Doganitang — South Korea

Doganitang is a milky South Korean broth built around ox knee joints, the cartilage-rich cut that gives the soup its pale colour and thick, gelatinous texture. Long, slow simmering breaks the bones down until the water turns opaque and faintly sweet, and thin slices of cooked shank or brisket are usually added to the bowl before serving. The soup is reported across South Korea, where it belongs to a wider family of long-simmered bone broths that includes seolleongtang and gomguk. It is often served as a warming, restorative meal, and is commonly found on menus specialising in slow-cooked soups, sometimes alongside other cuts from the same animal. To prepare it, the knee bones are first soaked and blanched to remove impurities, then boiled for several hours, with the broth periodically topped up with water as it reduces and clouds. The finished liquid is strained, the meat is sliced thin, and both are reheated together in the serving bowl. Cooked noodles or rice are sometimes added, and the soup is left largely unseasoned in the pot. What sets this bowl apart from other bone broths of the same family is the choice of cut: the knee joint yields more cartilage and connective tissue than shank alone, giving a thicker, almost silky broth. Diners season it themselves at the table with salt, ground black pepper and chopped scallion, so the same base broth can taste noticeably different from one bowl to the next.