Chef Jeong-sun
Al-tang (Fish Roe Stew)
A weeknight fish roe stew with radish and crown daisy in a clean spicy broth, where the whole success depends on adding the roe late enough that it sets tender, not chalky.
Culinary Explorer
A cooking platform built around craft, culture, and the stories behind what we eat.
Maeuntang (Spicy Fish Stew)
Created by
The red fish stew made from the day's clean bones and flesh: radish-sweet broth, just enough gochugaru, tofu, and crown daisy added at the end so the fish still tastes like fish.
Soups & Stews
Korean
Comfort Food
Weeknight
25 min
Active Time
35 min cook•1 hr total
Yield4 servings
Maeuntang starts at the fish counter, not at the spice shelf. Ask what came in clean that morning, and the stew is already half-decided: rockfish from the coast, cod when winter has weight, pollock when the table needs economy and comfort. Cook the month you're standing in, because fish tells the truth faster than vegetables do.
At a hoe (회, raw sliced fish) restaurant, maeuntang often arrives after the sashimi platter, built from the head and bones left from the fish you just ate. That isn't a poor second course. It is the table refusing waste, and it may be the part people remember. At home, buy the fish bone-in and let the radish do its quiet work; it sweetens the broth and gives the spice somewhere to rest.
The mistake is thinking red means heavy. Maeuntang needs gochugaru for heat and color, a little gochujang for body, and no more. Clean the blood from the backbone, remove the gills, skim the foam, and add the crown daisy at the end so it stays green and lightly bitter. Notebook 44 says 900 grams fish to 6 cups broth, 3 tablespoons gochugaru, 1 tablespoon gochujang. 손맛 is real; I measure it anyway, because one extra spoon can make the fish disappear.
Maeuntang is part of Korea's fish-market and coastal restaurant table, often served after hoe (raw sliced fish) so the head, bones, and remaining trim become the second course instead of waste. The red version depends on chili, which entered Korean cooking after peppers came from the Americas through East Asia in the late sixteenth and seventeenth centuries; earlier fish soups leaned more on clear broth, soybean paste, and salted seafood. Inland versions use freshwater fish such as carp or catfish, while coastal pots follow the day's catch, including rockfish, cod, pollock, sea bass, and snapper.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
bone-in firm white fish
Quantity
900g to 1kg
scaled, gutted, gills removed, cut into 2-inch pieces
fine sea salt
Quantity
1/2 teaspoon
for the fish
water
Quantity
6 cups
dried kelp (dasima)
Quantity
1 piece, about 4 inches square
dried anchovies (myeolchi)
Quantity
8 large
heads and guts removed
Korean radish (mu)
Quantity
300g
peeled and cut into 1/4-inch half-moons
onion
Quantity
1/2 medium
sliced 1/2 inch thick
soybean sprouts (kongnamul)
Quantity
100g
rinsed
zucchini (aehobak)
Quantity
1/2 small
cut into 1/2-inch half-moons
firm tofu
Quantity
200g
cut into 1/2-inch slabs
enoki or oyster mushrooms
Quantity
100g
trimmed
scallions
Quantity
2
cut into 2-inch lengths
green chili
Quantity
1
sliced on the diagonal
red chili
Quantity
1
sliced on the diagonal
crown daisy (ssukat)
Quantity
60g
tender stems and leaves, cut into 3-inch lengths
minari (water dropwort) (optional)
Quantity
1 cup
cut into 3-inch lengths
gochugaru (Korean chili flakes)
Quantity
3 tablespoons
gochujang (fermented chili paste)
Quantity
1 tablespoon
doenjang (fermented soybean paste)
Quantity
2 teaspoons
guk-ganjang (Korean soup soy sauce)
Quantity
1 tablespoon
fish sauce or saeujeot (salted shrimp)
Quantity
1 tablespoon fish sauce, or 2 teaspoons saeujeot
saeujeot finely chopped
mirim, rice wine, or soju
Quantity
1 tablespoon
garlic
Quantity
1 tablespoon
minced
fresh ginger
Quantity
1 teaspoon
grated
black pepper
Quantity
1/4 teaspoon
freshly ground
water or broth
Quantity
2 tablespoons
to loosen the seasoning paste
fine sea salt or fish sauce (optional)
Quantity
up to 1/4 teaspoon salt or 1 teaspoon fish sauce
to finish if needed
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| bone-in firm white fishscaled, gutted, gills removed, cut into 2-inch pieces | 900g to 1kg |
| fine sea saltfor the fish | 1/2 teaspoon |
| water | 6 cups |
| dried kelp (dasima) | 1 piece, about 4 inches square |
| dried anchovies (myeolchi)heads and guts removed | 8 large |
| Korean radish (mu)peeled and cut into 1/4-inch half-moons | 300g |
| onionsliced 1/2 inch thick | 1/2 medium |
| soybean sprouts (kongnamul)rinsed | 100g |
| zucchini (aehobak)cut into 1/2-inch half-moons | 1/2 small |
| firm tofucut into 1/2-inch slabs | 200g |
| enoki or oyster mushroomstrimmed | 100g |
| scallionscut into 2-inch lengths | 2 |
| green chilisliced on the diagonal | 1 |
| red chilisliced on the diagonal | 1 |
| crown daisy (ssukat)tender stems and leaves, cut into 3-inch lengths | 60g |
| minari (water dropwort) (optional)cut into 3-inch lengths | 1 cup |
| gochugaru (Korean chili flakes) | 3 tablespoons |
| gochujang (fermented chili paste) | 1 tablespoon |
| doenjang (fermented soybean paste) | 2 teaspoons |
| guk-ganjang (Korean soup soy sauce) | 1 tablespoon |
| fish sauce or saeujeot (salted shrimp)saeujeot finely chopped | 1 tablespoon fish sauce, or 2 teaspoons saeujeot |
| mirim, rice wine, or soju | 1 tablespoon |
| garlicminced | 1 tablespoon |
| fresh gingergrated | 1 teaspoon |
| black pepperfreshly ground | 1/4 teaspoon |
| water or brothto loosen the seasoning paste | 2 tablespoons |
| fine sea salt or fish sauce (optional)to finish if needed | up to 1/4 teaspoon salt or 1 teaspoon fish sauce |
Equipment Needed
- •Wide 3.5 to 4 quart pot, jeongol pan, or large ttukbaegi
- •Small bowl for seasoning paste
- •Slotted spoon or fine skimmer
- •Kitchen shears for trimming fins if needed
Instructions
- 1
Clean the fish
Check the fish before you season it. The eyes should be clear, the flesh should spring back, and there should be no sour or ammonia smell. Rinse the pieces quickly under cold running water, especially the belly cavity and the blood line along the backbone. Cut away any gills left in the head. Pat dry, sprinkle with 1/2 teaspoon salt, and keep refrigerated 10 minutes while you start the broth. This firms the flesh so it does not fall apart in the pot.
Ask the fishmonger to scale, gut, remove the gills, and cut the fish into bone-in pieces. Still check the blood line at home. Clean fish makes clean stew. - 2
Mix the paste
Stir together the gochugaru, gochujang, doenjang, guk-ganjang, fish sauce or saeujeot, mirim, garlic, ginger, black pepper, and 2 tablespoons water or broth. Let it stand while the broth begins. Hydrating the gochugaru keeps the stew from tasting dusty, and the color blooms into the broth instead of floating in raw patches. The doenjang is only 2 teaspoons; it quiets the fish aroma, it should not turn this into doenjang-jjigae.
- 3
Build the broth
Put the 6 cups water, kelp, and anchovies in a wide 3.5 to 4 quart pot over medium heat. When the water reaches a simmer, pull out the kelp at once, or it turns the broth slick and faintly bitter. Simmer the anchovies 8 minutes more, then lift them out. Add the radish and onion and simmer 8 to 10 minutes, until the radish edges start to turn translucent. Radish is not filler here; it sweetens the broth and gives the chili a place to land.
- 4
Season the broth
Whisk the seasoning paste into the radish broth until no clumps remain. Add the soybean sprouts and zucchini and simmer 3 minutes. The vegetables need a small head start; the fish does not. Taste the broth now. It should be spicy and savory but a little under-salted, because the fish, tofu, and final reduction will change it.
Maeuntang is not gochujang soup. One tablespoon gives body. More than that makes the pot sweet, thick, and dull. - 5
Add the fish
Lower the fish pieces into the pot in one layer, head and bone-heavy pieces first. Spoon broth over the top instead of stirring. Simmer uncovered 7 to 8 minutes, skimming foam as it rises. Move the pot by its handles if anything catches. The fish is done when the flesh is opaque and begins to separate from the bone; if you use a thermometer, the thickest piece should read 63 C/145 F.
Master Seong-nyeo moved the pot, not the fish. It looked severe until you saw every piece stay whole. - 6
Add tofu and mushrooms
Slide the tofu and mushrooms into open spaces around the fish, not on top of it. Simmer 4 to 5 minutes, just until the tofu is heated through and the mushrooms soften. Keep the simmer steady, not violent. A hard boil breaks the fish and clouds the broth.
- 7
Finish with greens
Scatter the scallions, green chili, red chili, crown daisy, and minari if using over the top. Press them lightly into the broth for 30 to 60 seconds, just until the greens relax but stay bright. Taste once more and add up to 1/4 teaspoon salt or 1 teaspoon fish sauce only if the broth needs it. Carry the pot straight to the table with rice and warn everyone about the bones. The greens are best eaten first, while their bitterness is still clean.
Chef Tips
- •Bone-in fish is the spine of this stew. Boneless fillets cook, but they do not give the broth enough body. If fillets are all you have, use 700g firm fillets and replace the water with 5 cups good fish stock plus 1 cup anchovy-kelp broth.
- •Buy fish the day you cook it. Clear eyes, red gills, firm flesh, no sour smell. If the market has good cod in winter, use cod. If rockfish is fresher in summer, use rockfish. Technique first, but the fish must be honest.
- •Crown daisy gives maeuntang its lightly bitter finish. If you cannot find it, use minari or a few torn perilla leaves. Do not use heavy greens that need long cooking; they will drag the broth down.
- •The safe shortcuts are the broth and the paste. Make both ahead. The corners you do not cut are cleaning the fish, removing the kelp on time, and adding the greens at the end.
Advance Preparation
- •The seasoning paste can be mixed up to 2 days ahead and refrigerated. Let it loosen at room temperature for 10 minutes before stirring it into the broth.
- •The anchovy-kelp broth can be made up to 3 days ahead and refrigerated. Add the radish and onion when cooking the stew so the radish keeps its shape.
- •Cleaned fish should be kept cold and cooked the day it is purchased. Do not salt it more than 30 minutes ahead, or the texture tightens.
- •Leftovers keep 1 day in the refrigerator. Reheat gently in a covered pot and add fresh crown daisy or scallion at the end, because the original greens will soften too far.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 560g)
Calories
330 calories
Total Fat
7 g
Saturated Fat
2 g
Trans Fat
0 g
Unsaturated Fat
4 g
Cholesterol
90 mg
Sodium
1540 mg
Total Carbohydrates
24 g
Dietary Fiber
6 g
Sugars
9 g
Protein
44 g
Where cooking meets culture.
Culinary guides, cultural storytelling, and the editorial depth that makes cooking meaningful.
Discover Culinary ExplorerMore from Tang: The Long Simmer
Browse the full collection
Chef Jeong-sun
Chogye-tang (초계탕, Chilled Vinegar Chicken Soup)
A northern summer soup of clear chicken broth, shredded meat, cucumber, pear, and jidan, sharpened with vinegar and Korean mustard until the cold wakes you up before it cools you down.
Chef Jeong-sun
Chueotang (Loach Soup)
Freshwater loach simmered until the bones soften, pressed into its own broth, then carried with doenjang, greens, perilla seed, and sancho pepper the way Namwon autumn tables know it.
Chef Jeong-sun
Daegutang (Clear Cod Soup)
A clear winter cod soup with radish, bean sprouts, and scallion, cooked gently so the broth stays clean and the fish tastes like the sea it came from.