Makes 2-3 servings. Cooking time: 2 hours.
Gamjatang (pork bone soup) is another Korean traditional nutritious dish. It’s usually made with pork spine bones and vegetables, but I use pork neck bones in this recipe.
Ingredients:
Pork neck bones, onion, garlic, ginger, dried shiitake mushrooms, napa cabbage, potatoes, soy bean sprouts, Asian chives (buchu), green onions, perilla leaves, dried red chili pepper, soybean paste, hot pepper flakes, hot pepper paste, cooking wine, perilla seeds powder (deulkkae garu), fish sauce
Directions:
- Soak 2.5 lb (about 1 kg) of pork neck bones in cold water for 2 hours.
- Boil water in a large pot.
- Put ¼ of a medium sized napa cabbage (about 2-3 cups) into the boiling water and blanch it for a minute.
- Rinse and drain the cabbage and put it in a bowl.
- Tear each leaf lengthwise once or twice to make it bite size and set it aside.
- Rinse pork neck bones in cold water and put them in boiling water with 4-5 slices of ginger (1 tbs). Cook for 7 minutes.
- Rinse and strain the pork neck bones and put them in a large pot.
*tip: when you rinse the pork bones, pick out any excessive fat - Pour 10 cups of water into the pot.
- Add 1 medium size sliced onion, 1 tbs of sliced ginger, 2 tbs of soy bean paste, 1 dried red chili pepper (after removing the seeds), and 2 dried shiitake mushrooms to the pot. Boil it for 1. 5 hours over medium high heat.
- Prepare a small bowl to make the sauce! In the bowl, put 6-8 cloves of minced garlic, 2 tbs of hot pepper flakes, 1 tbs of hot pepper paste, 3 tbs of cooking wine, 3 tbs of fish sauce, 3 tbs of perilla seeds powder (deulkkae garu) and mix it all up.
- Prepare a large bowl for vegetables
* Squeeze the cooked cabbage slightly to drain some of the water, and put it into the bowl.
* Cut about 10 perilla leaves into bite sized pieces and put them into the bowl.
* Cut 2 stalks of green onion and Asian chives (2-3 cups worth) into 7 cm long pieces and put them into the bowl.
* Rinse and drain 2 cups of soy bean sprouts and put them into the bowl.
* Peel 3 small potatoes and put them into the bowl.
Now you made the sauce and prepared all the vegetables. All you can do is to wait until the pork neck bone soup is finished cooking. - About 1 ½ hours later, take the red hot chilli pepper and shiitake mushrooms out of the pot.
- Slice shiitake mushrooms into bite sized pieces.
- Add your vegetables and your sauce and the chopped shiitake mushrooms into the soup. Cook for another 30 minutes.
- 30 minutes later, transfer the soup into a serving bowl and sprinkle some chopped green onions and ground pepper.
*tip: If you have an earthenware bowl, put the soup into it and heat it up until it sizzles. Sprinkle some chopped green onions and ground pepper!
- Serve with rice and kimchi or some side dishes!
Anyeong Haseyo Maangchi – I just finished cooking gamjatang, it is indeed a success, kamsahamnida for a very good recipe =)
I’m glad your gamjatang turned out good, thank you for your update!
Hello maangchi !! I have made the soup and it tasted so good … I made it for a party so I made it at night but tomorrow I got fermented and it get too much sour!! I don’t know why? I finished cooked at 12am and I wake up at 12pm and it already got fermented :-( so I had to trow it in the garbage!!! Can you tell me why it happenning? Thanks ohhh and I love your website so muchhh keep going!!!!
Throwing it away is a very good decision. It’s not fermented but it’s spoiled! Don’t forget to keep it in the refrigerator once the soup cools down.
I’m making this tonight. May I know why you precook the cabbage? Can you put it in raw with the rest of the vegetables at the last 30 mins of cooking?
Thank you.
I am not 100% sure, but I assume that if you put raw cabbage in it. It will has a bit watery and fresh cabbage taste. I know normally korean use dry cabbage in this soup. Since it’s hard to find then what she suggest is the best.
can I use beef kneecaps for this recipe? My roommate bought the kneecaps and I have no idea what to do with them! (any suggestions?)
by the way this recipe looks delicious :)
Why don’t you make bone soup with beef bones?
Just boil them with lots of water hours and hours until you get milky bone soup.
Hello! Thanks for this delicious recipe! I made this for dinner and my husbands wants it everyday! I am very happy with all your recipes! Thank you!!!
haha, everyday? no, he will get tired of it soon. next time how about making soybean sprout soup which is very basic, popular, and delicious!
http://www.maangchi.com/recipe/kongnamulguk
Hehe.. I’ve made most of your recipes now and my husband is anxiously awaiting for me to make all your recipes. I made Kongnamulguk just the way you had it, and you are right! I think I’ve created a monster! ^_^ All your portions are perfect for 2-4 servings so we always make enough for dinner and lunch box for the next day.
ooh, reading your comment makes me feel like kongnamulguk right now! I should make it soon for myself. I have well fermented radish kimchi, so it will be perfect to enjoy the soup.
Hello
I always wanted to learn how to cook korean food! Your site is wonderful.
The soybean paste, can I replace it with the chinese version?
Can I use something else besides the pork bone neck or even replace it?
Thank you!
You could use pork spine bones, too.
so basically is has to be pork with bone right?
thank you for reply^^
I finally found the soybeanpaste but I am not sure is the correct one. Is made in Korea and has the name Mong-Go. Can I use this? thank you
I used Chinese Soybean Paste. It says “sweetened soybean paste”. I think it’s not as strong as the one Maangchi used. I put in almos 4 tbsp of it before I got any taste at all. But in the end, it all taste so yummy.
Hey just wanted to share a few things with all of you
I LOVE THIS SOUP
and uhh thats it i think
Thank you very much!
I tried your recipe. It was pretty good, but it wasn’t much like the gamjatang you find in restaurants. There seems to be a really strong fermented soybean taste in this recipe, but how come there’s practically none in the restaurant versions?
Our family doesn’t really like the fermented soybean smell/taste. That stuff is strong!
skip soy bean paste if you want. This is a very authentic recipe. You can modify the recipe to your taste. If you like to learn Korean cooking, you will have to try getting accustomed to fermented food such as soy bean paste, hot pepper paste, fermented fish sauce which are very important in Korean cuisine.
Hi, thanks for this receipt, really enjoyed it.
I used pork ribs instead, still delicious, hot, spicy, yummy,yummy!!
Pork ribs sounds terrific! : ) Wonderful!
hi! i’m from the u.s. and i have been living in south korea (and teaching english) for about 2.5 years! i just came across your cooking videos today and i love them! i’ve always wanted to know how to make rice cakes and your videos are really helpful. also i love gamchatang and i’m excited that i know how to make it now! :o) it’s good to know you can get most of these ingredients in the states so i can make my favorites after we move back there :o)
Welcome to my website! That’s right, when you come back to your home, you can make all kinds of Korean dishes!
hi there! i’m a new fan of ur site and i really impressed of ur recipe..i really love kamjatang but can i ask? is the taste of neck bone diferent from the back bone coz i use to it..and what is the korean word for neck bone. As u know im from philippines and dont know what to say at meat store when i go for neck bone.i cooked sometimes and my husband and friends likes it but i never been try the neckbone.tnx and more power!!!
You could use either neck bone or back bone. I think there is not much difference in taste. I have never made gamjatang with back bone. Pork neck bone is called “doeji mokppyeo” : 돼지목뼈
Pork back pone is called “doeji deungppyeo”: 돼지등뼈
Let me know how your gamjatang turns out. Thank you!
HI, I can´t wait to make this recipe, I was living in Toronto, and i always go to korean town to eat gamjatang, Im from Mexico city, I`ve already find all the ingredients,but here the stores only sale perilla seeds, not powder What do i do, Buy them ?
You can grind the seeds finely with a coffee grinder.
I live in Toronto and love the Korean food we have available here – I am not Korean, but know what authentic Korean food is supposed to taste like from my many Korean friends…this recipe is AMAZING – it is exactly how pork-bone soup tastes in the restaurants – thank you soo much for sharing!
For those wondering, perilla plants are available for purchase during the spring/summer months. The ones I have seen and that are growing on my property are less than 2 feet tall (at most). I am hopeful that you can use typical herb-preserving methods (i.e. blanching-freezing) to preserve the leaves over the winter for additional recipes, or maybe just keep a plant indoors over the winter!
Hi Maangchi,
I love your site. Just one quick comment about the origin of the word ‘Gamjatang’: ‘Gamja’ in this case refers to a specific part of the pork’s backbone and not to a potato, which is a general misconception. If this was indeed a potato based recipe, it would be more of a kuk (국) as it would not really be considered a tang (탕). A ‘tang’ is different from a ‘kuk’ in that the broth is usually a protein (bone in) cooked for a long time, like seollongtang, gomtang, even meuntang.
Keep up the good work!
Thank you for your informative comment! Someone else mentioned the same thing somewhere on my website (or YouTube comment?) long time ago, so it made me do some research on the origin of gamjatang. Unfortunately I still don’t find clear answer about it. Check this out
http://kr.ks.yahoo.com/service/ques_reply/ques_view.html?dnum=AAL&qnum=486068
It says, there must be 2 theories regarding the origin of gamjatang. The first theory is that the name gamjatang came from the main ingredient, some part of pork spine bones called “gamjeo” in Korean,
The second theory is that gamjatang was named because it uses lots of vegetables especially potatoes. Potato is “gamja”.
Actually I don’t care much about origin of some food names or difference between tang and kuk!
Don’t give me a headache! :) I use the names my mother and grand mother, aunts, and my friends use!
AND name used all over Korea! Gamja gook is a clear brothed soup which I also enjoy where you make with some soup meat and sliced potatoes. Gamja Tang is exactly how you made it!!!! Who cares the history behind food or name!!! well…interesting to find about, but not a big deal if story telling results some difference in opinion! I LOVE your recipes! Your choice of food are not ones you find in fancy cook books(or fancy restaurants) but what you always crave because you’ve had it at home or at regular people restaurant. I am very thankful for your recipes….I feel like I have my own mom/grandma teaching me to cook ;that’s been missing in my life. I feel that most people who visit your site feel the same. We are all very grateful to your sharing these wonderful recipes. Please don’t stop!
HI
I had one question. I’m not too sure i can get the perrila seeds and leaves, what can I replace it with?
oh, just skip them.
Hi Maangchi,
I have searched for this recipe for year and have sorely missed gamja tang since leaving Korea. I would eat at least once a week when I was in Gunsan. Have asked many Korean friends for a recipe but no one knew how to cook it. I had given up looking a couple of years ago and just decided to try again. Thanks for the recipe. I look forward to cooking it soon as I can find the right ingredients.
oh, you used to live in Gunsan!
I guarantee my gamjatang recipe won’t disappoint you. : )
Hi Maangchi,
Is perilla leaves necessary? I mean how is this recipe if I cannot find perilla leaves? Can I use any substitute? Thanks
chit
You can skip perilla leaves then.
I love Gamjatang! My first taste of Korean food was in a Gamjatang restuarant. I cooked with your awesome recipe this weekend and my wife loved it so much that she ate it for dinner, breakfast and lunch!
Thanks again Maangchi ~ your recipes really help me give her some taste of home when she’s so far away from it!
You are such a cool husband! I’m very glad to hear that your wife loved your gamjatang! Gamjatang recipe is a little difficult but you made it. I think you can make any kinds of recipes I have posted so far. Cheers!
I followed you recipe and it’s AMAZING!
It is fairly long to make, but it’s well worth it! I even tried to remix it a bit by adding some fresh algae (that they sell at my local Korean market)… it was pretty good, but you got to be careful not to add to much or it will completely destroy the recipe (they quadruple in size when soaked and cooked and its taste takes a lot of place!)
But I have one question Maangchi. I have seen some pics on the web which shows this recipe to have a very deep red color (like the photo shown on wikipedia: )
Do you know what they added to make it to have this deep red tint?
Thank you in advance and thanks again for the recipe! ;)
yayee! Congratulation! Now you can make gamjatang (porkbone soup with vegetables) anytime!
The degree of redness depends on the amount of hot pepper flakes.
hello!
i tried your gamjatang today and the result was great. thanks for the wonderful recipe. this taste much better than my not so successful soon dubu jigae. :)
Congratulation on your successful gamjatang making!
hello maangchi!
i am a new fan!! i tried this dish last week and i think my husband fell in love with me all over again. he asked me if i could make it once a week for him.
thank u!!!
anna
cool cool ! : )
My husband has been craving gamja tang for months… I didn’t know how to make it. when I found this recipe, I tried it and it was absolutely fabulous! My husband thought it was delicious. This recipe is definitely a keeper. He’s asking when I will be making it again. Thanks for your awesome recipe!
Good news! Thank you for letting me know that your gamjatang turned out great!
Thanks for another great recipe Maangchi….I tried making this yesterday and it turned out really OILY with lots of fat! Any tips to fix this ? Thanks!
Did you follow the direction step by step?
“# Rinse pork neck bones in cold water and put them in boiling water with 4-5 slices of ginger (1 tbs). Cook for 7 minutes.
# Rinse and strain the pork neck bones and put them in a large pot.
*tip: when you rinse the pork bones, pick out any excessive fat”
Yup, I tried to pick out the excess fat…maybe I’m not very good at picking it out, I couldn’t find much fat on the bones!
Hi!
Try boiling the meat day before…refrigerate with the soup and you will see all the fat floating…then you can scoop them all out…then do all the rest of the recipe.
chit
Hello Maangchi! Thank you for the recipie I enjoy Gamjatang quite often just down the street, it will be great to make it on my own!
yes, homemade gamjatang can’t be compared with restaurant gamjatang in terms of taste and nutrition!
Hey. Thanks for the recipe. I am going to make this with 6 lbs of pork neck bone. Instead of about doubling the ingredients, is there anything else in particular that I should alter, such as the cooking times?
yes, you should cook longer. That’s it!
Same as Debora, I’d like to request a video of Kalbi Tang, so that I can make it myself.
It’s pricey in the resturant, consider paying $15 for a bowl which filled up with liquid(broth), only one piece of kalbi, a little bit of Dang Myun, and some egg…
ok, I will post the recipe someday. Thank you for your request!
How do you eat that whole potato?
Just use ta spoon to scoop it when eating from the earthware?
Use a spoon! : )
hi maangchi, i too just made gamjatang tonite. what a treat the final result was! my mom loved it!! i forgot to get the bean sprouts but i just substituted for more nappa cabbage instead (b/c the sprouts didn’t look fresh). though this is one of the longer recipes i’ve tried, it’s well worth all the work at the end! :)
thank you again and i can’t wait to see what else you put up! :)
p.s. kalbi tang or seollang tang would be fun to see too ;)
You made it! I would like to see what it looks like! : )
You are such a good daughter! Yes, the recipes for kalbitang and seollang tang will be posted in the future. Thank you!
oops! we ate it all before i could get a good photo… i’m making it again this sunday. i’ll send a photo then :)
This Sunday again! : )
i ate it all again! mmmm it’s so good :) i’ll try harder thsi time not to eat everything before i make it ;)
HI! I just made the gamjatang and it was EXCELLENT!!!!!! I couldnt find perilla leaves nor the powder so i didnt put them, but i did put seasame powder like you suggested to another member. I also forgot to buy the napa cabbage after two visits to the grocery store =__= So i used the white part of the chinese *bok choi* and it came out pretty well! I added some ENOKI mushroom as well…
THANK YOU, ure a genius ^^
Omg, you are very smart! Using bokchoi is a really good idea! Congratulation on your successful gamjatang making! I’m happy for you.
Thank you =) I was wondering if you thought too much flavour would be lost if I soaked the pork necks for about 12 hours – I would like to make it for dinner for someone next week, but I don’t have enough time to wait for it to soak for 2 hours before we will sit down to dinner
Thanks!
why not! You could soak it for 12 hours, but keep it in the refrigerator until you cook. Don’t worry about losing flavor, it won’t happen. Good luck with your gmajatang making!
hi maangchi,
it’s great to see that you were able to make the gamjatang! my mom has been asking me to make this for her for as long as she knew i started looking at all your recipes! i can’t wait to make some for my mom.
a couple questions,
1. what is the purpose of cooking it in a regular pot then putting it into the earthen ware bowl before serving as boiling?
2. i have noticed that restaurants use some sort of round seed… what is that?
thanks!
deborah
I’m sure you will make the most delicious gamjatang soon! : )
1,
The reason I transfer gamjatang to the earthenware bowl is to make it sizzling so that it will look more appetizing.
I think many of my blog readers bought an earthenware bowls to follow some of my recipes such as soondubu and doenjang jjigae. I should give them more chance to use their earthenware bowl as many times as possible.
If you don’t have it, you can serve it in any pot or skillet.
2.
round seed? Do the seeds look like very small balls? If so, they may be deulkkae(perilla seeds) Anyway, ground deulkkae is supposed to be used for gamjatang. If it’s not deulkkae, I don’t know.
hi maangchi,
i can’t wait! i have to do some planning though because i have to look for the deulkkae powder and seeds.
i have two sizes of earthen ware bowls! i make soon dubu for my mom every month or so. i haven’t really used it for much else though… hehehe
i think it is the perilla/deulkkae seed. it probably is more for garnish than taste though. good to know!
thank you again! i’ll be sure to send a photo your way when a good batch turns out :)
Ye!Ye!
Another Delecious Recipe Will Try It Soon
Can You Show How To Make Korean Style CURRY RICE
I Love It~~~
!!
sure, Korean style curry rice is one of my upcoming video recipes. Thank you. Let me know how your gamjatang turns out!
Is this dish really spicy? Can I make it without the spicy ingredients, such as the hot pepper flakes and paste, and the red chilli pepper? I’d prefer to make it not spicy.
You could try it out without using hot spicy ingredients. Use more soybean paste then.
This looks so good! I’ll definately have to try it sometime :)
oh i liked this soup very much when my husband was in korea
Tommorow My Husband’s Boss Is Coming Who Is Korean And His Fav Food Is Kalbi
I Know That You’ll Show Kalbi Video Someday But its Urgent
Can You Tell Recipe In Short (PLEASE)
:)
You could use the recipe for bulgogi marinade for kalbi, too!
http://www.maangchi.com/recipe/bulgogi-and-bulgogi-stew
Hi Maangchi,
Thank you for your recipe!
One question: Why a lot of people use Soy Bean Paste to make this soup? Is it necessary? Thank you for your answer!
Yes, it’s necessary for this recipe. A little amount of soy bean paste removes pork meat odor and also makes this soup delicious.
I was wondeirng, if you can use japanese miso instead of the soybean paste. Would it taste very different? Thanks
yes,it will be good, too!
Hi!
Wow, that looks really tasty!
I’ve never been able to find perilla leaves at my korean grocer, so its good to know that basil might work as well.
I was just wondering what the purpose of soaking the pork bones in water is?
Thanks for the new recipe-
Oh, and i love the new layout for your website- très cool.
oh, the reason for soaking pork bones is to get rid of blood that has some odor.
Hi..Kam Ja Tang was one of my favorite meals on a cold winter day. It is so delicious. I’m going to try this recipe for sure! I think it’s odd that it is called “potato soup”. There’s really a lot more meat than spuds!
Thanks for all the recipes and cooking demonstrations on youtube.
You are very welcome! Make delicious gamjatang!
Thanks for the recipe! Is it possible to make this recipe with beef? If you can,what part of beef can you use? (my husband doesn’t like pork)
I’ve been wanting to eat 감자탕 ever since 감자탕 전문 식당 opened up in Flushing. By the way, I’ll be making 화전 for my mother-in-law for Mother’s Day. Thanks a lot! 좋은 주말 보내시길 바래요. ^_^
I think you could replace pork bones with beef short ribs. Let me know how it turns out if you make it.
Hi Maangchi! Have you heard back about whether 감자탕 would taste good with beef short ribs? 저는 되지를 못먹어요. I have allergies to pig, so I wanted to know how it would taste. I never had 감자탕 made for me due to my allergies. Please let me know! 고마워요!
: ) beef short ribs for this recipe sounds good! I should try it out, too. Thank you very much for your question.
Hi Maangchi,
Can you upload the podcast? Bcuz u prefer to cook and watch the video at the same time…
=) thank you!
I am doing it now! : )
Maangchi,
I just recently stumble into your blog.
I love your informative blog and video too.
This soup looks very hearty. H Mart just recently opened in my neighborhood and they have great selection of everything Korean :-)
I should try some of your recipe.
oh, you are lucky to have a Korean grocery in your neighborhood!
Some of my blog readers drive hours and hours to get ingredients.
It sounds like you will become a regular customer of the store.
So yummy yummy!
If only I have a korean market nearby my house…My asian market never sell perilla leaves and perilla seed powder.
hmmm, sorry to hear that. How about replacing perilla leaves with basil leaves. Use just a little bit. And instead of perillar seeds powder, use sesame seeds powder. If sesame seeds powder is not available, just skip it. Modify the recipe adjusting to your situation. Let me know how it turns out if you make it. I’m curious.
I just tried it out and substituted with basil and sesame seeds as you suggested. I also used beef bones and a brisket, instead. I have to say it turned out better than I could imagine! I’ll send you a pic when I upload it. Thank you for the tip and many inpirational videos.
ryan,
you are so smart! : )
Hi – I thought that I’d point out that sometimes the powder will be labelled as “frutescens powder” (latin name). That’s how it is at my local market, but it’s the same thing!
I’ve never had this, it looks delicious.