Jinju Naengmyeon (진주냉면, Seafood-Broth Cold Noodles)

People speak as if cold noodles walk only two roads, Pyongyang and Hamhung. My teacher would stop that sentence with one look. Name the city, she said, because the broth has an address. Jinju, down in Gyeongsangnam-do, answers with seafood broth and yukjeon (pan-fried battered beef) laid across the top.

Do not rush this bowl. The broth needs beef for body and dried seafood for the southern edge, then it needs hard cold so the fat can be lifted cleanly. The yukjeon must cool before it meets the noodles, or it warms the broth and insults all the waiting you just did. The noodles are boiled last, rinsed hard until they feel squeaky between your hands, then served at once.

Notebook 51 says the measure plainly: 8 cups broth, 2 tablespoons soup soy sauce, 1 tablespoon soy sauce, 2 tablespoons vinegar, 1 tablespoon sugar, 1 1/2 teaspoons salt. Cold mutes seasoning, so this sounds stronger than a hot soup. It has to. Write it down. Memory is a borrowed bowl, and a regional dish with a narrow road behind it deserves better than guessing.