Soups & stews · Nationwide
Gamjatang
gamjatang
© Wikimedia Commons / LWY · CC BY 2.0
Gamjatang is a stew built on pork spine simmered for hours. The name puts potato front and centre, but the real subject is the meat clinging to the bones, and picking that meat off is itself part of how the dish works. Perilla seed powder and dried cabbage greens make the broth thick and nutty, and because bones must be worked at, it belongs to a table of several people rather than a quiet solo meal.
Two explanations follow the name around. One is literal — it contains potatoes. The other says it comes from an old term, gamja-ppyeo, for a particular section of pork spine. Sources are too thin to settle it, and in practice both accounts circulate. What is certain is that the dish survives without potatoes and does not survive without the spine.
Cooking hinges on time and on suppressing odour. Pork spine holds a lot of blood, so it soaks in cold water for hours, gets a first boil that is discarded, then simmers again. Skip that and the odour stays in the broth. Doenjang, rice wine, ginger and peppercorns go in to control it, and the pot runs long enough for the gelatin in the bones to dissolve. When the broth leaves a faint tackiness on your lips, it has been cooked properly.
Perilla seed powder and ugeoji define the character. The powder thickens the broth and lays a toasted, nutty aroma over it; ugeoji — outer cabbage leaves dried or blanched and kept — brings a fibrous chew and soaks up broth, effectively becoming a side for rice. Perilla leaf, minced garlic and chili powder set the heat. Potatoes go in whole and should cook to just before collapse; boiled too long they break up and cloud the broth.
Because you work the bones, the meal runs long. Holding a bone in one hand and stripping meat with chopsticks leaves plenty of room for conversation, which is why gamjatang tends to be a late-evening or after-drinks choice. Frying rice in the remaining broth is the fixed ending, with more shredded seaweed, sesame oil and perilla powder. Many also seek it out as a hangover meal, where the density of bone broth and the softness of ugeoji suit the purpose.
What comes with it
- A bowl of rice — the broth is dense and salty, so rice is essential; frying it in at the end is the set sequence.
- Extra perilla seed powder — often served on the side; add more to taste for a thicker, nuttier broth.
- Perilla leaves — dropped into the pot; they mute the characteristic smell of pork.
- Chili paste and powder — for adjusting the heat individually.
- Kkakdugi — crisp radish kimchi to reset the mouth after a heavy broth.
How to eat it
- 1Hold a bone and strip the meat with chopsticks. Many places hand out gloves — take them.
- 2Dip the stripped meat back into the broth before putting it on rice; eaten plain it tastes flat.
- 3Potatoes are best just before they fall apart. Left too long they dissolve and cloud the broth.
- 4Add perilla powder later to adjust thickness. Too much at the start and you cannot walk it back.
- 5Fry rice at the end. The bone broth is at its most concentrated then, and that is when it tastes right.
FAQ
The name says potato — is potato the main ingredient?
No. The real subject is the meat on the pork spine. Two accounts of the name circulate — that it contains potatoes, and that it derives from an old term for a section of the spine — and sources are too thin to settle which is right.
Why is the broth so thick?
Perilla seed powder plus gelatin from the bones. The powder builds body and adds a toasted aroma, while long simmering dissolves gelatin out of the spine into the liquid. A faint tackiness on the lips means it was cooked properly.
What is ugeoji?
Outer cabbage leaves, dried or blanched and kept. They have a fibrous chew and soak up broth readily, which effectively makes them the side dish for rice here. Plenty of people prefer them to the potatoes.
Is it hard to eat alone?
Working the bones takes time, and many restaurants start at two portions. There are places serving ppyeo-haejangguk, a single-portion version in a clay pot, which is the option if you are on your own.
More dishes to try
태그