Beef Miyeok-guk (Seaweed Soup) · Paik Jong-won

Soak the cut seaweed in plenty of cold water for about 20–30 minutes, until it unfurls, turns deep green and feels slippery and pliable.

💡 His list says only 'soak in water' without a time. 20–30 minutes is our figure, not his. Use a far bigger bowl than looks necessary: 10 g of dry miyeok expands to roughly a bowlful, and beginners are always caught out by it.

Drain the soaked seaweed and squeeze it gently, then cut it into manageable lengths if the strands are long.

💡 Squeeze out the soaking water — carrying it into the pot dilutes the soup and drags in the faint sea-bitterness the soak was meant to remove.

Cut the brisket into bite-size pieces.

Pour the sesame oil into a pot, add the beef, and stir-fry over medium-low heat.

💡 Medium-LOW is deliberate. Sesame oil is a fragrant, low-smoke-point oil — it is here for aroma, not for searing. On high heat it scorches and turns acrid, and the soup will taste burnt from the first minute onward.

Fry 2–3 minutes, until the beef has lost its red colour all over and the oil smells rich and nutty.

Add the drained seaweed to the pot and stir-fry it together with the beef for about 3–5 minutes over medium-low heat, until the strands glisten with oil and darken.

💡 Frying the seaweed before any water is the entire method. Oil-coated miyeok gives a rounded, nutty broth; seaweed boiled straight in water gives a thin, faintly fishy one. This is the step people skip and then wonder why their miyeok-guk tastes flat.

Pour the guk-ganjang straight onto the seaweed in the pot and keep frying for another minute or so.

💡 Soy sauce is fried in WITH the seaweed rather than stirred into the finished soup. Hitting the hot pan first, it loses its raw sharpness and deepens the colour of the broth — pour it in at the end and it just tastes salty.

Pour in the water, turn the heat to high, and bring it up to a boil.

Once it boils, add the minced garlic and keep it boiling.

Simmer over medium heat for about 15–20 minutes, until the broth turns cloudy and pale green and the seaweed is completely tender with no rubbery bite.

💡 His method gives no boiling time at all — 15–20 minutes is our figure. Go by the broth: while it is still clear and watery, it is not ready. Miyeok-guk genuinely improves with a longer, gentler simmer.

Taste, then season at the very end with the anchovy fish sauce, adding it a little at a time.

💡 Fish sauce last, and off a taste — never at the start. It brings a savoury depth salt cannot, but it is pungent and easy to overshoot, and the guk-ganjang has already salted the pot.

Ladle into bowls and serve hot with rice — traditionally on a birthday morning.