I don’t have an exact ratio for the recipe, but the ingredients include…
Soy sauce base: – 3 parts water – Half a large onion (tip: add the outer peel/skin if it’s clean and dry), sliced thinly – The white part of a large green onion, halved and chopped – 8 large garlic cloves, sliced – A handful of dried shiitake mushroom slices – 5 slices of ginger – 3 dried Thai/Vietnamese chili (you can replace it with dried Korean chili or even peperoncini. You can skip it, but the subtle spiciness helps in partially masking the “fishiness” of the crab) – Half a large apple, cored and sliced thinly – 1 cup of 청주/cheongju (I ended up adding an additional half cup of maesilju because my mom said it wasn’t sweet enough lol. You can use one cup of dry white wine and mirin, respectively, but remember to adjust the amount. Soju also works) – 1 part 진간장/dark soy sauce (I used a mixture of my mom’s homemade 국간장/soup soy sauce and a 500ml bottle of 맛간장/”flavored soy sauce”, which is soy sauce simmered with vegetable stock containing the aforementioned ingredients. Our 맛간장 is not as salty, so I used 국간장 to make it saltier)
Boil all the stock ingredients, starting from medium-high heat. Once it starts to boil vigorously, add the soy sauce (and more water if needed), turn down the heat, and simmer for approx. 30 minutes. Keep a close eye on it, and DO NOT let the pot overflow. Let it cool completely. This takes a few hours, which makes the job easier if you prepare the base in advance. Drain the vegetables and apple slices. (Tip: you can pour more water onto the solids and reboil it to “extract” the flavors. Use it to braise potatoes or hard-boiled eggs.)
– 6 sea crabs (we used flash frozen, local male crabs. FYI catching female crabs is outlawed in Korea), cleaned and trimmed I kept them refrigerated since my soy sauce base needed an extra hour to cool down.
Pour the base onto the crabs and add: – Half an apple, cored and sliced thinly – One-quarter onion, sliced thinly – 5 cloves of garlic, sliced thinly – 1 to 2 fresh chilis, chopped (I obviously used Cheongyang, but mild ones like shishito work fine) – Half a lemon (I used the reserved sugared slices from my homemade 레몬청/lemon-cheong, hence the reduced maesilju in the base)
Refrigerate and let the crabs marinate. Remember to drain the brine into a pot the next day or two, boil it one more time, let it cool, and pour it back in! You may need to repeat this step one more time by Day 4 or 5.
Our homemade gejang is less salty than the commercially sold ones, which means they go bad more easily even if they’re refrigerated and the brine reboiled. We usually make small amounts that are enough for our family to finish before the second brine boil. I like to use the remaining brine for 게국지/gegukji with additional fresh crabs and vegetables.
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The perks of being a Korean in Korea LOL
I don’t have an exact ratio for the recipe, but the ingredients include…
Soy sauce base:
– 3 parts water
– Half a large onion (tip: add the outer peel/skin if it’s clean and dry), sliced thinly
– The white part of a large green onion, halved and chopped
– 8 large garlic cloves, sliced
– A handful of dried shiitake mushroom slices
– 5 slices of ginger
– 3 dried Thai/Vietnamese chili (you can replace it with dried Korean chili or even peperoncini. You can skip it, but the subtle spiciness helps in partially masking the “fishiness” of the crab)
– Half a large apple, cored and sliced thinly
– 1 cup of 청주/cheongju (I ended up adding an additional half cup of maesilju because my mom said it wasn’t sweet enough lol. You can use one cup of dry white wine and mirin, respectively, but remember to adjust the amount. Soju also works)
– 1 part 진간장/dark soy sauce (I used a mixture of my mom’s homemade 국간장/soup soy sauce and a 500ml bottle of 맛간장/”flavored soy sauce”, which is soy sauce simmered with vegetable stock containing the aforementioned ingredients. Our 맛간장 is not as salty, so I used 국간장 to make it saltier)
Boil all the stock ingredients, starting from medium-high heat. Once it starts to boil vigorously, add the soy sauce (and more water if needed), turn down the heat, and simmer for approx. 30 minutes. Keep a close eye on it, and DO NOT let the pot overflow. Let it cool completely. This takes a few hours, which makes the job easier if you prepare the base in advance. Drain the vegetables and apple slices. (Tip: you can pour more water onto the solids and reboil it to “extract” the flavors. Use it to braise potatoes or hard-boiled eggs.)
– 6 sea crabs (we used flash frozen, local male crabs. FYI catching female crabs is outlawed in Korea), cleaned and trimmed
I kept them refrigerated since my soy sauce base needed an extra hour to cool down.
Pour the base onto the crabs and add:
– Half an apple, cored and sliced thinly
– One-quarter onion, sliced thinly
– 5 cloves of garlic, sliced thinly
– 1 to 2 fresh chilis, chopped (I obviously used Cheongyang, but mild ones like shishito work fine)
– Half a lemon (I used the reserved sugared slices from my homemade 레몬청/lemon-cheong, hence the reduced maesilju in the base)
Refrigerate and let the crabs marinate. Remember to drain the brine into a pot the next day or two, boil it one more time, let it cool, and pour it back in! You may need to repeat this step one more time by Day 4 or 5.
Our homemade gejang is less salty than the commercially sold ones, which means they go bad more easily even if they’re refrigerated and the brine reboiled. We usually make small amounts that are enough for our family to finish before the second brine boil. I like to use the remaining brine for 게국지/gegukji with additional fresh crabs and vegetables.