Milmyeon (밀면, Busan Wheat Cold Noodles)

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Large stockpot, at least 6 quarts
• •Fine strainer
• •Wide shallow container for cooling broth
• •Stainless steel noodle bowls, chilled
• •Large colander
• •Kitchen scissors

Instructions

1. 1

   Start the broth

   Put the cold water, beef, pork or chicken, radish chunks, onion, garlic, ginger, scallions, peppercorns, and kelp in a large pot. Bring it slowly to a simmer over medium heat and skim the gray foam as it rises. Pull the kelp out after 8 to 10 minutes, when the water has taken its savor but before it turns slick and bitter. Lower the heat and simmer gently for 75 to 85 minutes, until the meat is tender. Do not boil hard. A cold noodle broth has nowhere to hide a muddy taste.

   Starting with cold water draws flavor from the meat more evenly. The pot should tremble, not roll.
2. 2

   Chill and skim

   Lift out the cooked meat and save it for topping. Strain the broth through a fine strainer, then cool it quickly in a shallow container. Refrigerate at least 6 hours, or overnight, until the fat firms on top. Remove every bit of that fat. Fat that feels rich in a hot soup tastes heavy and dull in a cold bowl.

   If the strained broth tastes weak before chilling, simmer it down to about 7 cups first. Cold will not fix a thin broth.

   For safety, get the broth into the refrigerator within 2 hours. A wide container cools faster than a deep pot.
3. 3

   Season the broth

   Measure 6 cups of the chilled, skimmed broth. Stir in the dongchimi brine if using, rice vinegar, sugar, soup soy sauce, and 1 teaspoon salt. Taste it cold. It should be a little sharper and saltier than you would drink by the cup, because the noodles and ice will quiet it. Pour 1 cup of this seasoned broth into a shallow container and freeze it until slushy at the edges. Keep the rest very cold.

   Do not season the broth while it is hot and trust that number blindly. Cold changes the tongue. Taste after chilling, then write down your final salt and vinegar.
4. 4

   Pickle the radish

   Toss the thin radish slices with 1 teaspoon salt and let them stand 10 minutes. Drain off the liquid, but do not rinse all the seasoning away. Add 2 tablespoons vinegar, 1 tablespoon sugar, and the optional 1/4 teaspoon gochugaru. Let it sit at least 20 minutes. The radish should bend and snap lightly under the teeth, not collapse.

   One teaspoon salt for 250g radish is enough to season and soften it. More turns a clean topping into a salty one.
5. 5

   Mix the sauce

   Stir together the gochugaru, gochujang, soy sauce, vinegar, grated pear or apple, sugar, minced garlic, grated ginger, sesame oil, black pepper, Korean mustard if using, and 2 tablespoons cold broth. Let the sauce rest 20 minutes so the chili flakes soften and the raw garlic settles down. This is a seasoning paste, not a blanket. For mul-milmyeon, use about 1 tablespoon per bowl. For bibim-milmyeon, use about 2 tablespoons per bowl.

   Gochujang alone makes the sauce thick and sweet. Gochugaru gives clean heat and color, so the broth and wheat noodles still read as themselves.
6. 6

   Ready the toppings

   Toss the julienned cucumber with 1/4 teaspoon salt and let it stand 5 minutes, then squeeze it lightly. Slice the saved meat thinly across the grain. Halve the eggs. Put the cold broth, sauce, radish, cucumber, meat, eggs, sesame seeds, mustard, vinegar, scissors, and chilled bowls near the stove before the noodles go in. Milmyeon waits for no one once the noodles are cooked.

   Slicing the meat across the grain matters even when it is only a topping. Long fibers turn stringy when cold.
7. 7

   Boil the noodles

   Bring a large pot of water to a full boil. Loosen the milmyeon noodles with your hands before adding them, then boil according to the package. Fresh or frozen milmyeon often needs only 40 to 90 seconds; dried wheat naengmyeon-style noodles usually need 3 to 4 minutes. Stir the whole time so they do not clump. Taste one strand. It should be chewy through the center, not floury, and not soft.

   The package time is a guide, not permission to wander off. These noodles move from chewy to tired quickly.
8. 8

   Rinse until squeaky

   Drain the noodles and rinse them under cold running water, rubbing them between both hands to wash off surface starch. Move them into ice water for 30 seconds, then drain hard. They should feel cold, springy, and almost squeaky. Leave starch on the noodles and the broth turns cloudy and thick. This is the step people rush, and this is the step that punishes them.

   Rinsing is not cooling alone. It is washing. Use your hands and work the noodles gently but thoroughly.
9. 9

   Serve mul style

   For mul-milmyeon, divide the cold noodles among four chilled stainless bowls and coil them neatly. Pour 1 to 1 1/4 cups icy seasoned broth around each portion, then add a spoonful of the frozen broth slush. Set 1 tablespoon sauce on top of each coil. Add pickled radish, cucumber, sliced meat, half an egg, and sesame seeds. Serve at once with vinegar and Korean mustard on the side, and cut the noodles with scissors at the table.

   Keep the sauce on top until the bowl reaches the table. Each person can stir it in and decide how red the broth should become.
10. 10

    Serve bibim style

    For bibim-milmyeon, put one drained noodle portion in a mixing bowl with 2 tablespoons sauce and 2 tablespoons cold broth. Toss with chopsticks and a gloved hand until every strand is coated and glossy. Transfer to a chilled bowl and top with radish, cucumber, sliced meat, half an egg, and sesame seeds. Serve 1/2 cup cold broth on the side, because bibim noodles still need that cold sip between bites.

Chef Tips

• •Buy real milmyeon noodles if your market has them: pale wheat noodles with starch in the dough, usually sold fresh or frozen. Spaghetti is not a substitute. If you cannot find milmyeon, use Korean wheat naengmyeon-style noodles and keep the rinse especially thorough.
• •The safe shortcut is broth, if you must take one. Use a good unsalted beef broth, simmer it 20 minutes with radish, onion, garlic, ginger, and scallion, then chill and season it as written. Do not shortcut the cold, the skimming, or the noodle rinse.
• •For mul style, the red sauce should tint the broth as you stir, not turn the whole bowl into gochujang soup. For bibim style, the sauce can lead, but the noodles still need a splash of cold broth so they stay loose and chewy.
• •Summer cucumber is best here. If your cucumber is watery and tired, use more pickled radish and skip the cucumber. Cook the month you are standing in.
• •Leftover broth and sauce keep well; cooked noodles do not. Boil only what the table will eat, because rinsed noodles harden and lose their spring in the refrigerator.

Advance Preparation

• •Make the broth 1 to 2 days ahead. Chill it thoroughly, skim the fat, season it cold, and freeze 1 cup into slush before serving. The broth can also be frozen, unseasoned, for up to 2 months.
• •The sauce can be made up to 5 days ahead and refrigerated. It tastes rounder after a night because the gochugaru softens and the garlic settles.
• •The radish pickle can be made 2 days ahead. Keep it cold and drain lightly before serving so it does not water down the bowl.
• •Do not cook the noodles ahead. The whole dish can wait for the noodles, but the noodles cannot wait for the table.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 900g)