Which cut of beef did you use? Was your dongchimi fully ripe and tangy? Did you use soup soy sauce (guk ganjang) to season the broth? Some restaurants/brands use msg as an umami boost.

Cold noodles is my fiancé’s favorite dish and so I decided to try and tackle this recipe myself! We made the recipe last night, but our beef broth (I did make the dongchimi broth and combined it as you listed in the recipe) had little flavor. It didn’t taste rounded and full….it lacked the yummy umami flavor that cold noodles has! We couldn’t figure out where we went wrong. Any tips?

Thank you in advanced!

Hi, sorry I’m super late, but thank you so much for your response! It’ll be useful for the future 🙂

can i use chicken broth to make the liquid instead of red meat. Also, can I use vermicelli noodles instead of naengmyon noodle. Vermicelli noodles are chewy like naengmyon.

Thank you

Oh I’m sure I’m terribly late and this is OBE for you. Hope this helps for the future. Naengmyeon noodles get soggy if prepared ahead of time. Because the noodles’ chewy texture is important for this dish, I wouldn’t recommend it. However, if you don’t mind soft noodles, you can cook ahead of time, make serving sized mounds and keep them in the icebox to carry to the picnic. I’m not sure how large of a batch you’re talking about, but you’ll need a large pot and a lot of cold water around to rinse the noodles a couple of times.

Hi Grace! Deeply flavorful beef broth is a must for good naengmyeon. For that, beef brisket and aromatic vegetables are important as well as soup soy sauce (guk ganjang). Sugar, salt, mustard and vinegar are all common for naengmyeon, so I don’t think these were the problems unless you used so much to overpower the beef broth. Dongchimi broth is usually used by good naengmyeon restaurants. It really enhances the flavor of the broth. You can make it at home or buy pre-made from a Korean market. Or, try to add a little bit of juice from well fermented kimchi for a little flavor kick. Hope this helps.

Hi!
I tried making these and I think I must have done something wrong. The soup tasted like water and I added in some sugar and salt. Definitely tasted something! But after I put in the cold noodles I only tasted the noodles. I don’t have mustard paste and vinegar, but could these last 2 ingredients be the reason why I couldn’t taste the soup?
I also used kikkomin soy sauce as a substitute for soup soy sauce.
Just wondering if these 3 missing ingredients could be the only reason why the food turned out a little bland. Thank you for sharing your recipe and I hope I can figure out what I did wrong so I can try to make it again!

Thank you! I couldn’t wait to cook it last time so I just followed your stovetop directions. I made the bimbim naengmyeon and it was so delicious. I will be trying it with the instant pot this time. Thank you for all your wonderful recipes.

Yes! I’d cook it for 25 to 30 min if you’re using a tough cut of meat such as brisket.