Doenjang(soybean paste) and Ganjang(soy sauce)

  Doenjang (Soybean Paste)  

Doenjang is a fermented food that is very important in Korean dietary life. Doenjang is made from soybeans, soaked in soy sauce, and left over after leaving soy sauce. Doenjang, mainly rice and vegetables, has long been loved as the main protein source in our traditional diet, which is prone to lack of protein. Since ancient times, they have made doenjang in the traditional way. Soak meju in salt water, and when it matures after 40-60 days, take the meju out and make the soup with soy sauce, and put the remaining ingredients in another jar and sprinkle with salt to make doenjang. At this time, the types of soybean paste vary depending on the ingredients, aging time, and aging method. The improved doenjang we recently eat is cultured by inoculating rice or barley with yeast or mold, then put in boiled soybeans and aged with salt, and has superior taste and nutrition compared to conventional doenjang.

 

  Origin of  Doenjang (Soybean Paste) andGanjang(soy sauce)  

Doenjang is likely to be invented in Goguryeo, the country of origin of soybeans. And in the Three Kingdoms period, it seems that they generally ate soybean paste. In 『Three Kingdoms Sagi』, you can see'Jangxi' among the offerings during the marriage of King Sinmun in Shilla (February 683). Jangsi is considered to be soybean paste, an essential food, basic everyday food, and a ritual item.

 

In 『Koryeosa』, there is a suggestion by Choi Seung-ro in 982 (the first year of Seongjong) and that miso was distributed to help the people when there was a famine in Kaesong in 1049 (Munjong 3). Doenjang is a food that the general public ate on a daily basis, and it means that it was a food that was widely eaten regardless of status.

 

Even in the Joseon Dynasty, doenjang was widely used in a wide variety of situations. In the Annals of the Joseon Dynasty, soybean paste appears numerous times. According to the records, soybean paste was used as a gift, a pity product, a request and supply for the savage, a support product for the settlement of naturalized people and migrants, and basic corrosion of the military. From this, it can be seen that soybean paste is commonly eaten by ordinary people.

 

Various cookbooks of the Joseon Dynasty describe the types of soybean paste and how to make it. In the “Chiseon” Article of Volume 2 of 『Forest Economy』, various types of intestinal brewing methods are recorded. What is worth mentioning in terms of religion is the record that there are good days and days of avoidance for making jang. “A good day to make soy sauce is Jeongmyo-il, so avoid Shinil. Doenjang is made in February when the cold goes away and around the beginning of winter. Soaking soybean paste on the water day creates insects. Soaking soybeans in Hwangdo-il in Sambok and steaming them in Hwangdo-il, then mixing them, there will be no insects. Soaking soybean paste in Sambokjung prevents insects from occurring.

 

Soaking the jang before sunrise and after sunset did not cause flies. On the last day of the month, if you turn your face to the drum under the wall, shut your mouth, and soak the miso without a word, you will not get any bugs. If you cut 6~7 Korean aconite root about 4 poons and put them on poison, the maggots will die on their own and will never be created again.” Regardless of whether it is true or not, these contents consistently underlie the Yin-Yang ideology and magical meaning. This implies that much attention was paid to making soybean paste. In the 19th century Jeong Hak-yu's 『Farmhouse Wolryeongga』 In Samwolryeong and Yuwolryeong, they were told to soak soybean paste so that it does not lose its taste and manage it carefully. Records in 『Forest Economy』 or 『Wolyeongga Farmhouse』 tell us how precious soybean paste was.

 

  Floating the Meju  

To make delicious soy sauce, you need to float meju well above all. Meju is usually put before and after Ipdong. Prepare well-grilled soybeans that are not worried or rotten, and then cook them after kimjang is finished.

 

When the beans are cooked, you can boil them in a pot with water or steam them in a steamer. When it is boiled, it grows two to three times as much as the first, so adjust the amount well and put it in a large pot.

 

Cook enough until it doesn't smell fishy and is easily crushed by rubbing it with your fingers. If you pick soybeans with undercooked soybeans, many digestive enzymes do not penetrate and you cannot make delicious intestines. Soy sauce made with such meju is cloudy and tasteless.

 

Soybeans boiled in water should be poured into a bamboo basket, drained sufficiently, and then pounded in a mortar, and soybeans steamed in a siru can be used to make meju. When there is no mortar, put it in a sack bag and crush the beans by stepping on it with your feet. Mash the beans to the extent that they are sparse and pour them into a large bowl to form a mass of the same size. The shape of meju varies from house to house depending on the region. Bundle by hand or put in a certain wooden frame, usually made like a wooden needle or flat stone, and laid out on a board or bale to dry.

 

Usually, 1 Doe of beans should be made to come out about 2~3 pieces, but the middle should be made slightly flat and thin so that bacteria can propagate well. Meju made in this way is left in the room for several days to dry the surface. If bacteria start to multiply without the surface drying, harmful fungi can grow and toxins may come out. Therefore, dry the surface at room temperature at 30℃ for about 3 days to remove moisture from the surface.

 

When it is completely hardened, lay straw in a box, store it so that it does not stick together, cover it well, and place it in a warm place. In the past, it was placed in a warm ondol room to make it float well. Usually, the mold is evenly covered on the surface after 2 weeks at room temperature of 27~28℃. At this time, good mold should propagate. If the temperature is too high or there is a lot of moisture, various germs will form and the meju will rot.

 

 

  Separating into Doenjang(soybean paste) and Ganjang(soy sauce)  

Usually, after the aging period of 40-60 days, the meju and the juice are separated. However, the timing of the intestine is also slightly different depending on when it is soaked. The market for January soaked in the New Year is 70 to 80 days, the market for February is 50 to 60 days, and the market for March is 40 to 50 days. The hotter, the shorter the fermentation period.

 

If you do not separate it into soybean paste and soy sauce in that year, do not expose it to more sunlight in August, but put white salt on Mejusdeong-i and cut it in the month of the following year after winter. In this case, this is to obtain a more delicious soy sauce than doenjang.

 

Wash and dry the jar for the doenjang in advance, sprinkle a little salt on the bottom, put the tossed soybean paste, press the top firmly, and put white salt on the top and cover the jar lid. On a sunny day, it ripens and tastes after a month or so while opening the lid to expose it to the sun.

 

To get a more delicious miso, the soybean paste tastes better because the nutrients of the meju are less lost to the soy sauce by holding less salt water when marinating the meju or dipping it with a slightly less fermented meju. Another method is to add improved soybean paste prepared separately when mixing the remaining soy sauce and crushing the remaining meju. When there is no meju, boil the soybeans softly, squeeze them out, pound them well in a mortar, and mix them with the already aged miso. When the soybean paste is too old and salty and hardened, pour soybean boiled water or soft tofu water and mix evenly to make it soft and moist.

 

When separating the intestines, if there is a yongsu (a device used to filter sake or jang), put the yongsu in the middle, drain the soy sauce, and serve the meju. When there is no water, the fire removes the meju so that it does not break, and the meju debris remaining on the bottom of the jar is sieved and removed. Add salt and mix in the pickled meju, and press firmly into another jar.

 

At this time, if the knife is headed toward the main gate, it is judged that the wandering ghost is out. Otherwise, he brings the knife back into the room and swings the knife again threateningly, shouting "Wandering ghost, go away", and then throws the knife into the yard. Throw the knife until the tip of the knife faces toward the gate. If the tip of the knife is facing the gate, go outside the gate, sprinkle the rice of the wandering ghost and pour it out, then draw a cross with a knife and cover it with Bgaji. I go out early the next morning and come in with a knife and Bgaji. It was thought that this had left the wandering ghost. This method has been generally passed down in other regions as well.

 

Ganjang (soy sauce) separated from Doenjang (soybean paste) is called Nalganjang. Nalganjang that has not been boiled has an immature scent and contains various enzymes and microorganisms, so storage and taste are poor. After dividing the Doenjang (soybean paste) and Ganjang (soy sauce), the Ganjang (soy sauce) should be boiled, in order to prevent the rot of the Ganjang (soy sauce) and concentrate it to obtain a thick Ganjang (soy sauce). Decoction at 80℃ for 10~20 minutes. Remove the bubbles that form along the way. If the ganjang (soy sauce) is a little watery, boil it longer, and the decoction ganjang (soy sauce) cools completely, pour it into the pot and cover it.

  Storage and management of soybean paste  

After soaking the intestines, put the lid on the poison for about 3 days, open the lid in the morning on a sunny day, and expose it to the sun all day and cover it in the evening. Cover the mouth of the jar with a mesh so that foreign substances do not enter. Especially, it is better not to open the lid on cloudy days as the taste of the sauce will change when it is exposed to rain. The period of ripening while being exposed to the sun is usually about 30 to 50 days. In some cases, the jang is cooked after a hundred days to obtain a thicker soy sauce, but after about 40 days, the taste and aroma are sufficiently oozing.

 

If the poison is inclined, white leaves will stick to the side with less water, so it should be laid flat. Always clean the area around the jar. If the soy sauce is molded due to mismanagement, the smell is bad. In particular, mold is prone to develop in summer. In this case, it is better to remove the mold and add salt to boil. When pouring decoction soy sauce into Jangdok, first rinse the poison with soju, sterilize it, and then dry it thoroughly in the sun. There are many cases where water is sprinkled with a hose in order to clean the Jangdokdae, but in the past, it was said that ‘thorns appear’ in this case. It means that the taste of the sauce changes. Jangdok must be wiped off with a dishcloth.

 

In the past, tabibons were cut out and attached upside down to prevent insects from coming into the pot, or ropes were tied around the mouth of the pot. The best way to do this is to cover the mouth of the jar with a mesh and tie it with a rubber band or string. Placing a handful of coarse salt in the middle of the mesh cover can prevent insects from accessing it.

 

In the old days, if the jang taste was bitter or bitter, the willow was cut long to reach the bottom of the dock, and the empty place was stirred and rounded, or hailstones were placed and put in, and the original taste was restored. It is a method rarely used now, but you can guess the ancestors' devotion to the chapter. In addition, it is good to leave it unattended when the jang taste is bitter, and then roll it up when marinating the jang in the following year. If you put old soy sauce instead of salt water in meju, it will become thicker and taste better. When it is sweet, add a little glutinous rice and kelp to give it a rich taste.

 Preparing and cooking ingredients  

  Ganjang(soy sauce)  

1 mal of Meju beef (normal size 3 loaves), 6-7 doe of coarse salt beef, 2 mals of water (10 liters), some charcoal, dried red pepper, and jujube

※ Unit of measurement 1 teaspoon-5ml(cc) / 1 tbsp-15ml(cc) / 1 cup-200ml(cc) / 1 doe-5 cups (1,000ml)

 

1. Wash well-floated meju with a brush and dry it in the sun.

 

2. One day before marinating the jang, put a colander of salt on top of the jar, pour the amount of water, dissolve and settle.

 

3. Salinity is about 18~20 ˚ Bé (Bé), but if you float an egg in water and soak it halfway, it is suitable salinity.

 

4. Put meju in a jar, and pour in salted water until dokjeon.

 

5. Float three or four pieces of charcoal, dried red pepper and jujube in a jar.

 

6. Ripen for 40-60 days to separate meju and juice. Boil the juice and use it as soy sauce, and mash meju and mix with salt to make doenjang.

 

  Doenjang(soybean paste)  

1 mal of soy sauce (leftover after filtering out the soy sauce), about 2 cups of salt

1. After removing the soy sauce, crush the remaining soaked meju, mix half the amount of salt, and press it into a jar.

 

2. Sprinkle white salt on the top of the doenjang, wrap the mouth of the jar with gauze or a net, and place it in a sunny place.

 

3. Open the lid of the jar during the day to let it in sunlight, and cover it in the evening to ripen. After a month or so, it tastes and can be eaten.