24 Hour Ox Bone Soup (Seollongtang)

Recently I’ve been thinking a lot about greed. Not the bad kind but a Korean word that I think I’ve misunderstood my whole entire life. Ever since I was young, my parents would make comments about how I had yokshim which coarsely translates to “greed” in English. I remember hearing these comments and feeling a little deflated but because of our language gap, I think I missed the real meaning of what they were trying to say.

What I didn’t realize then is that yokshim has a positive connotation as well that gets lost when translated into English. Too much yokshim suggests greed but a little bit of balanced yokshim means ambition, drive, dedication to achieve your goals.

And I think recipes like this Korean ox bone soup — recipes that aren’t hard but require commitment and dedication to the process — remind me of my younger self. Even the history of this dish — making good use of what you have like leftover bones, cooking them down on a medium boil for hours on end until all of the nutrients have seeped into the milky white broth — is about balanced yokshim. If the ancient Koreans didn’t have a little bit of yokshim or ambition, they probably wouldn’t have survived.

So here’s to ambition, determination, and appreciation of the process. I highly recommend eating this soup with the classic seollongtang fixins like noodles, scallions, and and perhaps a pinch of Korean red pepper flakes (gochugaru) but this broth is also fantastic with a pinch of salt as a warm beverage to sip on in these cold winter months.

24-Hour Ox Bone Soup (4 servings):

• 4 lbs beef marrow leg bones (aka 사골 “sagol”)
• Water
• 2 lbs brisket
• 4 servings Korean thin wheat noodles aka somyeon
• 3-4 bunches of scallions, thinly sliced

Step 1. In a large bowl, soak the bones in cold water for an hour to help remove any impurities like small bone particles. Drain and rinse. Place bones into a large stock pot (the biggest one you have) and fill with cold water, leaving about 2 inches at the top so that it doesn’t spill over. Bring to a boil and then slightly reduce the heat, maintaining a medium boil (with bubbles continually rising to the top) for 5-6 hours. Add more water once or twice throughout the process to keep the pot full. The broth will become a milky white, slightly opaque color.

Step 2. In another large bowl, soak the brisket in cold water for an hour to remove any blood. Drain and then drop meat into the pot. After 1.5 to 2 hours, fetch the meat from the broth and set aside in a tupperware container. When cool enough to handle, slice, cover, and store in the fridge until it’s time to eat.

Step 3. When the broth is ready, remove the bones and set aside in a bowl. Strain the liquid into another large pot and chill for 12 hours (overnight in the fridge or outside if it’s cold enough) until the fat rises to the top and solidifies. Remove fat and save for cooking, if desired.

Step 4. Refill the stock pot with cold water and the bones. The broth is even milkier the second time around! Repeat steps above and store the final broth in freezer-safe containers. I did this and was able to make 10 quarts of broth 😊 Enjoy!!

Step 5. When you’re ready to eat, add a bundle of Korean wheat noodles to a bowl along with several slices of brisket and heaping spoonful of scallions. Add piping hot broth and serve immediately with sea salt, black pepper, and Korean red pepper flakes at the table for each person to season their soup as they like.