Korean soups like this one are often served in heavy stone pots that keep the soup sizzling hot at the table—in fact, they’re often still boiling when you (attempt to) start to eat them. (In some restaurants they’re served over flames so they continue to boil as you eat them; this is tricky for Westerners.) The pots may be hard to come by unless you can get to a Koreatown in a city like New York or Los Angeles, but this soup is just as good served in an ordinary soup bowl; just preheat the bowl so you can serve it very hot. You can serve this as an entree. In Korea, it would be teamed with Sticky Rice (page 508); spoon some of it right into the hot soup.

　　

Ingredients

makes 4 servings

　　3 tablespoons soy sauce

　　1 1/2 tablespoons dark sesame oil

　　3 scallions, trimmed and chopped

　　3 garlic cloves, chopped

　　One 1-inch piece fresh ginger, chopped

　　1 teaspoon sesame seeds

　　1 pound lean steak, preferably sirloin, sliced as thinly as possible across the grain

　　3 tablespoons corn, grapeseed, or other neutral oil

　　1 pound firm tofu, cut into 1/2-inch cubes

　　Salt and black pepper to taste

　　

Step 1

Mix together the soy sauce, sesame oil, scallions, garlic, ginger, and sesame seeds in a large bowl. Add the meat, toss well to coat, cover, refrigerate, and marinate for about 1 hour—longer if time allows, shorter if you’re in a hurry.

　　

Step 2

Heat the oil in a heavy saucepan over medium high heat. Drain the meat, reserving the marinade, and brown it, turning once or twice. Add 6 cups water and bring to a boil; lower the heat and simmer for 20 minutes.

　　

Step 3

Add the tofu and reserved marinade and heat through, about 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper and serve hot.

　　

Hearty Beef and Tofu Soup

Step 4

This is more flavorful and substantial, because you are really making stock with the beef; but it takes far longer, too. Substitute 1 1/2 pounds beef short ribs, cut into 2-inch pieces, for the steak. Proceed as in step 2, adding time to brown the bigger pieces and at least an hour more of simmering to tenderize them. Remove the ribs and strip the meat from the bones; cut into bite-sized pieces, return to the broth, and proceed to step 3.

　　The Best Recipes in the World by Mark Bittman. © 2005 by Mark Bittman. Published by Broadway Books. All Rights Reserved.MARK BITTMAN is the author of the blockbuster The Best Recipes in the World (Broadway, 2005) and the classic bestseller How to Cook Everything, which has sold more than one million copies. He is also the coauthor, with Jean-Georges Vongerichten, of Simple to Spectacular and Jean-Georges: Cooking at Home with a Four-Star Chef. Mr. Bittman is a prolific writer, makes frequent appearances on radio and television, and is the host of The Best Recipes in the World, a 13-part series on public television. He lives in New York and Connecticut.