Gomtang is beef oxtail boiled for 24 hours until it yields a milky white, nutrient-dense, and rich broth. This is great with rice to make “guk-bap” and as a substitute for water in most soups and stews.
Why You Need Gomtang in Your Pantry
It was said that when you drink Gomtang, you will have the strength of a bear because it has a lot of health benefits! This soup is filled with calcium and collagen, and it increases white blood cell stimulation that boosts our immunity. This is great for nursing mothers, especially, because the nutrients help with their recovery.
This soup is also a great pantry essential because it can be used in many dishes like Beef & Radish Soup, Galbi Jjim, Instant Ramen, or Chicken Porridge. Basically, you can add it to dishes that would require broth!
How to Make Korean Oxtail Soup?
Prepare the Oxtail
You must pre-soak the oxtail to drain the myoglobin from it. When you boil the oxtail without soaking, it will create an odor and a slight metallic taste brought by the iron. Typically, you soak the bones for a good 24 hours. However, a minimum of 2-3 hours will be ok as well.
Stages of Boiling
In the first hour, a foam will form, and all the scum will float on top. Make sure to scoop all of that to keep the soup clear. You need to remove them as soon as it comes out to keep them from breaking apart. When the foam breaks, it will make the soup super cloudy, and we don’t want that.
Continue boiling it, and at different hours, you will see the magic happen. During the process, the color of the Gomtang will change from a clear broth to a milky white. At the same time, the flavor from the bones will also come out and it will make the soup rich! It’s definitely a long process, but it’s going to be worth it!
The Finish Line
I know it pretty much looks like water and beef bones in the beginning, but just wait and see. If you notice that the soup has reduced, you can add more water up to an inch from the brim to keep the soup boiling. Every time you check it and see oil floating on top, skim it out to keep the soup clear.
Once you reach the 24-hour mark, you can transfer the soup into containers, drink it as is, or freeze it for future use. It can also be used as a substitute for water when you make stews or soups!
Other Korean soups you might like:
- Spicy Soft Tofu Stew
- Rice Cake Soup
- Pepper Paste Stew
- Soybean Sprout Soup
- Dried Pollack Hangover Soup
Make sure to leave a rating, a comment, or tag me on Facebook, Instagram, or Tiktok when you chop them up! Yeobosayo!
Korean Oxtail Broth (Gomtang)
Ingredients
- 2.5 lbs Oxtail
- Water
- Salt and Pepper to taste
- Scallion for garnish
Instructions
- Soak the oxtail in cold water anywhere from 2 hours to overnight to draw out the blood from the oxtail.
- Drain and rinse the oxtail.
- In a big pot on high heat, fill the pot with water leaving a 1-inch space from the rim of the pot and add the oxtail in.
- In the first hour, skim off the foam then lower the heat to medium-low.
- Continue boiling until the soup has turned milky white (approximately 24 hours). Keep adding water every hour so the pot stays consistently full about 1-inch from the rim of the pot.
- Once the broth has turned creamy, milky, and white, take off the heat and place them in containers. Use in soups and stews!
Just have a question… what do you guys do with the meat from the oxtail? I love making bone broth from oxtail bones, after consuming the meat, but it’s a slow, low simmer for 24hrs. Can I do the same for this broth if I boil the bones?
I usually just eat the meat from the oxtail after boiling the bones. Or I also make this from time to time https://fb.watch/mEHFKXWC_5/ 😀
Thanks for the recipe! Do the 24 hours have to be straight? I want to try it but can’t see myself getting up every hour to add water. Thanks so much.
You can definitely stop the cooking and continue on the next day~
Look forward to trying this.
Is there any merit to one made in a pressure cooker? Is the resulting soup get near as good as the traditional method?
There are some recipes online that use pressure cooker and I find that it lessens cook time but I think the color is not the same. Not really sure with the taste because I haven’t tried that method yet. Sorry!
Hi Chris,
Since ‘large’ is in the eye of the beholder, what size pot do you use? I have large pots of variying sizes, so a guideline would be nice. Thanks!
Hi Donna! I used a 12QT stock pot here~