Gom Gook - Oxtail Soup - (곰국)

Ever since I made the ggak ddoogi last week, I've been dying to enjoy it with some gom gook. I only make gom gook once or twice a year because I actually do not like the SMELL of it much. It consumes the whole house for days on end. =P



I went and bought about 2.5 lbs. of ox tails and 2.5 of sa-gul (cow bones with bone marrow). I ended up using half that bag of sa-gul and I'm going to use the remaining for PHO sometime next week.



Begin by washing and draining your bones and meat. I let it sit in cold water for about an hour and will change the water out every 15 minutes or so.



Then I bring it to a boil and when all this stuff starts rising to the top (about 15 minutes), I remove it...



..and rinse the bones and meat CLEAN.



Then place it back into the pot (I use a HUGE gom gook pot so I actually don't even have to add water in between) and fill it almost to the top with water and let it come to a strong boil. It took an hour for all that water to start boiling. After it's boiling, reduce the heat and let it boil softly for 2 hours.



Meanwhile I use my trusty teabags and stuff it with 2 small sprigs of ginger, 15-20 garlic cloves, and 1 spoonful of whole peppercorns.



I also washed and peeled about 1 lb. of moo (daikon radish) and 2 large onions.



After about 2 hours of boiling time, all the oil and fat from the meat starts to rise to the top...



...just skim the excess oil and discard it.



At this point, add all the vegetables pictured above. Let it boil for an additional 2 hours or so...



After 2 hours, remove ALL the vegetables. If you cook it any longer, it will start falling apart in the broth.



This step is optional. I like my broth to be WHITE, and in order to achieve that, I remove ALL the meat (after about 4-5 hours of boiling)...



I then preserve all the meat from the ox tails and all the tendons from the bones and place it into a smaller pot for easy access when serving.



I make sure the bones are clean and then add ONLY the bones back to the pot.



I cooked this overnight (and it's STILL cooking). Look at how white the broth is. It's been simmering for about 14 hours or so and I'm going to continue to do so until the broth is thick and milky.



However, it's still good enough to enjoy as is...so we had some this morning! I just add the meat and broth and top it off with green onions. Add salt to taste.

I'm going to let the broth cool and then skim some more fat off the top and will freeze plastic bags full of broth for other soups. Dduk ggook will be made using this broth for dinner! ENJOY~



The gom gook was perfect for the ggak ddoogi from the other day. BTW~ Now that it's fully fermented, the ggak ddoogi tastes fine. No need to add more salt. I'm going to remove my notes at the end of the recipe. =)

Hwe Dup Bap - Rice mixed with Sashimi - (회덥밥)

This isn't really a recipe, but more like a 'how-to' assemble hwe dup bap.



Begin by cutting some fresh sashimi into bite size pieces. Set it aside (inside the fridge) until you need it.



Make some chogochujang sauce. It's 6 TB red pepper paste, 1.5 TB sugar, 2.5 TB vinegar and some sesame seeds. (You can even add a splash of 7up to make it a little sweeter).



Get some greens and wash and cut it up into small pieces. I used radish sprouts, perilla leaves, and red leaf lettuce.



Get a cup of rice and let it cool down. Sprinkle some sesame seeds on top and then drizzle some sesame oil on it.



Arrange your greens on top like so....



Add the cut-up sashimi and then add as much red pepper sauce as you can take. (I added about 3 TB)



Mix it around well and then you're ready to eat! If you have some masago caviar (those orange fish eggs) add that too. I ran out today. =(



This was perfect for the heat today. =) Enjoy!

Filet Mignon Marinaded in a Teriyaki/Pineapple Sauce

This is probably the easiest thing you can ever make. It's not really even a recipe because you're going to be using pre-made sauce, but I assure you it will make your taste buds happy. =P



Now, obviously if you're not feeding that many people...you do not need THIS much meat. I always go to Costco to purchase filet mignon because it's very economical. =P This was enough to feed 6 adults and there were leftovers.



And here's what you need. Lawry's Teriyaki sauce (always available at my local Ralphs) and some crushed pineapple. I used two bottles because of the amount of beef I had, but you can use only one bottle if you have less beef.



Pour the two bottles of sauce, one can of crushed pineapple (half if you're using 1 bottle), and 1 TB minced garlic into a big bowl.



Then begin to prep your beef. I like adding little slits like so. I know some carnivores out there disagree with this method, but this is just my preference.



Then season it liberally with some seasoned salt, lemon salt, garlic salt, regular salt, and pepper. Seems like a lot huh? Trust me, it's not~



Coat each piece of beef thoroughly....



And let it marinate overnight. Make sure to grill it on the BBQ grill because it will taste MUCH better that way. If you want it well done, then just pop it into the oven for about 20 minutes after searing it on both sides on the grill. I don't have a picture of the finished product because we were all too busy eating. =P Enjoy!

Beef with Broccoli

I know that this is not a Korean dish, but Munchkin loves beef and he loves broccoli. So obviously, this is one of his favorite dishes.



Get about 1/2 to 1 LB of beef. Use either flap meat or some other thinly sliced beef.



Cut it up into smaller pieces. Make sure to cut against the grain. Then marinade it with: 1 TB rice wine, 1/2 TB sugar, 1/2 TB soy sauce, 1 TB water, and 1 TB corn starch. You can then set this aside for about 15 minutes or so while you prep everything else.



Wash and cut up one bunch of broccoli.



Make the sauce mixture using 2 TB oyster sauce, 1 TB light soy sauce (gook ganjang), 1 TB dark soy sauce, 1 TB water, 1.5 TB sugar.



When you're ready heat about 1/2 cup of oil in a wok and let it get HOT! Add the beef and cook until the beef is done.



After the beef is cooked, set aside on a paper towel to drain of excess oil.



Meanwhile, clean your wok off with a paper towel and then add some oil and about 1/2 TB of minced garlic.



Throw in the broccoli, sauce mixture, and 1/2 cup of water.



Cover and let the broccoli steam for about 2 minutes.



Add the beef and then add a 1:1 mixture of corn starch and water. I added about 1 TB of each.



Let the sauce thicken and you're ready to serve! You can add carrots and bamboo shoots also if you would like~