Hi guys!
Today I’m sharing Korean Pork Neck Bone Stew, Gamjatang!
Most of time, Gamajatang is drinking food in Korea… Either eating while drinking soju or eating when you are hangover.. lol!
But doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy just Gamjatang itself!
Gamja means potato, and this soup includes lots of potatoes in the soup.
But the name of the soup, Gamjatang doesn’t represent actual potato.
Gamjas’s another meaning in old Korean is bone marrow.
Because the pork neck bone has lots of bone marrow, it called Gamjatang. Now days not a lot of people knows this funny fact of the name of this dish, so I thought I would shared with you all!
Most of the times, gamjatang is served on a table and eating while it’s keep simmering as many other Korean cuisines are.
So if you are a Korean food lover, it is quite convince to have portable stove at home!
Hope you give this delicious and hearty Korean soup a try!
Gamjatang, Korean Pork Neck Bone Soup
- Total Time: 2 hours 20 mins
- Yield: 6 1x
Description
Ingredients
- 15 green outer napa cabbage leaves
- 2 1/2 lb pork neck bone or baby back ribs
- 2 lb yukon gold potato, peeled, large ones are cut in halves and small ones are leave as whole.
- 1/3 cup wild sesame seeds
For the Flavor Package
- 1 bay leaf
- 4 to 5 ginger slices
- 2 green onions, cut in halves
- 1 bulb garlic, cut in halves (approximately 10 to 12 cloves garlic)
- 1/2 medium size onion, cut into halves
- 1Tbs black pepper corn
For the Broth
- 1/3 cup rice wine
- 2 Tbs doenjang, Korean fermented soy bean paste
- 10 cups cold water
For the Sauce
- 1/3 cup gochugaru, Korean red pepper flakes
- 2 Tbs doenjang, Korean fermented soy bean paste
- 3 Tbs fish sauce
- 1/4 cup wild sesame seeds powder
- 2 Tbs chopped garlic (approximately 6 to 8 cloves garlic)
- 1/4 tsp black pepper
- 3 Tbs soup broth (pork neck bone broth)
For Garnish
- Handful Kkatnip, wild sesame leaves (your can substitute to garlic chive)
- Enoki mushrooms
- Rest of wild sesame seeds powder
- 2 to 3 green onions, sliced
- 1 serrano or jalapeño, sliced
For Fried Rice (Optional)
- 1 cup cooked rice
- 1 green onion, chopped
- 1/4 cup chopped kimchi
- Crushed gim, Korean seasoned and toasted seaweed
- 1 tsp sesame seeds
- 1 Tbs sesame oil
Instructions
- Blench napa cabbage leaves in salted boiling water until soften, about 2 minutes. Remove from water and drain. Set aside.
- In same salted boiling water, place pork neck bones and bring back to boil. It will take about 5 to 8 minutes. This way we can get rid of bone bits and dead blood in pork neck bone. When it starts boiling again, drain and rinse under cold water one by one. Set aside.
- Toast wild sesame seeds on dry skillet over medium high heat until you can smell nutty fragrance, about 2 to 3 minutes. Remove from skillet and grind in a spice grinder or hand grinder. Set aside.
- In a cheesecloth, place all ingredients for Flavor Package. Bind edges together tightly.
- In a large thick bottom pot, place blanched pork, flavor package and all ingredients for Broth (rice wine, doenjang & cold water). Stir doenjang into water, cover and bring it to boil over hight heat. Then reduce heat to medium and simmer for 1 hour 30 minutes.
- Meanwhile, let make sauce.
Combine all ingredients for sauce in a mixing bowl, and set aside.
- Tear each napa cabbage leaves into 4 to 5 pieces and mix with 1/3 of sauce we made.
- When soup is simmered for 1 hour 30 minutes, remove flavor package and add prepared potatoes, cabbage and rest of sauce. Stir everything together, cover and keep simmering until potatoes are fully cooked, about 20 to 30 minutes. Stir occasionally.
- You can enjoy Gamjatang from now, in a bowl with warm cooked rice and any other side dishes you like. Or serve as Korean restaurant style if you wish!
In a wide shallow pot, place gamjatang about 3/4 way. Top with Kkatnip, enoki mushrooms, rest of wild sesame seeds powder, sliced green onions and chili. Serve on a table if you have a portable stove. Bring it to soft boil over medium high heat, then reduce heat to medium low, start stirring with a spoon to mix all garnish into soup and you can start eating!
- Enjoy with warm bowl of cooked rice or make fried rice after a little of soup is left on pot. Enjoy!
- Prep Time: 20 mins
- Cook Time: 2 hours
[yumprint-recipe id=’126′]
11 comments
Dear Seonkyoung,
I adore your recipes and you always make it seem so fun to cook Korean food. I drool everytime I see your videos.
I am intending to make Gamjatang this weekend. But I cant find pork neck bones all over. Is Spare ribs ok as a substitute?
Many thanks in advance! Sending love from Singapore.
XoXo
Mion
Yes, spare ribs or baby back ribs will do the job as well! Remove excess fat though! 😉
Hi Seonkyoung,
I love your cooking and wanted to make Gamjatang, my wife and I love this dish. The problem is my daughter has an allergic reaction to sesame. I was wondering if there was a suitable substitute to the katnip & sesame.
Thanks
It’s very good, but a little spicy for me.
What a delicious meal we had tonight. I added the broccoli and red pepper flakes,. It was just wonderful and enjoyed by my husband as well. Thanks for sharing such a great recipe!!
this looks so delicious! My husband hates eggs, so I never make Frittata’s which is a shame. Have you tried freezing this or something similar. I’m thinking for my breakfast or lunch, I could make ahead. Let me know, much appreciated!
this was wonderful! Thank you for sharing all these tips and recipes..really helps those of us without the create gene;)
Hi, would you recommend substituting the wild sesame seeds for regular black sesame seeds if we cannot find the wild kind? Thanks!
Hi! I would recommend trying to find the wild sesame or sometimes referred to perilla seeds or powder, since the black sesame cannot make the same flavor. Hope this helped!
This recipe/website needs more ratings. I give it five stars
I have learned through trial and error to avoid internet recipes that don’t have enough ratings which is why unfortunately I avoided this recipe. But having tried and failed other recipes, I took a careful look at this recipe and appreciated how simple and straightforward it was while having some extra steps that could make a big difference in the turnout. I have tried both yukgaejang and gamjatang from this website and they have both turned out delicious (of course I adjust the seasoning at the end – adding more fish sauce, soup soy sauce, etc as there will be variation even if you follow the recipe perfectly). During these winter days I am enjoying gukbap for my work lunch. Thank you Seonkyoung for these recipes! I am a fan and will try your other recipes
(The website is not allowing me to add my rating… hopefully it can be fixed so that others can add their ratings and increase traffic flow)
My store had a sale on boneless skinless tenders instead of breasts, so I think I will try this as more of a layered dish! Can hardly wait!