Gamjatang is a wonderfully hearty and spicy Korean stew made with pork neck bones and potatoes. It’s a great frugal meal that Koreans enjoyed especially during the cold season. BTW, if you cannot get pork neck bones, you can just use pork ribs and it will still be delicious.
Gamjatang 감자탕 (Korean Pork Neck Bone Stew) is a dish that was not really common in Seoul when I was growing up. The first time I had it was when my nephew DW was fulfilling his military duties in Korea and my husband and I visited him. My nephew loves to eat (must run in the family) and his request was to eat 2 meals within 5 hrs of his time off with us!!
His 1st request was to eat Gamjatang for lunch and then 2nd was to have Jjajangmyeon and Tangsuyuk (Sweet and Sour Pork) for dinner. And after the early dinner, he wanted to take a box of pizza back to his unit so he could share with his buddies.
In between these meals, we sat in a coffee shop, waiting for our stomach to digest and waiting anxiously, wondering if things would be digested in time for another meal!!! Yesss.. it did. Can you tell that our family loves to eat?? 😂😂 I can’t believe that he is now a proud father of very cute two boys — I feel OLD… 😭
History of Gamjatang
Gamjatang originates from Korea’s Jeolla province and the history dates back to the Three Kingdoms (57 BC to 668 AD) when Jeolla people raised hogs for food. As you can imagine, hog neck bones were not a very highly sought after part of the animal and thus was something the commoner could easily make a meal out of.
Why is it called Gamjatang? What’s in the name?
Many think it’s called Gamjatang because Gamja 감자 means Potato in Korean and there are potatoes in this stew. But consensus is, that’s not really why. There is a part of the hog’s back bone that’s called Gamja and then the hog’s spinal cord is also called Gamja. So the name most likely originated from the fact that the back or neck bone along with perhaps the spinal cord was all cooked together in this yummy stew.
Cook’s tips on How to Make best Gamjatang (Pork Bone Stew)
- Substitute any part of pork ribs for neck or back bone
- If there’s a porky or gamey smell, soak pork bones in cold water for 1 hour and pre-boil, discard liquid
- Cook thoroughly and sufficiently until all the meat attached to the bone is tender
- This is a very flavorful and fragrant stew – don’t skimp on spices and perilla leaves or other garnishes
- Use and Instant Pot and try my Instant Pot Gamjatang Recipe – it comes out tender, faster and just as yummy.
Step-by-Step Directions
- If using pork neck bones, soak in cold water for 30 min. to remove excess blood.
Pork Neck Bones for Gamjatang If using pork ribs, there’s no need to soak.
- Once soaked (no need if using ribs), boil pork neck bones or ribs in a pot. Add enough water to cover the pork, add a splash of cooking sake/mirin/white wine, 1 Tbsp of pepper corns, 1 knob of ginger and 1/2 Tbsp of ground coffee.
Pork Neck Bones in Pot with aromatics - Bring to boil on medium high heat and then cook on medium heat for 10 minutes.
Boiled Pork Neck Bones - Drain and discard the liquid. Add the pork (only not the liquid) back into the pot.
- Prepare all vegetables.
Gamjatang Vegetable Ingredients - Peel potatoes and cut into big chunks about 1.5 inch cubes.
- Rinse green onions, perilla leaves, red or green chili peppers, shishito peppers, seoul green cabbage and crown daisies.
- Cut red or green chili peppers into 1 inch to 1.5 inch lengths.
- Cut green onions into 2 inch lengths.
Cut Vegetables for Gamjatang - Fold perilla leaves in half and cut into thick strips.
Cutting perilla leaves for Gamjatang
- Make seasoning sauce by mixing in Gochujang, Deonjang, chopped garlic, grated ginger, gukganjang, anchovy sauce, ground perilla seeds, black pepper, cooking sake, red chili powder and 1/2 c water.
Gamjatang – Korean Pork Bone Stew Sauce - In the pot with pre-cooked pork, add water (5 cups) and the sauce from above.
- Cook on medium high heat for 10 minutes.
- Add potatoes, chili peppers, cabbage and 1/2 of green onions to pork and simmer for 35 minutes or until the meat falls off the bone.
- Finish the stew by topping it with perilla leaves, enoki mushrooms, more green onions and optionally crown daisies.
Different stages of cooking Gamjatang in Pot - Cook for another 2-3 minutes and serve.
Gamjatang Finished in Pot - Alternatively, you can cook the stew at the table – which is what most restaurants do in Seoul.
- Serve with some rice and non-spicy banchans like Sukju Namul, Apple Onion Salad or various Jeons or Pancakes
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Gamjatang - Spicy Pork Bone Stew
Ingredients
- 2 lb pork ribs or pork neck bones
- 5 cups water
For pre-cooking pork
- 1 Tbsp cooking sake or mirin
- 1 Tbsp pepper corns
- 1 Tbsp fresh ginger just use 1 inch length
- 1/2 Tbsp ground coffee
Vegetables and Aromatics
- 2 each potatoes russet
- 2 bunches green onions
- 1/2 pack enoki mushrooms
- 7 each crown daisies Ssukaat
- 10 each perilla leaves
- 8 each shishito peppers optional
- 1 bunch Seoul cabbage napa cabbage is ok too
- 3 each red chili peppers
Seasoning sauce
- 2 Tbsp Doenjang Korean Soybean paste
- 1 Tbsp Gochujang Korean Red Chili paste
- 1 tsp fresh ginger, grated
- 1 Tbsp garlic, chopped about 4 cloves
- 1/4 tsp black pepper
- 1 Tbsp Korean red chili powder Gochukaru 고추가루
- 1 tsp anchovy sauce, fermented Myeolchi Aekjeot 멸치액젓
- 2 tsp Gukganjang Korean soup soy sauce
- 2 Tbsp ground Perilla Seeds Deulkkae Garu 들깨가루
- 2 Tbsp cooking sake mirin ok
- 1/2 cup water
Instructions
Prepare Pork
- If using pork neck bones, soak in cold water for 1 hour to remove excess blood and smell. If using pork ribs, no need to soak.
- If using pork ribs, start boiling the pork now. If using pork neck bones, prepare below while soaking.
- Boil pork bones in a pot. Add enough water to cover the pork, add a splash of cooking sake/mirin/white wine, 1 Tbsp of pepper corns, 1 knob of ginger and 1/2 Tbsp of ground coffee. Bring to boil on medium high heat and then cook on medium heat for 10 minutes. Drain. Add the pork (only not the liquid) back into the pot.
Prepare all vegetables.
- Peel potatoes and cut into big chunks about 1.5 inch cube.
- Rinse green onions, perilla leaves, red or green chili peppers, shishito peppers, seoul green cabbage and crown daisies.
- Cut red or green chili peppers into 1 inch to 1.5 inch lengths.
- Cut green onions into 2 inch lengths.
- Cut perilla leaves into thick strips.
Prepare Sauce
- Make seasoning sauce by mixing in Gochujang, Deonjang, chopped garlic, grated ginger, gukganjang, anchovy sauce, ground perilla seeds, black pepper, cooking sake and red chili powder.
Put it all together
- In the pot with pre-cooked pork, add 5 cups water and the seasoning sauce.
- Cook on medium high heat for 10 minutes.
- Add potatoes, chili peppers, cabbage and 1/2 of green onions to pork and simmer for 35 minutes or until the meat falls off the bone.
- Finish the stew by topping it with perilla leaves, more green onions and crown daisies. Cook for another 2-3 minutes and serve. Alternatively, you can cook the stew at the table - which is what most restaurants do in Seoul.
- Serve with some rice and a non-spicy banchans like Sukju Namul, Apple Onion Salad or various Jeons or Pancakes
Tips & Notes:
- Substitute any part of pork ribs for neck or back bone
- If there's a porky or gamey smell, soak pork bones in cold water for 1 hr and pre-boil, discard liquid
- Cook thoroughly and sufficiently until all the meat attached to the bone is tender
- This is a very flavorful and fragrant stew - don't skimp on spices and perilla leaves or other garnishes
- Add more red chili powder to increase the spice level
- Ground perilla seed (Deulkkae Garu 들깨가루) is an important ingredient in this dish. You can make it without it but it just won't taste the same.
Hello Jinjoo 🙂 I love Gamjatang and I can’t wait to try your recipe. Just wondering, can I substitute the cooking sake with a Korean version of alcohol like soju? Reason being, I live in Korea now.
Hi Laura. Good to hear from you. You can substitute with soju but it’s probably better you add jeongjong 정종 if you can since that has more flavor. You may need to add a bit of sugar if you use soju. Enjoy Korea!!
Tried this recipe last night and it was so good. Thank you Kimchimari for such a wonderful Korean recipe blog.
Awesome!! So glad you enjoyed it and thank you so much for taking the time to comment. Really appreciate it.
I would love to make this stew. Is there a way for me to prepare this without all the “heat”?
First, it’s really not THAT spicy. But sure, you can omit red chili powder, red chilis. And also omit Gochujang and add a bit more Doenjang and Soy sauce or salt to taste. You should leave the shishito peppers since that;s really not spicy. Good luck!
Very delicious! I love Korean food anyway,I guess I should have been Korean!
Hi Jinjoo- I’m curious why you throw out the First water that is used to boil the bones? Would you not lose a lot of meaty flavor if the pork neckbone is fresh? Is it because of the coffee ground?
Another question is how to keep my gochujang soft [like when I first open the container]? After a while – the paste hardens into a brick inside the plastic container that it comes in! I normally add hot water to a few tablespoons of it to soften it if I succeed in chipping off a few blocks.
Hi! So you don’t HAVE to discard the water if the broth tastes OK. I throw it out just to be safe in case the pork is not so fresh and it smells a bit too porky. And yes, since I use coffee grounds, I also want to throw it out. But if you don’t want to and if you are also sure your pork is fresh, you could not add coffee grounds and use the broth.
As for gochujang, are you keeping it in the fridge and sealed? If it’s sealed, it shouldn’t get so hard unless it is stored for a very long time and it dries out. If it is like a brick, you could soften it by adding and mixing some soju. BTW, if it’s like a brick, I would actually recommend that you buy a new container. 😉 Probably won’t taste as good… Thank you and good luck!