Doenjang

Doenjang (pâte de soja coréenne)

What it is

It begins as meju: boiled soybeans pounded into bricks and hung in straw rope through the winter so that airborne bacilli and moulds settle on them, with no cultivated koji anywhere in the process. The bricks then go into brine in an onggi jar, and what is poured off becomes soy sauce while what stays behind is doenjang — one ferment, two products.

In the kitchen

Slake it in a ladleful of hot broth before it goes into the pot or it will sit there in lumps. It runs roughly twice as salty as white miso, so season the dish with it first and only reach for salt at the very end.

Goes with

Garlic Silken tofu (kinugoshi) Gochujang Toasted sesame oil Spring onion Zucchini Anchovy Pork

Same species

Chunjang Dark soy sauce Douchi Edamame Fermented bean curd Guk-ganjang

Also used with

Cheongju Perilla seed powder Gondre Hwangtae (freeze-dried pollack) Korean pine nut Perilla seed

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