Naengmyeon (Summer)

About the dish

Naengmyeon has captivated Korean palates since long ago, and today it reigns as the dish of high summer — the classic finish after a feast of bulgogi or galbi. Yet it began as a winter food of the northern provinces: cooks cracked the skim of ice off dongchimi jars buried in the earth, ladled the icy brine over noodles, and ate them shivering on a heated ondol floor — beating cold with cold.

Key ingredient

Buckwheat (memil) — kind to the skin and the waistline, it helps guard against hypertension and other adult diseases, supports the liver against hangovers and aids the pancreas in steady insulin secretion. Harvested in October, mainly from Jeju.

Ingredients

Pheasant 200g, buckwheat flour 300g, sweet potato starch 300g, Korean radish 500g (about 1/2), cucumber 280g (2), pear 150g (1/2), onion 100g (2/3), water as needed, whole garlic as needed, chili threads (silgochu) as needed, ginger 20g (5 knobs), scallion 30g (1 stalk), egg 50g (1), salt as needed, soup soy sauce as needed, mustard as needed [Meat seasoning] gochugaru, chopped scallion, minced garlic [Sauce] salt 2 tsp, soy sauce 2 Tbsp, minced garlic and chopped scallion as needed

Simple recipe

1. Bring a pot of water to a boil, cook the cleaned pheasant with large pieces of radish, then lift out the pheasant and shred the meat finely.
2. Return the bones to the broth, boil for about an hour, add the scallion, onion and garlic, simmer gently another 30 minutes, and season with salt and soup soy sauce.
3. Toss the shredded meat with chopped scallion, gochugaru, minced garlic and salt.
4. Knead the buckwheat flour and sweet potato starch into a dough and press it through a noodle extruder.
5. Cut the cucumber into long julienne, salt it, squeeze and dress with the seasoning.
6. Boil the noodles, place them in bowls with the broth poured over, top with the seasoned meat, cucumber, chili threads, julienned pear and egg ribbons, and serve with mustard and the sauce.

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A Glass · Traditional pairing