🇰🇷 The Ultimate Guide to Cooking Spicy Beef Soup (Yukgaejang 육개장)🔥🥩

Hello everyone, I'm back again! This time I'm going to share with you this Korean summer must-try hangover soup. Spicy beef soup ! Fans of Korean dramas have surely seen the scene where the protagonist, drunk, drinks this heart-warming spicy soup the next morning. It's so delicious! 😍 I've tried many times to find the perfect recipe, and I'm sharing it with everyone without reservation!

🛒 All the ingredients needed

🥩 Protagonist Materials

• Beef shank/brisket 800g-1kg (choose some fat and some lean, so that the soup is more fragrant)🐄

• clear water 3-4 liters (for making beef broth)💧

• Korean coarse chili powder 3-4 tablespoons (this is the soul! You must use Korean coarse chili powder) 🌶️

• Korean glass noodles 120g (soak for 30 minutes in advance)🍜

• mung bean sprouts 280g (must be fresh and crispy)🌱

🥬 Vegetable supporting role

• Bracken (고사리) 140g (dry goods need to be soaked in advance)🌿

• green onions 2 and 1/3 stalks (2 stalks for soup base, 1/3 stalk for garnish)🧅

• mushroom 60g (sliced)🍄

• Pleurotus geesteranus 80g (hand-torn small pieces)🍄🟫

• White radish Half (cut into slices, optional)

• onion 1 piece (shredded)🧅

🧄 Seasoning Group

• minced garlic 1.5 tablespoons (must use fresh garlic)🧄

• Jiang Rong 1 teaspoon

• Soy sauce for soup 1/3 cup (60ml, if not available, you can use light soy sauce instead)🥢

• Korean chili sauce 1 tablespoon (optional, add if you want it spicier)🌶️

• Sesame oil 6 tablespoons (42g)

• cooking oil 2 tablespoons (14g)

• Salt Appropriate amount

• black pepper Appropriate amount ⚫

• egg 2 (broken up)🥚

🍶 Flavoring ingredients

• rice wine 2 tablespoons 🍾

• beef noodle soup 1/3 teaspoon (optional, if you want a richer soup)

• Korean soybean paste 1 teaspoon (optional)

👨🍳 Detailed cooking process

🔥 Stage 1: Making the Soup Base (The Most Important!)

1. Beef deodorization 🫧

   • Cut the beef into large pieces (about 8-10cm), don't cut it too thin.

   • Blanch in boiling water for 5 minutes and remove immediately when brown impurities appear.

   • Rinse the surface impurities and blood foam with clean water

   • **Editor’s Tip:** This step is very important, otherwise the soup will taste fishy!

2. Cook beef broth 🍲

   • Put the blanched beef into a large pot and add 3 liters of water

   • Add half an onion, 2-3 slices of ginger, and 2 scallions (knotted)

   • Bring to a boil over high heat, then turn to medium-low heat and simmer with the lid on for 1.5-2 hours

   • **Important:** Skim off the foam regularly to keep the soup clear

   • Cook until the beef can be easily pierced with chopsticks.

3. Beef processing ✂️

   • Remove the cooked beef and let it cool slightly

   • Tear the meat into thin strips along the grain, or slice against the grain.

   • **Editor’s opinion:** Hand-torn food tastes better and more flavorful than cut food!

   • Sieve the beef broth and set aside. There will be about 1.5-1.8 liters left.

🌿 Stage 2: Vegetable Preparation (Patient Handling)

4. Bracken processing 🌿

   • Soak dried bracken in warm water for at least 2 hours until softened

   • If using a rice cooker, add twice as much water and cook for 30 minutes

   • Cook until tender when lightly pressed with fingers

   • Rinse with cold water to cool down, cut into 5cm long pieces

   • **Alternative:** If you can’t buy bracken, you can use fresh shredded wood ear mushrooms instead

5. Other vegetable processing 🥬

   • Wash the mung bean sprouts, blanch them in boiling water for 1 minute and then rinse with cold water

   • Cut 2 green onions into 5cm segments and chop the remaining 1/3 into chopped green onions

   • Slice shiitake mushrooms and tear enoki mushrooms into small pieces

   • Peel the white radish and cut it into fan-shaped slices

6. Korean glass noodles processing 🍜

   • Soak in warm water for 30 minutes until softened

   • If it is too long, you can cut it shorter to make it easier to eat.

🔥 Stage 3: Stir-frying chili oil (the most exciting part!)

7. Making chili oil 🌶️

   • Heat sesame oil and cooking oil (ratio 2:1) over medium-low heat.

   • Add onion and fry until soft and fragrant

   • Add shredded beef and stir-fry until the blood color disappears

   • **Key step:** Add Korean chili powder and stir-fry quickly

   • Add water immediately when you see the chili oil start to turn red, to avoid burning it!

8. Seasoning and stir-frying 🥄

   • Add minced garlic and ginger and sauté until fragrant

   • Add 1 tablespoon of soup soy sauce to enhance the color

   • Stir-fry all ingredients until fragrant

🍲 Stage 4: Combination soup (done)

9. Add soup base 💧

   • Pour the previously cooked beef broth into the pot

   • Bring to a boil over high heat, then turn to medium heat

   • Add processed bracken, shiitake mushrooms, and oyster mushrooms

   • Cook for 10 minutes to allow all flavors to blend

10. Final seasoning 🧂

    • Add mung bean sprouts and white radish slices and cook for 5 minutes

    • Taste and season with salt and black pepper

    • You can add a little Korean chili sauce to increase the flavor

    • **Editor's Tip:** Adding 1/3 teaspoon of beef powder will make the soup richer

11. Perfect ending 🥚

    • When the soup boils, slowly pour in the egg liquid

    • Use a spoon to draw circles and pour it to form a beautiful egg drop.

    • Finally, sprinkle with chopped green onions for decoration

🍽️ Traditional Korean way of enjoying

12. Bowling Tips 🥣

    • First put soaked Korean glass noodles at the bottom of the bowl

    • Pour in hot spicy beef soup

    • Sprinkle with black pepper and chopped green onions

    • Can be eaten with rice or on its own

💡 Editor's exclusive experience sharing

🎯 Secrets to Success

1. **Chili powder selection: **Make sure to use Korean coarse chili powder, Taiwanese chili powder will be too spicy and the color is not pretty 🌶️

2. **Heat control:** When frying chili powder, be sure not to burn it. Add water as soon as the oil turns red🔥

3. **Beef choice:** Beef shank is the best choice, it has both tendons and meat and is very fragrant when cooked.

4. **Time arrangement:** You can cook the beef soup base on the first day, it will be more convenient to make it on the second day⏰

🌟 Editor's Tips

• **Rich secret recipe:** Turn off the heat and let cool after cooking. Reheating it will make it more flavorful! ✨

• **Storage method: **Can be frozen in portions, then thaw and heat when you want to eat🧊

• **Spiciness adjustment: **Friends who are afraid of spicy food can reduce the chili powder or omit the chili sauce🌡️

• **Side dish suggestions:** Koreans like to eat it with pickled radish and shredded seaweed🥗

🏥 Nutritional value and efficacy

Spicy beef soup is rich in protein, iron, and B vitamins, and has the benefits of warming the stomach, replenishing blood, and refreshing the mind. It's perfect for cold weather or as a hangover relief soup! However, the chili peppers can be quite pungent, so those with sensitive stomachs should be careful! 🌡️

📸 Editor's experience

I've tried making this so many times, and each time I discover something new! I remember the first time I made it, the chili powder burned so much that the entire soup turned bitter. 😅 Later I realized there's a skill involved in stir-frying chili powder! Now I've mastered it to perfection, and my friends say it's better than going to a Korean restaurant!

If you try it, be sure to take a picture and share it with me! If you want to see more Korean dishes, be sure to follow us! I'll share other Korean soups with you next time! 🤳✨

#KoreanCooking #SpicyBeefSoup #육개장 #homecooking #EditorRecipe