Highlights of Life

I tried out the recipe last night. My version did not turn out as well as my mom’s. Hmm.

I realized a couple of things. Her initial beef stock is very similar to making clear beef broth. It hit me that whenever I ate her 장조림 that the sauce had always been clear. So I ended up after making the broth, using only the clear portion of the broth after the particles settled to the bottom.

The final product was fairly similar to my mom’s but I think part of the problem was that my soy sauce was a brand that I had never used before, and the taste was rather mild and not to my liking.

Anyways, this can be refrigerated and used in small quantities as a side dish.

I also realized my mother puts small hot green chili peppers in the dish to add more spice. I’ll have to ask her about that next time.

Sometimes I wish I could speak Korean much more fluently than I do. I can speak passably OK. Enough to communicate. But my writing and reading truly sucks. There is no better descriptive word. It is… er.. lacking in fluency.

If I could write and read it well enough, I guess I would just google the Korean recipes. Unfortunately with my rather deficient language skills, I can only call my mother for a recipe over the phone. This is the essence of what I was able to get over the phone from her.

However, I was able to google “jang jo reem recipe” and did come across some korean recipes written out properly in Korean “장조림”!

So with my rather deficient Korean, I kind of stumbled along and read one recipe. It was rather torturous to read….. My mother’s recipe sounds just as good as what is online, and her recipes are always delicious… so here it is.

soak beef meat in cold water and rinse & wash

cut beef into chunks and cover with water & bring to a boil then reduce heat (i.e. cook for around 40 mins) (She uses Le Creuset dishes to make this recipe)

skim off scum and fat that rises to the top frequently

don’t forget to add ginger as this will remove the undesirable meaty smell/taste that one can get with meat dishes

when the water has reduced to about 1/2 the amount and the beef is nearly all cooked, add soy sauce, sugar, whole black pepper, salt and garlic to taste as desired

simmer on medium/low (ie. 30 mins)