Juksun-jjim is the braised bamboo-shoot dish of Damyang in South Jeolla, made from the spring shoots of the region's signature crop. In its banquet form the parboiled shoots are comb-cut and simmered with beef and shiitake in a light seasoned broth, a preparation recorded in old court cookery. In its everyday southern form the shoots are bound instead with ground perilla into a nutty, creamy coat, the home treatment that marks Jeolla cooking. Crisp-tender and mild, the shoots are a carrier for the seasoning, and they appear among the bamboo dishes of the Damyang set.
Damyang is Korea's bamboo country, a fact solid enough to state outright. The oldest document to attest its bamboo is the geographical record appended to King Sejong's annals, compiled in 1432, which lists Damyang's tribute bamboo; through the Joseon era the town sent bamboo goods and roasted-bamboo sap to the court, ran a famous bamboo-goods market, and ranked among the highest tax-paying districts. Bamboo took hold for climatic reasons, the basin warm and rainy through the spring shoot season and ringed by wind-blocking hills. Today Damyang is called the bamboo hometown, anchored by the Juknokwon forest and a bamboo museum and festival. The shoots are a celebrated regional specialty harvested in spring, roughly April through June and peaking toward early summer; the larger dish frame is the Damyang bamboo set, where shoot dishes accompany bamboo-tube rice and the local grilled beef-rib patty.
Crisp and crunchy yet tender, the shoot snaps cleanly and gives way to a fibrous, juicy bite. On its own it is earthy and mild with a faint natural sweetness, almost a blank, which is why the seasoning matters. In the perilla form a nutty, creamy coat clings to each comb-cut piece, savory and toasty; in the beef braise the shoot drinks up a light soy-sweet broth and the depth of the meat and mushroom. Either way it refreshes, the cleanest and most spring-like thing on the table.
Raw bamboo shoots carry bitter and acrid compounds, a cyanogenic glycoside that releases a trace of cyanide on damage, along with homogentisic and oxalic acids and tannins, so parboiling is mandatory rather than optional, driving these off so the shoot turns clean and edible. The shoots are traditionally boiled in rice water, the suspended starch explained as drawing off the bitterness and limiting browning, then soaked in cold water to finish stripping the acridity. Ground perilla is roughly two-fifths oil, so as a powder it acts as a natural thickener and a nutty, fatty coat that carries flavor onto the otherwise watery, fibrous shoot and softens any remaining edge, while doenjang or soy contributes the savory glutamate that amplifies the shoot's own mild sweetness.
Variations
The most common everyday form is the perilla namul, shoots bound in perilla powder; the braised juksun-jjim proper is the beef-and-shiitake version, sometimes elaborated by stuffing the scored shoots with seasoned minced beef. Blanched and served cold with a chili-vinegar dip, the same shoot becomes juksun-hoe, and simmered with perilla into a soup it is a bamboo-shoot perilla soup, itself counted a Jeolla specialty. All of them ride on the same careful parboil, and all belong to the Damyang bamboo table.
On the Palate
Where Juksun-jjim sits in the Korean flavor cloud
Ingredients
Serves 4
How it's made
7 steps · 1 hour
- 145 min
Parboil whole shoots in their husks in rice water for thirty minutes to an hour, with an optional pinch of salt, to draw out the acrid compounds.
Watch outParboil the shoots in rice water a full 30–60 minutes — this is mandatory, not optional; it drives off the bitter, acrid compounds so the shoot turns clean.
- 290 min
Cool and soak the shoots in cold water, ideally for a few hours, to finish stripping the acridity.
Watch outThen soak in cold water a few hours until no acrid edge remains on the tongue — taste a sliver; still sharp means it needs longer.
- 38 min
Peel the shoots and slice them into comb-shaped pieces along the grain.
- 415 min
Rub the shoots with perilla oil, minced garlic and a little soup soy sauce and let them rest.
- 55 min
Cook the shoots down in a pan with anchovy-kelp stock, covered, for about five minutes.
- 63 min
Bind with ground perilla and scallion to a thick, creamy coat.
- 72 min
Finish off the heat with sesame oil and toasted sesame, and adjust the salt before serving warm.
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