Gamjatang, Korean Pork Neck Bone Soup Recipe & Video - Seonkyoung Longest (2024)

Ingredients

Scale

• 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

Cook ModePrevent your screen from going dark

1. Blench napa cabbage leaves in salted boiling water until soften, about 2 minutes. Remove from water and drain. Set aside.
   
2. 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.
   
3. 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.
   
4. In a cheesecloth, place all ingredients for Flavor Package. Bind edges together tightly.
   
5. 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.
   
6. Meanwhile, let make sauce.
   Combine all ingredients for sauce in a mixing bowl, and set aside.
   
7. Tear each napa cabbage leaves into 4 to 5 pieces and mix with 1/3 of sauce we made.
   
8. 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.
   
9. 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!
   
10. Enjoy with warm bowl of cooked rice or make fried rice after a little of soup is left on pot. Enjoy!
    

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

SeonkyoungAugust 27, 2017 at 5:16 pm

Yes, spare ribs or baby back ribs will do the job as well! Remove excess fat though! 😉

Reply

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

SeonkyoungNovember 17, 2020 at 9:28 am

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!

Reply