The 2 Dollar Stew (Budae Jjigae) | But Cheaper

This is perhaps the greatest cheap homemade soup/stew you will ever eat in your life. It's incredibly simple, can be made in a typical college dorm room, and is done in just a few minutes. All thanks to the classic Budae Jjigae!

FOLLOW ME:
---------------------------------------------------------------

[kmaple]

For those of you who don't know the history behind this dish, it came from the end of the Korean War and the name roughly translates to "Army Base Stew". With the war being over, the Korean people were horribly impoverished since we were also recovering from the Japanese oppression during WW2, and thus people had to survive off of what they got, and U.S. army bases had left a surplus of SPAM, american cheese slices, sausage, and cans of baked beans that got distributed out or were smuggled and sold cheaply. Other than that, Koreans had a surplus of gochujang, kimchi, and other such ingredient/dishes that literally every household made for years by that point.

Now, in the second half of the 1400s, King Seongjong had ordered his people to invent dishes that could feed the maximum number of people with the fewest ingredients, which led to a boom of soups and stews in Korean cuisine that were made with a bunch of ingredients that you wouldn't think would be good together in some cases and flat out inedible in other cases, such as the several bone stews out there like Seolleongtang, which is a white stew that is simmered for a whole day to extract as much bone marrow from bones as possible, thus creating tons of food for a lot of people using ingredients that were commonly thrown away.

Perhaps due to this factor to our culture, the Korean people post-Korean War basically experimented with various combinations of whatever crap they had left, similarly to the italian "spaghetti alla puttanesca" or "prostitute's spaghetti", and budae jjigae was the result, with it being so good that despite it being a symbol of post-war poverty, people still eat it as a party dish quite often. Of course, not all people ended up with the same recipe, but they ended up being close enough that everyone kind of knows exactly what you're talking about when you mention it.

[averylfong]

TOP TIPS for making this actually in college/with less ingredients/cheaper:

- We all love gochujang and it makes this dish but IF you can't get it, DON'T throw away the flavouring packet that comes with the ramen, ESPECIALLY if it's a Korean spicy ramen like Shin Ramyun. The powder packet is packed with enough flavour for most of the soup base, plus adds a bit of that Korean spicy flavour.

- Add a bouillon cube or storebought stock OR dried dashi powder if it's available, if you don't have ingredients like the liquid shiro dashi he uses. The dried mushroom stock/water stuff is also a great source of umami flavour (that kind of stock meatiness), so if you find those dried mushrooms USE THEM.

- Add some baked beans. Crack an egg in the middle and lightly poach it. Add tofu or any other veggies you can find. Bok choi, napa cabbage, spinach, even broccoli if that's what you have. Pad that shit out with more stuff.

- Use the kimchi if you can find it, add more when you put the spam etc in. Get a whole bottle/jar of kimchi and use it in other cooking. The amount of things you can make with it is STAGGERING. If you can find an Asian market near you/online, they will probably have it somewhere in there as it's such a staple for Korean cuisine.

- Gochujang is beautiful and if you can find it, use it. Also a staple sauce in Korean cooking and can be used in so many recipes. Otherwise, there are other Asian cuisines that you can try to use to 'fake' a similar flavour. It's NOT the same but maybe a bit of Chinese Spicy Doubanjiang (chilli bean paste/sauce), with a bit more sugar. Or Japanese miso paste with Korean chilli flakes (gochugaru) and sugar. Again, it might be a little more ingredients wise but it will get you a similar flavour, and all the ingredients are relatively shelf-stable/long-lasting.

- Make it in bulk, share it with your roommates. Keep it constantly topped up with some kind of stock and seasoning paste (gochujang + soy sauce + sugar mainly). Make a big pot and some Korean/Japanese rice and eat it for days after - it keeps really well even if the noodles get a little soggy, the soup gets more and more flavourful the longer the meat and beans and mushrooms and tofu sit in it.
Stick another goddamn noodle block in and some water + powder packet on the third day, idk get creative.

- Add more sliced cheese. Add mozzarella/string cheese and get a good melty stew going.

[sphericalsushi]

The history is interesting though, and not just as simple as “they didn’t have a lot of money so they used cheap things like instant ramen and spam” - heck, instant ramen had only been invented years after the Korean War had ended, much less become popular in Korea.
Budaejjigae is a dish that for my grandparents and many of their generation, brings traumatic memories. A translation is “Army base stew, ” and it’s the kind of slop that people ate at these places out of necessity during the war and post-war (korean war was 1950-53), as unconcerned cooks used leftover supplies. what it looks like now is vastly different from how it was then - my grandfather recalled people throwing trash and sometimes even cigarette butts into the stews - it really was just a food where anything went in. For these reasons, many of that generation (my grandparents included) still won’t eat anything called budaejjigae.
And someone else here already posted this and was right: I’m not sure I’ve ever seen people roast the meats beforehand (out of convenience), but man, this does look really good. I like throwing fish cakes, boiled eggs, or even tteok (rice cakes) sometimes. Extra points for sticking to the American cheese (low moisture mozzarella is also popular!). Hope anyone reading this learned something!

[zaqarius]

First time I ever tried cooking something off of YouTube, I'm really bad at cooking but this came out so well! Thanks for the treat m8!

[jkim]

as a college student in korea, this is actually a very cheap and hefty meal that it relatively easy to make. Josh just happened to make it more fancy and complicated, which i definitely have no problem with

[itamarolmert]

"two of the main ingredients of a college student: American cheese and ramen noodles"

truer words have not yet been spoken.

[kgtd]

The name literally translates into "army stew" since it was made using leftovers from the US army during wartime. Still absolutely delicious now that we have better ingredients! Oh and spam isn't considered as "disgusting" as ppl think in western countries and is used kinda frequently in home cooking.

[kilrathi]

This was a very common food that we used to eat when my fellow teachers and I were out drinking in Korea. Absolutely was one of my favorite things at the table.

When you're drinking soju, apple wine, and beer into the depths of the night, having a delicious stew to sustain you is brilliant.

[jin-ahlee]

Alternatively, you can set up all the ingredients on the pot uncooked, pour the stock over, and let it simmer at the table almost hot-pot style. It's often done this way anyways and makes for an interesting casual dinner party.

[brendandonahue]

A whole “but college” series would be pretty cash money of you

[joaogoncalofanha]

Joshua should do a "but less coking hardware to wash", like making a 5 star dish using only one pan to all tasks

[joemama]

Man this guy knows his stuff, I mean this is the 3rd time I've made this, every time was a bit different and every time I ended looking for another bowl and sweating.
I don't even make it that spicy but it's just somehow so inviting that you can't let it sit alone and cool down. One of my favorite things on your channel.
You helped a goof with no cooking experience, aptitude or interest get excited to cook. Thank you.

[LinzJayC]

I can say as a Korean, you must put ramen, spam and American cheese. You can also save the ramen soup powder if your soup happens to be bland

[MMOByte]

"low effort"
Still more effort than 90% of my meals.

[CHEFPKR]

Yeah, going to have to make this for cheat meal this week.

[nothingmuch]

Man, Korean food has got to be some of my absolute favorite food in the world. Koreans just know what they're doing, man.

[isaacseo]

As a Korean i can confirm this cheap thing tastes like the food of the gods.

[frankieh]

Man, I wish I lived in the magical Christmas land where a pound of Andouille is 2 bucks.

[dannykim]

I'm Korean and we make it by just dumping everything in with the broth from raw and boil everything in the broth. And then we add the noodles

[davidhwang]

Korean Army Base stew was the leftovers (often taken from the trash) collected by the locals as a cheap meal. My father used to find cigarette butts on numerous occasions.
Top tips: Use Ramen (Shin) soup packets as a 50% soup base, add a serving of baked beans and/or bacon, eat the ramen noodles first as it will turn into stodge and don't overcook, keep it simmering as the flavors are intensified as it reduces (add water if too salty), keep a bowl of rice handy to have with the remaining soup at the end.