Salty beef side dish Jangjorim 장조림

Jangjorim is one of the most loved Korean side dishes. It’s also a popular item for lunch boxes. I love to add lots of green chile peppers to my jangjorim. I enjoy not only the beef taste but also the juice, which contains saltiness from soy sauce, good aroma from green chile pepper, and a little sweetness from kelp, garlic and honey. How can it not be delicious?

I don’t know why I think the eggs in jangjorim are much more delicious than any regular hardboiled eggs. I seldom eat hard boiled eggs, but the eggs in jangjorim are irresistible!

After eating all solid ingredients, what will you do with the leftover juice?

Mix your warm rice with the juice! Eat as it is or wrap it in crispy seaweed (kim) and put it into your mouth. My mouth is watery while writing this. ;

Cooking time: 1.5 hours

Ingredients

1 pound of beef (flank steak or round part), soy sauce, water, honey, garlic, eggs, shishito peppers (kkwarigochu in Korean), dried kelp.

Prepare 1 pound (about 450 grams) of beef (flank part or round part) and cut it along the grain into 2×3 inch sized chunks.
Soak the beef chunks in cold water.
Put 4 cups of water into a thick-bottomed pot and bring to a boil.
When the water boils, drain the beef and put it into the boiling water.
Boil it for 50 minutes to 1 hour, until the beef is tender.
When the beef is fully cooked and tender, take out the beef chunks and wash and drain them in cold water.
*tip: If the beef is still tough after 50 minutes, add more water and cook longer. Poke the beef with a fork to see if it’s tender enough or not. The fork should go through the beef easily.
Sieve the beef stock through a coffee filter or cheese cloth to get a clear broth.
Put the beef chunks into the pot and add 2 cups of broth, ¾ cup soy sauce, ½ cup of garlic cloves, a few strips (4×5 cm) of dried kelp, 2 cups of shishito peppers, 1 tbs honey, and rest 3 eggs on top.
Bring to a boil for 7 minutes over medium high heat.
Open the lid and turn the eggs over so that the egg yolks will be in the center of the eggs when they are cooked.
Cook another 10 minutes.
Take out the eggs and rinse them in cold water. Crack the shells a bit by gently tapping each egg on your cutting board.
Put the eggs back into the pot and stir so they are submerged.
*tip: the soy sauce juice will enter through the cracks and make a cool pattern on the eggs.
Cook another 15 minutes and remove the pot from the heat.
Take the eggs out and peel the shells off. You will see the beautiful pattern!
Cool it down and keep it in the refrigerator.

How to serve:

Take some beef from the container and put it on a serving plate
Tear the beef into bite sized pieces.
Put some cooked shishito peppers, kelp, and sliced egg next to the beef and add some jangjorim juice, too.