How to cook chueotang

Mudfish, well known as an ingredient for chueotang, is a fish that mainly inhabits muddy areas such as swamps, rice paddies, or irrigation ditches, and possesses extraordinary vitality, being able to withstand dirty water or low oxygen levels. According to the 'Dongui Bogam,' it is recorded as 'chueo,' written as 'mikkuri' in Hangul. Because mikkuri and mikkuraji have similar appearances, they are mostly referred to by the same name without distinction. However, they are classified as different species biologically and are said to differ somewhat in form.

Mudfish?

What other mudfish dishes are there besides chueotang?

Mudfish is widely used as a nutritious food due to its high protein and vitamin A content. Along with mikkuri, it is famous as an ingredient for chueotang, and it is also eaten as fried mudfish. Additionally, it is used in dishes such as mudfish soup and mudfish extract.

How to cook chueotang

Ingredients: 600g mudfish, 100g boiled taro stems, 200g boiled dried cabbage (ugeoji), 10 perilla leaves, 4 tbsp salt, 1 green onion

Broth ingredients: 200g beef brisket, 1/2 head of garlic, 1/2 piece of ginger

Seasoning paste ingredients: 2 tbsp soup soy sauce, 1 tsp red chili paste (gochujang), 1 tbsp red chili powder, 2 tbsp minced green onion, 1 tbsp minced garlic, 1 tbsp minced ginger, 1/8 tsp black pepper

Garnish ingredients: 3 tbsp minced green chili, 3 tbsp minced red chili, 4 tbsp minced garlic, 2 tbsp minced ginger

Additional ingredients: 3 tbsp perilla seed powder, 1/2 tsp prickly ash (sancho) powder

1. Place the mudfish in a large bowl, pour in water, and leave it overnight to purge sand and grit, then drain in a sieve and sprinkle with salt.

2. Rub the mudfish with salt until the bubbles disappear, then rinse.

3. Put the rinsed mudfish in boiling water and cook thoroughly, then press it through a sieve or grind it in a blender.

4. Cut the soaked taro stems to a suitable length, dividing them into 4 to 6 sections, then season them with the paste made by mixing the seasoning ingredients.

5. Prepare the broth by boiling beef brisket, garlic, and ginger thoroughly.

6. In a pot, add the broth, ground mudfish, dried cabbage, and taro stems, and boil thoroughly.

7. Add perilla leaves during step 6 and season with salt.

8. Finely mince red chili, green chili, garlic, and ginger to use as garnish, then serve with prickly ash powder and perilla seed powder to complete the chueotang cooking process.

[Fam Times = Journalist Lee Tae-sol]