Bossam-guk

A light but flavourful broth made from the poaching liquid used to cook bossam pork belly, often served alongside the main dish.

Bossam-guk is the underrated companion soup to one of Korea's most beloved communal dishes — bossam, thinly sliced boiled pork belly wrapped in salted napa cabbage leaves with kimchi and fermented shrimp paste. After the pork belly is poached for an hour or more in a broth seasoned with doenjang, ginger, garlic, and spring onion, the resulting liquid is a pork broth of remarkable gentleness and depth, and Korean cooks strain and serve it separately as the soup course of the meal. The broth's slightly porky sweetness is tempered by the aromatics used in the poaching, and a few slices of mu (radish) are often added to absorb any excess fat and clarify the liquid. It is the kind of dish that only makes sense as part of a larger meal — served in a small cup or bowl to help cleanse the palate between wraps, to warm the stomach, and to ensure nothing from the cooking process is wasted. Bossam restaurants in Seoul's Mapo and Jongno districts, which have perfected the dish over decades, present the broth with quiet pride as evidence of the quality of their pork and their technique.