Soup & stew
Samgyetang
Ginseng Chicken Soup
A whole young chicken stuffed with rice and ginseng, simmered into a milky, restorative soup.
Samgyetang is Korea's classic health food: a small whole chicken stuffed with sticky rice, ginseng, garlic, and jujube, then slow-simmered until the broth turns milky and the meat falls off the bone. Counterintuitively, Koreans eat this piping-hot soup in the hottest days of summer, on the three 'bok' days, following the logic of fighting heat with heat to restore stamina. The broth is clean and unsalted, so you season your own spoonful with the salt and pepper provided. It's considered nourishing rather than indulgent — the kind of meal you treat a tired parent or a recovering friend to. Each pot is a single serving, making it one of the few Korean shared-table staples that's naturally a solo meal.
✦ Tastypinch tip
Use chopsticks to lift the meat off the bone and the spoon for the rice-thickened broth.
How to eat it
- Season your portion with the table salt and pepper — the broth comes unsalted.
- Pull the chicken apart with chopsticks; the meat should be very tender.
- Spoon out the rice and ginseng from inside the cavity to eat with the broth.
Common mistakes
- Don't expect a pre-salted soup — adjusting the seasoning yourself is part of it.
- The ginseng root is intensely bitter; it's there for aroma, not necessarily to eat whole.
Where to try it
- Samgyetang specialty restaurants
- Especially crowded on the summer 'bok' days (복날)
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