Beef bone broth

Every year, as winter approaches, I make a huge pot of sagol-gukmul (사골국물), Korean beef bone broth, for my family, just as my mother did when I was growing up.

I still remember my mother making bone broth in an enormous pot. She would ladle the steaming, milky broth into cups for our whole family. We drank it with a little salt. As the broth level went down, she added more water and kept cooking. It was such a comforting winter treat!

Unlike the brown beef stock often made in Western cooking with roasted bones, traditional Korean beef bone broth is prized for its beautiful milky-white color. It has a rich, smooth, slightly nutty flavor.

Some readers tell me their broth doesn’t turn milky white. Usually, they haven’t used enough bones or cooked them long enough. Making good sagol-gukmul takes patience! I keep an eye on the pot, adding water as needed until the broth becomes rich and milky. I don’t rely only on the clock. I watch the broth and bones to know when it’s ready. Because I make such a large batch, the whole process usually takes me 2 to 3 days.

Sometimes I cook late into the night and continue early the next morning. In cold winter weather, I’ve sometimes cooled the pot on the veranda. By morning, I skim off any fat that has solidified on top and continue cooking. If you pause overnight, be sure to cool and refrigerate the broth promptly rather than rely on outdoor temperatures.

Once it’s ready, I divide the broth into containers, each holding about 3 to 4 cups, and freeze them. Throughout the winter, I take out one container at a time, reheat the broth, and ladle it into cups, just as my mother did. I add a little salt and sprinkle chopped green onions and ground black pepper on top right before serving. It’s an inexpensive and delicious way to warm up on a cold day!

I also love using this broth instead of water to make baechu-doenjangguk (soybean paste soup with napa cabbage). It makes the soup wonderfully rich and flavorful.

You may also remember my seolleongtang (ox-bone soup) recipe. This version uses only beef bones, without meat, and makes a big batch to enjoy all winter long.

It takes time and attention to make sagol-gukmul, but once you taste that rich, milky broth on a cold winter day, you’ll know why I make it every year!

Ingredients

Makes 22 to 24 cups of broth

• 6 pounds sliced beef leg bones and/or knuckle bones

• Water for the initial boil, plus about 6½ quarts fresh water to start the broth, and more as needed

Directions

Prepare bones

1. Rinse the bones in cold water to remove blood and bone fragments. Place the bones in a large bowl of cold water and soak in the refrigerator for 8 hours or overnight. While soaking, change the water a couple of times.
2. Drain the bones and put them into a large stock pot. I use my 10 quart stock pot. Add water until the bones are submerged.

Boil bones

1. Cover and boil for about 20 minutes over high heat, until it is vigorously boiling. You will see lots of floating brownish stuff and fat.
2. Remove from the heat. Drain the bones, rinse each bone with cold running water, scrub them (you can wear rubber gloves for this), and drain well.
3. Wash the pot thoroughly and return the bones to the clean pot.
4. Fill the pot with water (I added 6½ quarts of water to my 10-quart stockpot). Cover and cook over high heat for about 30 minutes until the water starts boiling.
5. Reduce the heat to low and simmer for 10 hours. Open the lid and stir the bones with a wooden spoon.
6. Fill the pot with water, cover and simmer for 9 hours.
7. Fill the pot with water again. Increase the heat to medium-high and cook for 1 hour without the lid.
8. Remove from the heat. Let it cool down a little bit until you can handle it.

Remove bones

1. Remove all the bones from the broth and discard.
2. Strain the broth into a large bowl. Discard the strained bits (or you can eat them). You will get about 22 to 24 cups of white milky bone broth.
3. Let the broth cool to room temperature and refrigerate for several hours or overnight until the thick layer of the fat on the surface is solidified. Remove and discard the solid fat.
4. You can put it into freezer safe containers and freeze up to 3 months.

Serve

1. Ladle some hot broth into a bowl and serve with rice, chopped green onion, ground black pepper, kimchi, and other side dishes. When you eat it, add some chopped green onion, ground black pepper, and salt according to your taste, then add some rice and mix it together and eat.

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