Ginseng Chicken
During the hot summer months of July and August Koreans
fight fire with fire!
You would think you would eat Ginseng Chicken (Samgyetang)
on a cold wintery night, but not in Korea! Ginseng Chicken is served at the
height of summer. Long lines are seen outside the Ginseng Chicken restaurants
as patrons wait to sweat away the heat of the summer. The idea behind this is
if you sweat bullets as you eat this amazing meal you will cool down. This is
considered a very
A beautiful Cornish hen is stuffed with short grain rice,
garlic, jube-jube (date), ginseng root and lowered into a pot of boiling water.
This simmers away for about an hour. Each are served a stone pot with your own
chicken. Break open the super tender chicken to reveal the sticky rice, garlic,
jube-jube and ginseng root. The chicken and broth is seasoned at the table with
salt and pepper. The broth is heavenly. Eating the now tender ginseng root
revitalizes your entire being. On our last trip in 2014 the game was to see who
could empty their stone pot completely. Cheers would abound as each person
displayed their empty bowl!
This meal is easily enjoyed by Americans because it is quite
mild compared to some of the more exotic flavors we experience in Korea. I have
made this at home and was thrilled with the results. As my chicken simmered I
added sliced ginger to the broth to kick up the flavor. So easy and super
yummy!
Not all soups are served hot during the summer in Korea.
Mul-naengmyeon is a soup that is served icy cold. We experienced a bowl of this
at lunch with Master Ahn. A sweet and tangy icy broth served with chewy
buckwheat noodles, radish and beef brisket. It was so unusual! I thought I was
drinking a salad!
I am looking forward to our trip to Korea this coming week
and enjoying an amazing meal of ginseng chicken. I will see you when I get back with exciting
tales of Mrs. Pyke eats Korea!
Haengbog meogneum
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