Deungppyeo-ganjang-jjim (Cola-Braised Pork Neck Bones in Soy) · Kim Sun-young

Soak the 1 kg of pork neck bones in cold water until the blood has drawn out and the water runs pale pink rather than red — change the water a couple of times.

💡 Skipping this is the one thing you cannot fix later. Blood left in the bones turns to grey scum and a barnyard smell that no amount of cola, soy or cinnamon will cover.

Bring a large pot of water to a rolling boil on high heat.

Add the drained bones with 25 g ginger, 5 bay leaves, ½ tbsp whole peppercorns and 400 ml of cola, and boil for about 1 hour — her figure. Skim the foam off in the first ten minutes.

💡 Cola in the boiling water is not a gimmick — the acidity works on the connective tissue while the sugar starts a background caramel note. It is doing what a splash of vinegar or wine does in a Western braise.

Scoop out and reserve 200 ml of the cooking liquid, then lift the bones out and rinse them under cold water.

💡 Rinsing washes off the coagulated scum clinging to the bones. Reserving a cup of the liquid before you do it keeps the gelatin and the pork flavour — that cup is the backbone of the braising sauce.

Cut the potato (150 g), carrot (100 g) and onion (110 g) into large chunks, and cut the daepa (120 g) into lengths.

Put the rinsed bones into a wide pot with the potato and carrot, the reserved 200 ml stock, another 400 ml of cola, 6 tbsp soy sauce, 4 tbsp matsul, 2 tbsp minced garlic, 2 tbsp yuja syrup, ½ tsp cinnamon and 7 Vietnamese chilies.

💡 Note the cola turning up a second time. The first 400 ml tenderised; this 400 ml is the sweetener and the glaze, standing in for the sugar or syrup a soy braise would normally use.

Bring it to a boil and cook about 10 minutes — her figure. Keep it at a confident bubble, not a gentle one.

💡 Half a teaspoon of cinnamon in a savoury pot sounds wrong until you taste it. It is doing the same job as the star anise in a Chinese red braise — you should not be able to name it in the finished dish, only miss it if it were gone.

Add the tteokbokki rice cakes (150 g), the chunked onion (110 g) and the daepa (120 g).

Cook 5 minutes more — her figure — until the rice cakes have puffed and softened and the onion has gone translucent at the edges.

💡 The rice cakes go in this late for a reason: they drink sauce and thicken it as they cook. Add them at the start and you get bloated, mushy tteok in a sauce that has been robbed of its liquid.

Spoon the sauce over the bones a few times so the exposed tops get glazed too.

Turn the heat off and stir through 1 tsp ground pepper, ½ tbsp sesame seeds and 1 tbsp sesame oil.

💡 All three are aromatics and all three are volatile. Off the heat is the only place they belong — boil them and you have spent them for nothing.

Taste the sauce. It should read sweet-savoury and glossy — if it is too sharp, another spoon of yuja syrup rounds it out.

Tip it into a wide bowl and serve hot with rice. Eat it with your hands — neck bones are not cutlery food.