Ox Tail Soup (Gori gomtang)

꼬리곰탕 (Gori Gomtang/Kkori gomtang)
Ox tails have a great flavor, and when cooked correctly become very tender. This Korean Ox-tail soup has a rich milky colored broth and is fantastic any time of year, but is especially comforting during cold winter months.
Food Note: Gori Gomtang is just one of the soup types known as Gomguk.
Alternative spellings: gorri gum taeng, gori gom tang, kori kom tang, Gorigomtang, kkori-gomtang.

Servings: 5

Cooking Times

Total Time: 5 hours

Recipe Type: Beef, Korean, Soup

Ingredients

Basic Ingredients

4 lbs beef oxtail

8 cups water*

1 ounce ginger

5 each cloves fresh garlic, peeled

1/2 teaspoon salt

* may use 3 cups beef broth and 5 cups water

Optional Ingredients

1 each medium onion

1/4 small daikon radish (1 to 1 1/2 lbs)

Korean sweet potato starch noodle (glass, cellophane, or clear noodle)

salt

pepper

Basic Garnish

4 each green or spring onions

Optional Garnish

8 each cloves fresh garlic, peeled

Procedure

Preparation

Ox Tail

If whole, seperate the ox tail at the joint.

Hand trim excess fat from the segmented ox tail. Set fat aside in a small container.

Put ox tail in a large pot and completely cover with cold water. Let soak for one hour and discard water.

Rinse thouroughly.

Garlic And Ginger

Trim the hard tops from the garlic.

Slice garlic cloves in half from top to bottom.

Slice un-peeled ginger in thin diagonal slices.

Onion if used

Cut onion in half from top to bottom.

Starch noodle if used

Soak noodle in cold water for one hour (do this two hours into the cooking).

Daikon if used

Wash well and thinly slice.

Put in a small bowl and lightly salt.

Mix well and let stand ten minutes. (Do this about twenty minutes before the end of cooking)

Cooking

Place ox tail and trimmed fat in a large cooking pot with 8 cups water (or water/broth) over high heat and bring to a boil, skimming off oil and foam as needed.

Reduce heat to medium and add salt, garlic and ginger (add onion now if used).

Simmer for 3 to 4 hours, skimming as needed (until meat is almost falling from bone and broth is a milky color).

Remove ox tail from broth with a slotted spoon and place into serving bowls.

Using a hand held strainer, remove onion and garlic solids from soup and discard.

(If used, add sliced Daikon now and simmer for another ten minutes)

Remove the soup from heat.

(if used, add noodle to serving bowls)

Garnish and Serve

Chop the green/spring onions (if used, thinly slice the garlic cloves from top to bottom).

Ladle soup into serving bowls, add garnish, and season with salt/pepper to taste.