Talking Time:
This soup instills fear in Korean men. Whenever Korean women need to go somewhere for a long time, they make a huge batch of this soup and let their husbands fend for themselves. As you may or may not know, Korean men are notorious for not being helpful around the house and they're definitely not known for their cooking skills.
One time, my mom made a huge batch of this soup and my dad started freaking out. He frantically asked her where she was going and tried to hold her passport hostage. Fortunately for my dad (who can only make cereal, ramen, and soy sauce rice), she wasn't going anywhere. She was just cooking sullungtang because it's yummy, convenient, and versatile. This is liquid gold my friends.
The hardest part of making this soup is the time it takes. However, it doesn't really require a lot of cooking skills. You just boil the bones, monitor it, and then repeat the process one or two more times. I personally like to boil the bones three times because I end up getting a bunch of soup that can probably feed my husband for a month if I ever run away.
Even though COVID-19 foiled my escape plans (just kidding. I'm too broke to run away from the hand that feeds me), I'm glad I made this soup to feed our entire family several meals.
Shopping Tips:
I love going to local butcher shops because they sell quality beef bones for cheap. Call your local butcher shop to compare prices. Ask them how much their marrow bones cost and if they can cut it into horizontal pieces. You'll probably get a better price at a non Asian grocery store or butcher.
If you live in the Bay Area, a great place to get marrow bones is Berkeley Bowl. I got over 6 pounds of bones for $18, which they cut into horizontal pieces, right in front of me.
Restaurant v. Cooking at Home Cost:
Kunjip, a popular sullungtang restaurant in Santa Clara, sells their sullungtang for $13.99. If you get it to go, that comes out to a little over $15 with tax.
I bought my sullungtang ingredients for $45. Keep in mind that this is on the high end because I bought some expensive brisket. Regardless, it cost me $45 to make 12 servings of Kunjip sized sullungtang.
Cost per serving:
- Restaurant - $15
- Home - $3.75
If you only use the beef bones to make the broth without the brisket, it comes out to $1.80 a serving.
Recipe Recommendation and Some Cooking Tips:
The key to a clean tasting broth is drawing out as much blood as possible. I would recommend soaking the bones and meat overnight in the fridge. If you're able, change out the water several times.
Also, be careful when handling the bones in the beginning because the bone fragments can hurt your fingers.
Check out my leftover stash. Yes, my friends. These are leftovers!!! A mom's dream come true.
9 big plastic containers full of leftover sullungtang goodness, ready for freezing.
Eat it with some kimchi made by your Korean mother-in-law. You don't have a Korean mother-in-law that doesn't make kimchi? I'm sorry. If you're single, good news! There's still hope for you.
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