Baek Jong-won's Life-Changing Jjimdak

• 1 (12-oz, 1.2kg) cut chicken
• 2/3 cup jin ganjang
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1/3 cup mirin (rice wine)
• 1 cup water
• 2 tbsp minced garlic
• 1/3 tbsp minced ginger
• 1 large scallion
• 3 cheongyang peppers
• 1 red pepper
• 2 dried peppers
• 1 potato
• 1 sweet potato
• 1/3 carrot
• 1 king oyster mushroom
• 2 shiitake mushrooms
• 1 cup tteokbokki rice cakes
• Appropriate amount of soaked wide glass noodles
• 1/2 tbsp dark soy sauce (or caramel sauce)
• 2 tbsp sesame oil

Recipe 🍳

Cooking tips 💡

• Cutting potatoes, sweet potatoes, and carrots too small can cause them to break apart during cooking, making the broth cloudy. It's best to cut them large and substantial.
• To achieve the deep, dark brown color like professional Andong jjimdak, adding a bit of caramel sauce or Chinese dark soy sauce (lao chou) is the key secret to enhancing the visual appeal.
• If using tteokguk (rice cake soup) rice cakes, they can easily become mushy and absorb all the broth. It's safer to add them towards the end of cooking rather than thicker tteokbokki rice cakes.
• When tasting, the broth should be slightly salty to ensure the chicken is seasoned properly. If the broth is salty but the chicken is bland, it means the heat was too high and the broth reduced too quickly. Add more water, lower the heat, and simmer gently.