Stews & Soups
Gamjatang (Pork Bone Potato Stew)
Prep
20 min
Cook
150 min
Servings
4
Steps
- 1
Soak the pork bones in cold water at least 1 hour, changing water once, to draw out blood.
- 2
Boil the bones hard for 10 minutes in fresh water, then discard this water and rinse the bones.
- 3
Return the bones to a clean pot with fresh water, and simmer 90 minutes to 2 hours until the meat is tender.
- 4
Whisk together gochujang, gochugaru, doenjang, and garlic, and stir into the pot.
- 5
Add the potato and cabbage, and simmer another 20-30 minutes until the potato is tender.
- 6
Stir in the ground perilla seed to thicken and enrich the broth.
- 7
Add torn perilla leaves and green onion in the last few minutes.
- 8
Season with salt to taste before serving.
Did you know — Korean culture
Gamjatang's name looks like it simply means "potato stew," since gamja is the modern Korean word for potato. But there's a real etymology dispute: some food historians argue the name actually comes from an old regional term for the pork spine bones the stew is built on, and the potato showed up later as a hearty add-in that happened to share the name. Either way, the potato chunks are now considered essential, whichever came first.
The first-boil-discard step matters just as much here as it does for any long-simmered bone broth — pork spine bones carry a lot of blood and impurities, and boiling them briefly in one batch of water, then throwing that water out and starting clean, is what keeps the final stew from tasting muddy.
Ground perilla seed isn't a garnish here, it's a thickener. Stirred into the broth toward the end, it gives gamjatang a slightly nutty richness and a bit of body that a purely gochujang-based broth doesn't have on its own — leaving it out changes the texture more than people expect.
The name itself hides a genuine etymology dispute. Gamjatang looks like it simply means "potato stew," since gamja is the modern word for potato. But some food historians argue the name actually traces back to an old regional term for the pork spine bones the stew is built on, with the potato added later as a hearty ingredient that happened to share the name. Either way, the potato is now considered non-negotiable.
Troubleshooting
Broth tastes muddy or bitter? The bones likely weren't parboiled and rinsed properly before the main simmer — don't skip the discard-the-first-water step.
Broth thin instead of rich? Make sure the perilla seed actually gets stirred in, not just sprinkled on top — it needs to dissolve into the liquid to thicken it.
Meat still tough near the bone after 90 minutes? Larger bone pieces need the longer end of the simmer range; give it the full 2 hours before checking again.