17.215 Jjambbong – From Scratch, Take 2

Cycle 17 – Item 215

Post 6,059

8 (Sat) August 2026

Jjambbong – From Scratch, Take 2

3.0

by me

at home

-Oksu, Seongdong, Seoul, Republic of Korea-

with DJ and IZ

Following a moderately successful first attempt at making jjambbong at home last week (see generally 17.208 Jjambbong – From Scratch (Mostly)!), I gave it another go.  With a few modifications: omitting carrot and zucchini; substituting shaved brisket for seafood and pork, beef bouillon powder for fish sauce, homemade chicken stock for store-bought seafood stock; reducing the amount of gochugaru from 2 tablespoons per serving to 1.5.

Funny thing about the gochugaru: after just 2 batches of jjambbong, requiring 6 + 4.5 = 10.5 tablespoons of gochugaru, I’ve used up my entire supply, which I’d purchased to make kimchi back in 2022 (see most recently 13.129 Oi Sobagi) and has been sitting in the freezer ever since, adding a pinch here and there every so often.

About 150 grams of beef per serving, at the reduced price of 6,000 per 100 grams = 9,000 of meat per bowl.

Considering the high cost of chadolbagi (beef brisket), even if not hanwoo, I’m now thinking that restaurants serving so-called “chadol jjambbong” (see generally 10.271 Chadol Jjambbong) are probably using the cheaper woosamgyeopsal (beef belly) (see generally 1.171 Woosamgyeopsal).

As yet unable to procure fine grind gochugaru, I used the standard stuff but stir-fried it in oil then simmered it in stock for longer to facilitate dissolution, which helped but not all the way.

While I do appreciate the deep beef flavor of chadol jjambbong – and I often use the cut to supercharge the beefiness of Korean soups (see for example 16.338 Chadol Gom Tang; 14.092 Chadol Gukbap) – I overwhelmingly order seafood jjambbong in restaurants, because the broth is more delicate, at least in theory, and seems marginally healthier, though the subtlety makes it much more difficult to get right; in theory, a good chadol jjambbong should be easier to achieve, especially at home, given the inherently rich nature of beef fat.

The broth was significantly lighter in color.

Better.   With the omission of a few veggies and seafood, the prep went much faster.  The reduction in gochugaru, as well as the longer cooking time, resulted in a milder, smoother textured broth, while the flavor was much richer and deeper from the chicken stock + beef.   The nooodles, same brand as before, proved unsatisfactory again.  DJ approved overall, though he noted that it didn’t really taste like restaurant jjambbong but rather like “real food” – I’ll take it.

(See RESTAURANTS IN KOREA)

(See GLOBAL FOOD GLOSSARY)

(See HANSIK)

(See BOOZE)

(See PULMUONE)

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