Doenjang jjigae

Doenjang jjigae is a Korean stew made with doenjang, a fermented soybean paste that gives it its distinctive savoury flavour. It is cooked with vegetables, mushrooms, seafood or tofu, depending on the region and the occasion, and it ranks among the most everyday dishes in Korean home cooking.

History

Doenjang, the base of the stew, dates back to the Three Kingdoms period of Korea. In an agricultural society with little meat available, especially in winter, farmers made various jang from plants and seeds as a protein alternative. Doenjang was produced by fermenting soybeans shaped into meju blocks.

The first official record appears in the Samguk sagi, which mentions its use at the wedding of King Sinmun of Silla in 683. The earliest form of the stew is linked to a curled mallow soup described in the Jeungbo sallim gyeongje, an agricultural treatise by the physician Yu Jung-Rim, written during the reign of King Yeongjo. Over time, each province developed its own recipes. Industrialisation later replaced much homemade paste with factory-made doenjang.

Culture

Doenjang jjigae is eaten every day, at any hour and without a special occasion, usually with rice. It differs from doenjang guk, a soup also served with rice, in being thicker, containing more ingredients and being served mainly as a main dish. The broth starts with dried anchovies and white radish, and the doenjang and chili are added before the other ingredients.

Variants are usually named after their main ingredient: kkot-gae with crab, chadolbaegi with beef brisket, bajirak with clams, dallae with chives, naengi with shepherd's purse roots, and gang-doenjang, a thicker version stir-fried with gochujang. The beef version is the most common and often appears in Korean barbecue restaurants.

Trivia