Doenjang-jjigae

As tradition built it

Serves 2 to 4. About 20 minutes, once the doenjang itself exists.

Ingredients

• 2 to 3 tbsp doenjang, traditionally made (see The Ferment and Preserve Bench)
• 800ml (4 cups) anchovy or kelp stock
• 120g tofu, 80g courgette, 50g onion, 150g potato, 20g (2) shiitake mushrooms tofu, courgette, onion, potato, mushroom
• 1/2 tbsp gochugaru, or 1 fresh green chilli a little gochugaru or fresh chilli, to taste
• 1 tbsp minced garlic garlic

Method

1. Bring an anchovy or kelp stock to a simmer.
2. Dissolve the doenjang into the stock, breaking down any lumps.
3. Add sliced vegetables, cooking each in roughly the order it needs, potato and onion first, softer vegetables and tofu last.
4. Finish with garlic and, if wanted, a little extra chilli.

Notes

This chapter's research did not find institutionally sourced quantities for the finished stew itself, only for the doenjang paste that is its whole point; the method above is standard and reliable, and a reader's actual variable is the quality of the doenjang going in, not the stew's assembly.

What a modern chef changes

The point of the dish made explicit: the stew is a vehicle for the jang, not the other way round.

Rung 3's principle, tasted directly

Method

1. Cook a side-by-side pair, one stew made with a genuinely long-aged, home-made or artisan-sourced doenjang, one with a mass-market flavour-enhancer-bulked version, and taste them next to each other before deciding this dish needs any further embellishment at all; the difference is the whole argument of this chapter's Rung 3, made edible.
2. Do not overcook the tofu and courgette. A properly aged doenjang carries enough depth on its own that the vegetables' job is to stay distinct in texture, not to disappear into the broth.
3. Finish, do not start, with the gochugaru, added at the very end so its ground heat stays bright rather than boiling into a flatter, muddier note.