any English. The menu was all in Korean, but after watching all that shows, I know one word of Korean cuisine and that is yuk gae jang. Basically this spicy beef soup I try to recreate.

I must be honest here, my recreation isn’t as authentic as the one is Seoul, I mean you know why. But also, I think, it’s because I didn’t serve the soup in a clay pot, and with stainless long spoon and stainless chopsticks, the way the Koreans do, also no Soju!

Ingredients:

1 pound beef brisket 

1 pack enoki mushroom 

1 medium onion -cut in half

3 cup mung bean sprout -washed and strained

1 bunch of green onions -cut into 2½ inch strips

1 cup fresh fernbrake (gosari) -cut into 2½ inch strips (read notes at the end of this recipe)

1 head of garlic -minced

Sauce:

1/4 cup hot pepper flakes

1 tbsp salt

1 tbsp soy sauce

1 tbsp toasted sesame oil

1 tbsp olive oil 

Instructions:

• Cut the brisket into several pieces along the grain around 2½ inch long, washed, and drained.

• In a large pot, bring 3 quarts water to a boil. Add brisket and the onion.

• Let it cook for about 1 hour over medium high heat.

• While the brisket is cooking, combine all the sauce ingredients in a bowl and mix it really well. Set aside. 

• In a large bowl add the mung bean sprouts, green onions, fernbrake/gosari, enoki mushroom and garlic. Set aside. 

• Check on the brisket, if it’s easily pulled apart with forks, it is done. If it is still tough, keep cooking for an additional 10 minutes interval until it’s easy to pull apart. 

• When it’s done, remove the brisket and onion. Let the beef cool down and discard the cooked onion.

• Mix the vegetables with the mixed sauce until well incorporated. Add to the boiling stock.

• Cover and cook for 15 minutes over medium high heat until the vegetables are cooked through and tender, but not mushy.

• Once cooled pull the beef apart into strips. Add to the boiling soup and cook for another 10 minutes.

• Adjust the seasoning to your desire. Serve with rice or ramen. Enjoy!

Notes:

Soak dried fernbrake/gosari overnight (8-12 hours). Drain the water. Boil some water in a sauce pan (enough to cover the fernbrake) and add the fernbrake in rolling boiling water and boil for 10 minutes. Drain and rinse the fernbrake under cold running water.

Comb through the fernbrake and remove any hard woody bits from the stem. (This is a bit of time consuming process but is totally worth it!)