Korean Anchovy-Kelp Broth (Yuksu)

A Korean seafood-based broth

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Course: Soup

Cuisine: Korean

Keyword: fish broth

Servings: Cups

Calories: 21kcal

Author: Patty

Equipment

1 Heavy bottom soup pot With a tight fitting lid
Kitchen muslin or cheese cloth For filtering broth,
1 Large bowl To catch the filtered broth
1 Paring knife To clean the Anchovy
Lidded glass containers with lids For freezing or refridgerating broth

Ingredients

8 C Water
12 g Dried Kelp
30 g Dried Anchovy Remove guts but keep head
4 Oz Diakon radish Thickly sliced
1/2 Small Onion Thickly sliced
3 Cloves Garlic Peeled and smashed
2 Scallions White part only
8 Dried Shiitake Mushrooms

Instructions

Prep Dried Kelp

Gently wipe dried kelp with a damp kitchen towel to remove any debris or dust only if your kelp has not been kept in a package. Otherwise no cleaning is required. Do not worry about the white powder on the kelp, it is natural and becomes part of the flavor of the broth.
Pull out a large soup pot and fill it with 8C water, then soak the dried kelp in the water while prepping and adding the veggies.

Prep the Veggies

Peel and large slice the radish and toss into the water.
Peel and large slice the onion and toss into the water.
Peel and smash the garlic and toss into the water.
Wash and cut the scallions (I cut off the green part and slice the white part down the middle to release flavors) and toss the white part into the water.
Brush off if you see anything bad you see on the dried shiitake mushrooms and toss them whole into the water.

Prep Dried Anchovy

Prep the dried anchovy by making a slit and scraping out the guts, for they can turn bitter. There is no need to remove the head.
Put the cleaned anchovies into a tied off cheese cloth ball and place into the water. (They sort of disintegrate so keeping them in cloth will assist with removing the bits later.)
Bring the stock to a boil for 10 mins on medium low heat. Do not overboil kelp for it can get very slimy (which it will get anyway) and bitter.
When done remove the kelp (with some tongs, but keep in mind they are slippery) and boil for another 10 mins on low heat.
After cooking, remove the anchovy ball and strain the broth to remove any particulates.
The veggie and kelp bits should be sent directly to the compost bin. The anchovy can be sent there too, or added to your pets food if they can eat fish.

Notes

Picking Dried Anchovy: Look for the 2-3” ones that have clean silvery skins and bluish tone.

Storage: Cool the broth down and transfer it into an air tight container or a bottle. It should keep well for a ~7 days in the fridge and up to 3 months in the freezer. Although truthfully I have had some in my fridge for up to 6 months and it still works.

Vegan: Making this vegan or vegetarian just use dried kelp only. This stock is called Dashima Yuksu.

Pescatarian: Making this with dried anchovy only is called Myeolchi Yuksu.

Source material: KoreanBapSang but then of course I make little changes here and there so it suits my taste. Her site is great and I go there often to verify my recipes.

Nutrition