The secret to a good doenjang jjigae is to use a good doenjang (fermented soybean paste). I sound like Ina Garten though I doubt she'd ever sink her delicate palate into anything as mordacious as fermented soybean paste. Anyway, I use my grandma's doenjang which she makes herself out on her farm in Jirisan.
When my sibs and I were wee ones growing up in Texas, this same grandma would make this same stinky-ass doenjang. It was so potent the neighbors complained - this is out in Texas where the nearest neighbor is not so near. Not surprisingly, this homemade doenjang did not make me the most popular girl in school when I brought my friends home for play dates.
