Mul Naengmyeon (Korean Cold Noodle Soup)
Mul Naengmyeon is the best summer food to have with its refreshingly clean broth. I have 2 different recipe broths - one with a full made from scratch beef broth and another that's almost instant that's ready in minutes.
- Prep time
- 15 min
- Cook time
- 35 min
- Yield
- 3 servings
- Difficulty
- MEDIUM
Ingredients
Quantities are shown as originally provided.
- 1.5 lb beef shank ((or brisket))
- 5 cloves garlic
- 7 g ginger ((1.5 x 0.25" thick slice))
- 13 cups water ((only use 40% of water if using Instant Pot))
- 1 each onion ((small))
- 1 tsp Guk Ganjang (Korean Soup Soy Sauce)
- 1 tsp sea salt ((Trader Joe's))
- 2 Tbsp cucumber pickle liquid
- 2 Tbsp radish pickle liquid
- 1 each Korean Cucumber (1 equals 1 cup) ((or 1/2 English or 2 Persian))
- 2 tsp sea salt
- 1 Tbsp rice vinegar
- 1 Tbsp sugar
- 1 cup Korean radish ((cut into thin slices, rectangular))
- 2 tsp sea salt
- 1 Tbsp rice vinegar
- 1 Tbsp sugar
- 1/4 each asian pear
- 2 each egg
- 60 g buckwheat naengmyeon noodles
Instructions
- 1
Make Beef Broth
- 2
In a pot, add beef shank, whole small onion, garlic cloves, ginger and water. On stove top, cook for about 2 hrs 30 to 40 min until fork goes in easily. For the Instant Pot - cook 35 min, manual HIGH pressure and Natural Release for 15 min and then QR to open.
- 3
Pickle Cucumbers - (while you wait for beef to cook)
- 4
Cut cucumbers either at an angle or into rectangles (whatever you feel like).
- 5
In a bowl, add cucumbers, vinegar, salt, sugar and mix well. Set aside for about 10-15 minutes until cucumbers are well pickled.
- 6
For EXTRA CRUNCHY (optional- Once fully pickled, you can put the cucumbers in a fine cheesecloth and squeeze out excess liquid. Do NOT discard the liquid. You get extra crunchy cucumber toppings this way.
- 7
Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve.
- 8
Pickle Radish -
- 9
Cut about a 1-inch thick disc from radish, peel and then cut vertically so you will end up with thin strips.
- 10
In a bowl, add cut radish, vinegar, salt, sugar and mix well. Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve.
- 11
Cook Hard Boiled Eggs -
- 12
Boil water, lower to simmer, add egg and cook for 10 minutes. Cool in cold water and peel. Then cut it in half.
- 13
OPTIONAL - peel and cut Asian pear into thin slices.
- 14
Once beef is cooked from 1, let it cool for few minutes and then take out beef from the broth and put on a cutting board for a few minutes until they are cool enough to touch. Keep beef covered with while it's cooling so beef doesn't dry up too much.
- 15
When beef broth is cool enough to handle, strain broth through a sieve or cheesecloth into a bowl or container. Chill broth in fridge. For quicker result, make an ice bath in a sink or in a large bowl and cool broth by immersing the container (with the broth) in the ice bath. FYI - For 1.5 lb shank, you should get about 1 quart of broth.
- 16
Slice beef shank thinly against the muscle/grain. Serve at room temperature or cold from the fridge.
- 17
Remove the solidified fat bits from beef broth after it's chilled. Because shank has little fat, the amount of fat will be minimal.
- 18
Season cold broth from above with Guk Ganjang (Soup Soy Sauce), sea salt and couple Tbs each of the pickling liquid from the pickled radish and cucumber and Refrigerate until serving time.
- 19
Cook Noodles - boil a pot of water and add your noodles and cook according to package directions.
- 20
For Dry Noodles (left in picture), usually, cook for 3-4 minutes. For Wet Noodles (right in picture), usually, cook for 40 seconds to 1 minute. Make sure noodles are separated before you cook.
- 21
Have an ice bath ready and transfer the cooked noodles into the ice bath. Rinse noodles by rubbing the noodles lightly between your hands. See video. Repeat 3 times. Make individual noodle portion by swirling and bunching them up with your hands. Place them on a sieve to continue draining. See video.