Ox Bone Soup
I was recently in Korea Town in L.A. and decided to find a small hole in the wall Korean restaurant for dinner one night. I stumbled into this place that was 6 blocks from where I was staying. Still don't know what the name of the place was. It had maybe a dozen tables in it. It was pretty busy. I was the only white person in there, which is what I'm looking for in a restaurant. They had only 1 thing one the menu, which was hand written and taped to a piece of cardboard. It had brisket, flank, and tripe written on it. What this restaurant specialized in was ox bone soup. I chose the brisket. The waitress brings me out a massive bowl with noodles on the bottom and brisket on the top covered in a milky stock. I had to add the green onions and salt to my soup. It also came with a small bowl of rice and kimchi that was cut table side with a pair of scissors. Let me tell you, as simple as it looked, it was one of the best things I've ever eaten. I was so full afterwards. It must of had 3 cups of stock in it. I asked the waitress how it was made and she loosely told me. I needed find out how to make it as soon as I got home. Did a lot of research on this recipe.Ox bone soup is very popular year round in Korea. It happens to be below zero here in MN at the time of me making this, which made it hit the spot even more. While all of the steps in making this stock are simple, there are quite a lot of them which can't be skipped. I recommend either starting this early in the morning if you plan to eat this at night or plan to eat this the next day. Any stock that isn't eaten in 3 days should be frozen for later use.Femur and knuckle bones can be found at any grocery store for fairly cheap prices. You should have to pay more than $2lb. for them. You will notice by the time you get to the 3rd and final batch of stock that the marrow will be cooked out of the center. The main goal of this stock is to be milky with no visible floating fat. It is very important to skim off as much solidified fat as possible in each of the 3 batches of stock. If you are planning to eat this the next day, you can skim off even more of the fat from letting the stock sit in the refrigerator overnight. This recipe is not for beginners or people without patience. But, if you can follow through with all of these steps, the outcome will be greatly worth it.
Servings: 8
Ingredients
Ox Bone Stock
- 2 1/2 lbs beef femur and knuckle bones
- 2 lbs flank steak or brisket
- 1 korean radish halved
- 1 medium whole onion
- fuckton water
Ox Bone Soup
- glass or yam noodles
- korean radish diced
- sliced brisket or flank steak
- ox bone stock
- green onions finely chopped
- korean salt
Instructions
Ox Bone Stock
- Boil the bones for 20 minutes. Strain the bones and discard the water. Wash the bones of any bone fragments. Make sure to clean out your stock pot of any leftover bone scum.
- Place the bones, meat, onion, and Korean radish in a large stock pot. Cover with 12 cups of water. Bring to a boil. After 30 minutes, reduce heat to medium and simmer for 3 hours.
- Remove meat and Korean radish. Let cool and place in refrigerator for later use.
- Strain the stock of bones and onion into another pot. Let that stock cool, then refrigerate or put outside if winter time. Then skim all of the fat off the top.
- Clean out any bone scum from your stock pot. Add the bones and onion back in. Fill with another 12 cups of water. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium and let simmer for 3 hours.
- One again, strain the stock of bones and onion into another pot. Let that stock cool, then refrigerate or put outside if winter time. Then skim all of the fat off the top. Add that stock to the first batch of stock. Continue to keep cool.
- Clean your stock pot again of any bone scum residue. Add the bones and onion back in. Cover with 12 cups of water. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium and simmer for another 3 hours. At this point, the final batch of stock will look milky in appearance.
- Strain the stock of bones and the onion. Let that stock cool, then refrigerate or put outside if winter time. Then skim all of the fat off the top.
- Add all 3 stocks together. Bring to a boil and simmer for 1 hour. The stock should be clear of fat and milky in color.
Ox Bone Soup
- Place a portion of noodles in a soup bowl. Slice the meat thin. Cut the Korean radish in small 1/2", 1/4"thick pieces. Finely chop the green onions.
- Layer the noodles on the bottom, followed by the Korean radish, then sliced meat across the top. Add a shit ton of green onions.
- Ladle hot ox bone stock over the soup ingredients. Season with korean salt to your taste.
