5 Korean Soup Stocks
Learn how to make anchovy stock, sea kelp stock, seafood stock, vegetable stock, and kimchi stock. These soup stocks will help you to master Korean cooking!
Ingredients
For the sea kelp stock
- 2 large pieces dried sea kelp (dashima)
- 8 cups water
For the anchovy stock
- 10-12 large dried anchovy
- 1 piece dried sea kelp (dashima) optional
- 8 cups water
For the seafood stock
- 6 large dried anchovy
- 1 large piece dried sea kelp (dashima)
- 3-4 dried herring fish (dipori) optional
- 1 leek roots included and diced
- 1 handful dried shredded pollock
- 1 handful dried shrimp
- 8 cups water
For the vegetable stock
- 8 oz radish diced
- 1 large piece dried sea kelp (dashima)
- 2 carrot
- 4 dried shiitake mushroom
- 1 onion cut in half
- 8 oz pumpkin diced
- 1 leek roots included and diced
- 10 cups water
For the kimchi stock
- 1 piece dried pollock head or a handful of pollock pieces
- 1 large piece dried sea kelp (dashima)
- 3-4 dried herring fish (dipori) optional
- 6 oz radish diced
- 1 apple cut in half
- 1 leek roots included and diced
- 12 cups water
Instructions
For the sea kelp stock
- Combine sea kelp and water in a pot and simmer over low heat for 5 minutes. Discard the sea kelp and reserve the stock.
For the anchovy stock
- Devein anchovies but keep the heads.
- Combine the anchovies, sea kelp (if using), and water in a pot and bring to boil over medium heat. Once boiling, use tongs to remove and discard the sea kelp, then simmer the anchovies over low heat for 5 minutes. Finally, discard the anchovies.
For the seafood stock
- Combine all the ingredients in a large pot and add water. Bring to boil.
- Once the water boils, remove and discard the sea kelp. Simmer the stock over low heat for 10 minutes. Strain and cool.
For the vegetable stock
- I don't peel the vegetables so that we can extract the full flavor from their skins and roots in our stock. Make sure to wash them clean.
- Put Korean radish, sea kelp, carrot, shiitake mushroom, onion, pumpkin and leek in a large pot and simmer until vegetables are soft, about 15-20 minutes. Discard all the vegetables and reserve the stock.
For the kimchi stock
- Collect a head of dried pollock fish, sea kelp, herring, apple, radish, and leek. If you can't find the whole dried pollock, omit it. You can also use dried shrimp or anchovy instead.
- Put them all in a large pot with water and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to low, and simmer for 30 minutes. Strain the stock and cool.
Notes
All Korean soup stocks freeze well. Put them in a freezer-safe container or in zip bags. For Kimchi stock, rather than freeze all the stock together, I separate the stock into portions that I can use to make one batch of kimchi. They can last in the freezer up to 6 months.