Inspired by Always Be My Maybe, Ali Wong and Russell Park’s new rom-com streaming on Netflix, I made kimchi jjigae last weekend. It’s a simple stew that you’ve gotta have over rice. After researching on the Internet, I grabbed my copy of Koreatown: A Cookbook by Deuki Hong. Where most Internet recipes just called for water to create the broth, Hong’s recipe called for pork stock. Mmmmm.
This is straight up comfort food. All the ingredients are basically dropped into a sauce pan to simmer together, so the one extra step of making the pork stock is 100% worth it. It’s just a matter of simmering pork neck bones in water for a couple of hours with ginger, garlic, doenjang, and green onion added toward the end. Then you move on to the jjigae.
If you’re new to Korean cooking, Koreatown: A Cookbook gives a good primer on Korean ingredients, but these are the jangs and the gochugaru you’ll need for the kimchi jjigae. You’ll need to hit up an Asian grocery, although more Korean ingredients are showing up on American grocery shelves. The doenjang is similar to miso paste, but doesn’t use a koji starter. I always say, follow a recipe the way it’s written once, make your own changes after that.
Two of my other faves from the book:
Kimchi fried rice from Koreatown: A Cookbook.
Dubu jorim, soy-braised tofu, from Koreatown: A Cookbook
RECIPE: Kimchi Jjigae from Koreatown: A Cookbook by Deuki Hong (doesn’t include the pork stock, so check the book out from the library or buy it!)
Get Koreatown: A Cookbook on Amazon