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Korean mul-naengmyeon topped with beef, cucumber, radish, pear and boiled egg in chilled beef broth
CuisineKorean
East Asia

Mul-Naengmyeon: Korean Cold Noodles in Chilled Beef Broth (물냉면)

How to make mul-naengmyeon, the Korean cold noodle soup in chilled beef broth, following a Korea.net recipe: buckwheat noodles, sliced beef, cucumber, lightly seasoned radish, pear and egg. Covers how it differs from bibim-naengmyeon, Pyongyang and Hamhung styles, choosing noodles and seasonings outside Korea, and cooling the broth safely.

Cooking flow

Cooking steps

STEP 11 / 9

Simmer the beef to make the broth

Beef simmering in a pot to make broth for naengmyeon
The beef simmers in water, with green onion and garlic ready to go in for the last 30 minutes

Wipe the surface of the beef with a clean cloth. Put the 300 g beef and 1.6 kg water in a pot and cook over high heat for 10 minutes. Once it boils, lower to medium heat and simmer for 1 hour. Add the 20 g green onion and 20 g garlic and simmer for another 30 minutes.

Stoves vary, so look at the pot rather than a dial setting: aim for a steady simmer rather than a hard, rolling boil for the whole time.

STEP 22 / 9

Cool the broth quickly, skim the fat and season

Skimming fat from cooled beef broth and mixing in the seasoning sauce
Skim the set fat from the chilled broth in a shallow container, then add only the soy sauce, sugar, vinegar, salt and fermented mustard

Take the beef out of the pot and slice it thinly; keep the sliced beef covered in the refrigerator until you assemble the bowls. Divide the broth into shallow containers so it cools quickly, and put it in the refrigerator promptly. Do not leave the large pot standing at room temperature until it cools. Following FoodSafety.gov's general guidance, perishable cooked food should go into the refrigerator within 2 hours, or within 1 hour if the surrounding temperature is above 32°C, and the refrigerator itself should be kept at 4°C or below. The 2-hour window is the time to get the broth into the refrigerator; it does not mean the broth will be at 4°C by then.

Once the broth is thoroughly chilled, lift off the fat that has set on the surface. Stir in the seasoning sauce: 9 g clear soy sauce, 24 g sugar, 45 g vinegar, 24 g salt and 5.4 g fermented mustard. Keep the broth in the refrigerator until it is well chilled.

STEP 33 / 9

Salt the cucumber

Thinly sliced cucumber soaking in salt water, with a cloth ready for blotting
After 20 minutes in salt water, blot the cucumber dry so it doesn't water down the broth

Halve the 50 g cucumber lengthwise and slice it thinly on the diagonal. Mix 2 g salt with 15 g water and soak the cucumber in it for 20 minutes. Then wipe off the moisture with a clean cloth. Excess water on the cucumber dilutes the cold broth once it is poured over.

STEP 44 / 9

Quickly season the radish

Thin radish strips being mixed with salt, sugar, vinegar and fine red pepper
A light dusting of red pepper and 20 minutes of rest give the radish a gentle sweet-sour edge

Cut the 170 g radish into slices 5 cm long, 2 cm wide and 0.2 cm thick. Mix with 4 g salt, 12 g sugar, 15 g vinegar and 2.2 g fine ground red pepper, and let it sit for 20 minutes. This is a quick sweet-sour seasoning, not kimchi, and the recipe does not call for squeezing the radish afterward.

STEP 55 / 9

Prepare the pear, pine nuts and red pepper

STEP 5

Mix 100 g water with 4 g sugar. Peel the 100 g pear, cut it into half-moons and soak it in the sugar water. Remove the tips from the 10 g pine nuts and wipe them with a dry cloth. Cut the 0.5 g shredded red pepper into 2–3 cm lengths.

STEP 66 / 9

Hard-boil the eggs

Pear soaking in sugar water beside a halved hard-boiled egg
Pear half-moons rest in sugar water while the eggs are peeled and halved

Put the 2 eggs in a pot with 1 kg water and 4 g salt. Cook over high heat for 5 minutes, then, once boiling, turn to medium heat and cook for 12 minutes. Stove output varies, so make sure the eggs are cooked firm all the way to the center. Cool them in cold water, peel and cut in half. If you are not assembling right away, refrigerate the peeled eggs.

STEP 77 / 9

Boil the noodles and rinse in cold water

Noodles lifted from boiling water and rinsed under cold running water
Boil and rinse in separate places: the pot for cooking, the colander under cold water for rinsing

Bring the 3 kg water to a boil and cook the 400 g noodles for 2 minutes, without adding salt to the water. If your package gives a different time, follow the package. Drain and rinse the noodles well under cold water, then gather them in a colander to drain. Rinsing stops the cooking from residual heat and washes off the slippery surface starch. Keep them draining until you plate.

STEP 88 / 9

Arrange the noodles and toppings

Drained noodles in a bowl being topped with beef, cucumber, radish, pear and egg
Assemble the toppings on well-drained noodles before any broth goes in

Place the drained noodles in each bowl. Arrange the sliced beef, cucumber, radish, egg and pear on top, then finish with the pine nuts and red pepper threads. Every topping from the recipe goes into the bowl.

STEP 99 / 9

Pour in the chilled broth and serve

Chilled beef broth poured over mul-naengmyeon, with vinegar and mustard on the side
Pour the cold broth over the toppings; vinegar and mustard can sit beside the bowl for each diner to add

Pour the well-chilled beef broth into each bowl and serve right away. In its own separate mul-naengmyeon recipe, the Korea Tourism Organization suggests letting each diner add vinegar and mustard to taste at the table. That is a serving custom from a different recipe, not part of the Korea.net ingredient list, so offer it on the side if you like.

0 / 0
Ingredients

Ingredients

1 / 8

Noodles

Ingredient Amount Role and preparation
Buckwheat noodles (dried) 400 g The base of the bowl. Check the package cooking time
Water for boiling noodles 3 kg (15 cups) For the noodles only, not the broth
2 / 8

Beef broth

Ingredient Amount Role and preparation
Beef (brisket shank) 300 g Makes the broth, then is sliced as a topping
Water for the broth 1.6 kg (8 cups) For simmering the beef
Green onion 20 g Added partway through simmering
Garlic 20 g Added with the green onion
3 / 8

Seasoning sauce for the chilled broth

Ingredient Amount Role and preparation
Clear soy sauce 9 g (½ tbsp) See the notes below
Sugar 24 g (2 tbsp)
Vinegar 45 g (3 tbsp)
Salt 24 g (2 tbsp)
Fermented mustard 5.4 g (½ tbsp)
4 / 8

Cucumber

Ingredient Amount Role and preparation
Cucumber 50 g Halved lengthwise, thinly sliced on the diagonal
Salt 2 g (½ tsp) For the soaking salt water
Water 15 g (1 tbsp) For the soaking salt water
5 / 8

Radish

Ingredient Amount Role and preparation
Radish 170 g Cut into 5 cm × 2 cm × 0.2 cm slices
Salt 4 g (1 tsp)
Sugar 12 g (1 tbsp)
Vinegar 15 g (1 tbsp)
Fine ground red pepper 2.2 g (1 tsp)
6 / 8

Pear

Ingredient Amount Role and preparation
Pear 100 g (1/5 ea) Peeled and cut into half-moons
Water 100 g (½ cup) Mixed with the sugar for soaking
Sugar 4 g (1 tsp)
7 / 8

Eggs

Ingredient Amount Role and preparation
Eggs 120 g (2 ea) Hard-boiled, peeled and halved
Water 1 kg For boiling the eggs
Salt 4 g (1 tsp) Added to the egg water
8 / 8

Garnish

Ingredient Amount Role and preparation
Pine nuts 10 g (1 tbsp) Tips removed, wiped with a dry cloth
Shredded red pepper 0.5 g Cut into 2–3 cm lengths
0 / 0

Mul-Naengmyeon: A Cold Bowl Once Eaten in Warm Winter Rooms

What this bowl should keep

A clear beef broth chilled until it is truly cold, the flavor of buckwheat noodles, and the sweet-sour crunch of radish, cucumber and pear. Everything else in this recipe serves those three things.

Picture a winter room warmed from the floor by ondol heating, and a bowl of icy noodles on the low table. The Korea Tourism Organization describes naengmyeon as a dish that was eaten in exactly this setting, in freezing weather, with the soup traditionally made from the brine of dongchimi, a radish water kimchi, ladled from earthenware jars in winter. Today many people think of cold noodles as summer food, but the dish has winter roots.

Naengmyeon (냉면) means "cold noodles," and it is a family name for dishes from Korea rather than a single recipe. This article covers mul-naengmyeon (물냉면), the version served in chilled broth. Its sibling, bibim-naengmyeon (비빔냉면), is tossed in a spicy sauce with no broth, and is a different dish.

The recipe here follows one source only: the naengmyeon recipe published by Korea.net, the official website of the Republic of Korea. Its broth is made from beef alone, without dongchimi brine, and it is topped with sliced beef, salted cucumber, a quick radish pickle, pear in sugar water, boiled egg, pine nuts and fine red pepper threads. The two parts that need the most care are the long beef simmer and cooling that broth safely, so plan to start the broth well ahead of the meal.

What Mul-Naengmyeon Is: Broth, Noodles and Toppings

Mul-naengmyeon is noodles served in a cold soup; bibim-naengmyeon is noodles dressed in a spicy sauce. Korea.net and Maangchi both draw this line, and keeping it clear matters when you shop and cook, because the two dishes ask for different balances of noodle, broth and seasoning.

The broth itself varies. The Korea Tourism Organization's own mul-naengmyeon recipe notes that the dish can be eaten with either dongchimi broth or beef broth, and gives the example of eating it after galbi. Maangchi explains that a traditional broth combines beef stock with dongchimi brine. The Korea.net recipe used here takes the beef-only route: beef simmered with green onion and garlic, chilled, skimmed of fat and seasoned with soy sauce, sugar, vinegar, salt and fermented mustard.

Eaten in Winter: Ondol, Earthenware Jars and Old Records

The Korea Tourism Organization presents naengmyeon as a dish eaten in winter, in rooms heated by ondol, with dongchimi brine taken from the jars where it had been kept through the cold months. The same source is careful about origins: it says the origin of naengmyeon is not clear, and it introduces the idea that it came from the northern mountain regions as a theory, not a settled fact. It also notes that recipes differ by region.

Korea.net mentions that a late Joseon-era record, the Dongguk Sesigi, lists naengmyeon among foods eaten around the winter solstice. That is Korea.net's own summary of the record; read it as a pointer to the dish's long winter association rather than a precise date of origin.

Pyongyang Style and Hamhung Style

Korea.net sketches two well-known regional styles:

Style Noodles Character
Pyongyang style Mainly buckwheat A clean, clear broth
Hamhung style Mainly potato or sweet potato starch Chewy, springy noodles and spicy flavors

The recipe in this article sits closer to the Pyongyang side: buckwheat noodles in a clear beef broth. It is a home version built from one published recipe, not a claim to reproduce any particular regional tradition exactly.

Ingredients: One Batch from the Korea.net Recipe

Buckwheat noodles for naengmyeon, beef, green onion, garlic, cucumber, radish, pear, eggs and pine nuts
Every ingredient for the broth, toppings and seasoning sauce, laid out before cooking

These amounts make one batch, with 400 g of dried noodles and 2 eggs. Note that three different waters appear: one for the noodles, one for the beef broth and one for the eggs. Keep them separate, and keep each salt amount with its own component.

Equipment

  • A large pot for boiling the noodles
  • A pot for simmering the beef broth
  • A separate pot for boiling the eggs
  • Shallow containers for cooling and refrigerating the broth
  • A colander for rinsing and draining the noodles
  • Small bowls for soaking the cucumber, radish and pear
  • Clean cloths for wiping the beef, cucumber and pine nuts

Choosing Noodles, Beef and Seasonings Outside Korea

Noodles. Use dried buckwheat noodles. Packaged naengmyeon noodles sold at Korean grocers vary: some are mostly buckwheat, others include a good share of starch. Read the ingredient list and compare, and follow the package cooking time when it differs from 2 minutes. Japanese soba can stand in when nothing else is available, but its texture, spring and buckwheat aroma differ, so treat it as a substitute rather than the same dish.

Beef. Use brisket shank. Beef shin or a similar braising cut is a reasonable approximation, but the fat and gelatin they release are not identical, so the body of the broth will change somewhat.

Clear soy sauce. Do not assume it is the same as Japanese light (usukuchi) soy sauce or any specific product. Saltiness differs between soy sauces, so taste the chilled broth rather than adjusting the recipe in advance.

Fermented mustard. If a Korean grocer carries mustard sold for naengmyeon, that is the first choice. A Japanese-style hot mustard gives a different aroma and heat, so don't treat the amounts as interchangeable.

Pear. Asian pear is the closest match; other pears differ in sweetness and juiciness from fruit to fruit. If you cannot find a suitable pear, it can be left out.

Allergies

This recipe contains egg, buckwheat and soy (from the soy sauce). Packaged noodles may also contain wheat or other starches, so check the label. Mustard and pine nuts are also worth checking for anyone with allergies.

Method: From Beef Broth to a Cold Bowl

Plan the order

The broth needs about 1 hour 40 minutes of simmering and then must chill thoroughly in the refrigerator, so it is convenient to make it ahead, for example the day before. The cucumber and radish each rest for 20 minutes; prepare the pear in sugar water alongside them. Boil the noodles last, right before serving.

Fixing Common Problems

Problem Likely cause What to do
The broth tastes greasy Fat was removed while the broth was still warm, or not at all Chill the broth thoroughly so the fat sets on top, then lift it off
The broth tastes flat or thin Water from the cucumber or noodles diluted it, or it was tasted while warm Blot the cucumber dry, drain the noodles well after rinsing, and judge the flavor only once the broth is cold
The noodles clump or turn soft Cooked past the package time, or left sitting before rinsing Check the package time; the source's 2 minutes is one guide. Rinse in cold water as soon as they are done and keep them draining until you plate
The radish tastes like kimchi Too much red pepper or a long rest Keep to the recipe's amounts and 20 minutes

Storage

Keep the noodles, toppings and broth in separate containers rather than storing assembled bowls. Divide cooked food into shallow containers and refrigerate promptly, within 2 hours, or within 1 hour if it is above 32°C, with the refrigerator at 4°C or below. As in step 2, that time limit is about getting food into the refrigerator, not about the food reaching 4°C by then.

The materials behind this recipe do not give a storage period for the beef broth or the cooked beef, so plan to eat them soon. FoodSafety.gov's general chart gives up to one week in the refrigerator for hard-boiled eggs; even so, use them early.

Variations

These change the flavor or method, and each should be treated as its own version rather than as the Korea.net recipe:

  • Adding dongchimi brine. Closer to the traditional broth that Maangchi describes, which combines beef stock and dongchimi brine. Use this only with dongchimi that is already fermented; Maangchi notes the fermentation takes 4–5 days. No tested ratio is given here.
  • Store-bought naengmyeon broth. A shortcut version, like the one Maangchi offers alongside the traditional method. It is a separate recipe from the beef broth here.
  • Vegetable broth instead of beef. A different dish in character, with a noticeably different flavor.
  • Bibim-naengmyeon. Noodles dressed in a spicy sauce with no broth. It is a separate dish; don't mix its steps into this one.
  • Japanese soba. An availability-first version. Expect a different texture and aroma from naengmyeon noodles.

For more Korean dishes, try bibimbap for a one-bowl meal, japchae for a noodle dish built on glass noodles with a very different texture, and mandu to round out a Korean table.

Frequently Asked Questions

Are naengmyeon and mul-naengmyeon the same thing?

Naengmyeon is the umbrella term for Korean cold noodles. Mul-naengmyeon is the type served in chilled broth; bibim-naengmyeon is the type tossed in spicy sauce.

Can I use soba instead?

Yes, as a substitute when naengmyeon or buckwheat noodles are hard to find. The texture, chew and aroma will differ, so it won't be the same dish as the source recipe.

Is dongchimi required?

Not for this recipe; the Korea.net version uses beef broth only. Dongchimi brine belongs to another traditional style of broth, described by the Korea Tourism Organization and Maangchi.

Can I make it ahead?

The broth is best made ahead. Store the broth, toppings and noodles separately, cool the broth in shallow containers, and get it into the refrigerator within 2 hours (1 hour above 32°C), with the refrigerator at 4°C or below. Boil the noodles just before serving.

How is it different from bibim-naengmyeon?

Mul-naengmyeon is served in a cold broth. Bibim-naengmyeon has no broth; the noodles are mixed with a spicy sauce.

Sources