Muk-naengguk (Cold Acorn Jelly Soup)

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Small pot for broth
• •Fine strainer
• •Wide metal bowl or pitcher for chilling broth
• •Sharp knife

Instructions

1. 1

   Make the broth

   Put the water, kelp, and prepared anchovies in a small pot over medium heat. When the water reaches a gentle simmer, lift out the kelp right away, because kelp left too long turns the broth slick and bitter. Simmer the anchovies 10 minutes more, then strain. You should have about 4 cups of clean broth.

2. 2

   Season and chill

   Stir the soy sauce, rice vinegar, sugar, salt, and strained kimchi brine into the warm broth until dissolved. Taste it now. It should be a little sharper and saltier than you want in the bowl, because cold dulls seasoning and the muk will soften the flavor. Chill at least 2 hours, or 45 minutes in the freezer if you use a wide metal bowl and stir once.

   Do not add sesame oil to the broth. It floats and coats the mouth. Sesame oil belongs on the kimchi or at the finish, where one teaspoon is enough.
3. 3

   Cut the muk

   Rinse the dotori-muk briefly under cold water and pat it dry. Cut it into batons about 1/2 inch thick and 2 inches long. This size matters: thinner pieces break, thicker slabs taste heavy. The jelly should tremble but hold its edges.

4. 4

   Season the kimchi

   Put the sliced kimchi in a small bowl with the sesame oil and half the sesame seeds. Toss it by hand or with chopsticks. Seasoning the kimchi separately keeps the broth clean and lets the kimchi taste like itself, not like everything else in the bowl.

5. 5

   Arrange the bowls

   Divide the muk among four chilled bowls. Place the seasoned kimchi over one side and the cucumber over the other, then scatter the scallions. Do not stir yet. A cold soup should arrive at the table looking cared for, even when it cost very little.

6. 6

   Pour and finish

   Pour 1 cup of the cold broth into each bowl, adding a few ice cubes if the room is hot. Finish with crumbled gim and the remaining sesame seeds. Serve at once, before the gim softens and before the muk loses its clean chill.

Chef Tips

• •Buy fresh dotori-muk from a Korean market if you can. It should wobble, slice cleanly, and smell faintly nutty. If the surface is cracked, dry, or sour, leave it there and cook another cold soup tonight.
• •Packaged muk is honest weeknight food. Rinse it, soak it in cold water for 10 minutes, and slice it thick. 시대가 바뀌면 음식도 바뀌어야 해요. When times change, food must change too, but the knife work still has to be right.
• •Use kimchi that is fermented but not harshly sour. Very old kimchi will dominate the broth, and this bowl is not kimchi-jjigae served cold.
• •If your kimchi brine is very salty, start with 2 tablespoons instead of 1/4 cup, then add more after tasting. Write down the brand or jar you used. Memory is a borrowed bowl.
• •For a vegetarian version, make the broth with 5 cups water, 2 pieces kelp, and 4 dried shiitake mushrooms. Pull the kelp at the simmer, then steep the mushrooms 15 minutes. It will be quieter than anchovy broth, but still good.

Advance Preparation

• •The anchovy-kelp broth can be made and seasoned up to 2 days ahead. Keep it refrigerated until very cold, then stir before serving because the seasoning settles.
• •Cut the cucumber and slice the scallions up to 6 hours ahead and keep them covered in the refrigerator. Cut the muk no more than 1 hour ahead, or the edges dry out.
• •Assemble only at the table or just before serving. Once the gim touches the broth, it softens quickly, and once the muk sits in the seasoned liquid too long, it loses its best texture.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 550g)