Gomtang

Gomtang (곰탕/牛湯), or gomguk (곰국), is the generic name for soup made with various cuts of beef and ox-bones.

Gomtang is one of the most favorite Korean food like Kimchi for common people. It is usually served with Kkakdugi (깍두기), diced radish kimchi.

There are many varieties of gomtang depending on the cut used, but all of them are made by slowly simmering the bones and meat for hours, and even days, on low heat.

Key words
gomtang, meat and bone, Korean food, food sanitation, HACCP

Varieties of Gomtang
The major varieties include:
 * Sagol gomtang (사골곰탕) made with leg bones;
 * Kkori gomtang (꼬리곰탕) made with tail bones;
 * Seolleongtang (설렁탕) made with bones and meat;
 * Galbitang (갈비탕) made with short ribs;
 * Ujoktang (우족탕) made with the hoofs; and
 * Doganitang (도가니탕) made with knee cartilage.

Sagol gomtang is an invigorating dish especially popular for its nutritious value and hearty taste. Gomtang dishes are served hot but are popular around the year. In summer, they help overcome fatigue from the heat and in winter keep the body warm. The soup is believed to be good especially for pregnant or breast-feeding women, fracture patients and other sick persons.

To make good sagol gomtang, it is important to sue good bones and handle them properly. For this soup, the leg bones of make cattle are preferred since the bones of their female counterparts are presumably low in density as a result of pregnancy. The front legs are preferred to the hind legs as they are believed to be stronger considering their weight carrying function.

In order to produce tasty broth, the bones should be soaked in cold water for many hours to completely remove any blood. Skipping or shortening this process may produce soup with an unsavory smell. For the same reason, the bones should be blanched before boiling them.

Good thick broth can be obtained by simmering the ox bones in water for 12-24 hours. In this case, the used bones should be discarded. But if the bones are boiled for only five to six hours, they can be reused up to three times. You can get tasty broth when you reheat the soup again after chilling it to remove the fat. These days, to save all this trouble, sagol and other varieties of gomtang can be purchased in retort pouches.

Recipe
In general, sagol gomtang for two persons is made with the following ingredients in the order as explained below.

Ingredients

 * 400g beef flanks and 400g ox bones;
 * 2 stalks of green onions, 2 garlic cloves, 100g noodles (optional); and
 * Sauce for beef: 2 tablespoons each of soy sauce and salt, 4 tablespoons of chopped green onions, 2 tablespoons of minced garlic, ground pepper, sesame oil.

Directions

 * 1) Wash the ox bones and beef, soak in cold water for at least one hour to remove the blood, then rinse.
 * 2) Put the bones and beef in a pot of boiling water for about 10 minutes.
 * 3) Turn off the heat and take out the bones and meat. Discard the water.
 * 4) Rinse the bones and beef in cold water and place them in a clean pot.
 * 5) Add water, green onions, and garlic cloves and bring to a boil over medium heat.
 * 6) Boil for about 20 minutes, lower the heat, and simmer for about three hours.
 * 7) Turn off the heat, take the beef out and boil the broth again with the bones.
 * 8) Discard the vegetables from the soup, chill and remove the solid fat.
 * 9) Slice the cooked beef and season with the sauce.
 * 10) Reheat the bone soup, add the seasoned beef and boil for about 10 minutes.
 * 11) Season with salt or soy sauce.
 * 12) Boil the noodles and rinse in cold water.
 * 13) Ladle the soup into a serving bowl and serve with chopped green onions, salt and ground black pepper.

Regulatory aspects
Out of doubt, high quality gomtang comes from good meat and bones. In this regard, livestock farmhouses as well as slaughterhouses need to be managed in highly reliable process and environment. Hazard analysis and critical control points (위해요소 중점관리기준/危害要素 重點管理基準), or HACCP (해썹), is a systematic preventive approach to food safety and biological, chemical, and physical hazards in production processes. It's because the production process can cause the finished product to be unsafe, and design measurements to reduce these risks to a safe level. In this manner, HACCP is referred as the prevention of hazards rather than finished product inspection.

The legal ground for HACCP to be applied to food manufacterers and processors is Article 48 of the Food Sanitation Act (식품위생법) and Articles 62 through 68 of its implementing ordinance as well as Article 38 of the Health Functional Food Act (건강기능식품법).

In October 2013, the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (MAFRA, 농림축산식품부) disclosed that all 135 slaughterhouses across the country should be assessed in terms of HACCP for the purpose of improving higien and safety condition and enhancing consumer reliability.

The HACCP system can be used at all stages of a food chain, from food production and preparation processes including packaging, distribution, etc. It is believed that government's mandatory HACCP programs for juice and meat are an effective approach to food safety and protecting public health.