Ureokjeot-guk (Semi-Dried Rockfish Soup)

This soup begins before the pot, on the western coast where rockfish are split, salted lightly, and dried until the flesh firms but does not turn hard. Fresh fish makes a quick sweetness. Half-dried ureok gives something deeper and cleaner, the taste of the sea after the shouting has gone quiet.

Ureokjeot-guk asks restraint from you tonight. Rinse the fish, but don't wash away its character. Simmer it gently, not violently. Season with saeujeot (salted shrimp) by measured spoonfuls, because both the fish and the jeot carry salt already. The rice water is not filler. It rounds the broth and keeps the soup pale and soft-edged, which is why plain water tastes thinner here.

My teacher would say to taste the broth before touching the salt jar. She was right, and annoying, which is often the same thing in a kitchen. Write it down. Memory is a borrowed bowl. Once you know how salty your fish and saeujeot are, this becomes a very calm soup to carry to the table with rice, kimchi, and one green namul beside it.