Gomtang is Korea's slow simmered beef soup, and the town of Naju, a short drive from the Yeongam circuit in South Jeolla, makes the most famous version. Where Seoul's beef soups are boiled long and hard until milky, Naju gomtang is kept clear and golden: beef bones and brisket are simmered gently, skimmed with care and strained, then the broth is ladled over rice and thin slices of meat. It began in the late Joseon era as sustaining food for farmers in the cold months.

It is a dish of almost no ingredients and a great deal of patience, and it rewards both. The broth is deep and clean rather than heavy, and each diner seasons their own bowl with salt, pepper and scallions, then eats it with sharp, crunchy radish kimchi. It is a quiet, restorative bowl, the culinary equivalent of a long, steady stint that nobody notices until it wins the race.

The broth and meat

Ingredients

• 2 pounds (900 g) beef soup bones or oxtail
• 1 1/2 pounds (680 g) beef brisket
• 1 pound (450 g) beef shank
• 16 cups (3.8 liters) cold water
• 8 ounces (225 g) Korean radish
• 1 large yellow onion
• 1 leek or 4 scallions
• 8 garlic cloves
• 1 teaspoon whole black peppercorns

To serve

Ingredients

• 6 cups hot cooked short grain rice
• 6 scallions
• to taste fine sea salt and black pepper
• 1 teaspoon gochugaru
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon toasted sesame seeds
• 1 jar kkakdugi or cabbage kimchi

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