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Yukgaejang 육개장 (Spicy beef soup) - (Korean Food)
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Last Modified : 2017/02/18

Travel regions : South Korea
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1. Ingredients for Yukgaejang

- Primary ingredients: Beef
- Secondary ingredients: Seasonings (chili powder, soy sauce, garlic and ginger) and vegetables (spring onions, radish, 숙주, fiddleheads and taro stems)



2. Taste evaluation

-Spicy: ★★★☆☆
-Salty: ★★☆☆☆
-Sweet: ★☆☆☆☆
-Sour: ☆☆☆☆☆



3. Introduction to Yukgaejang (Spicy beef soup)

Yukgaejang is a soup made of beef brisket, radish, leek, taro stems and fiddleheads, and seasoned with red chili powder for a spicy flavor. It’s one of health foods for most of Korean families because one bowl of hot Yukgaejang gives them energy.


The origin of this nutritious and tasty food is quite shocking.

Yukgaejang means a soup using beef instead of dog meat.

Koreans have eaten beef, pork, horsemeat and dog meat from a long time ago.

Pork contains a large portion of fat that goes bad real quickly so the people did not eat or raise pigs until Joseon Dynasty era. But they considered beef as the best meat and preferred eating it but they could not eat it often since cattle were used for farming.

Cattle were primary source of labor in the Joseon Dynasty era so that eating them was prohibited by law.

So the people started to eat dogs as animal protein sources instead of beef. It was so natural for them to eat dogs in Joseon Dynasty era that you can even find various dog meat recipes documented in that time.

Among a few, there’s one cuisine called Gaejang-guk made of dog with various vegetables and this was so valuable that it used to be served in the palace.

But they still raised dogs as pet at the time so those who were against the idea of eating dogs used beef instead of dog meat in Gaejang-guk. Around that time, they could supply beef constantly since the palace allowed cattle butchering and that’s when regular Yukgaejang with beef became a cuisine for all people.

Today, even most of Koreans do not know that Gaegogi was original recipe of Yukgaejang but they still enjoy beef Yukgaejang.







Yukgaejang uses beef as primary ingredient and other ingredients including spring onion, radish, fiddlehead and taro stems, and is seasoned with chili powder, soy sauce, garlic and ginger.

The soup tastes deep from different ingredients, meat gets soft after boiling for a long time, and well-boiled spring onion tastes sweet that goes well with spicy chili pepper sauce.

Since there are many ingredients used, it requires a lot of work from the cook. It’s a healthy food that is mostly served to those who are old or who need strength wishing they get healthy after eating this.

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4. Kinds of Yukgaejang

There are not many kinds of Yukgaejang but there’s a special variation called Dakgyejang that is made of chicken instead of expensive beef. Dakgyejang is also a spicy soup with Gochujang paste but it tastes different since it uses chicken instead of beef.

Other than that, Sogogi-guk(beef soup) tastes similar to Yukgaejang but it uses fewer ingredients such as beef, radish and spring onions.







5. How to enjoy Yukgaejang even more

There’s an old saying that Yukgaejang is the best served hot. So it’s served in a heat-resistant glass bowl to keep it hot.

In fact, Yukgaejang is not purely water but a soup with lots of ingredients that the temperature is over 100 degrees when it’s served.

So you shouldn’t hurry but keep stirring with your spoon until it cools down enough to eat.

When it’s cooled down, put a bowl of rice in Yukgaejang and eat it.

When you chew ingredients filled in your mouth, you should slowly taste and enjoy each ingredient, chewy meat, sweet spring onions, and deep taste of vegetables (taro stems and fiddleheads).

You might get sweaty and feel uncomfortable if you eat this hot and spicy Yukgaejang especially on hot days like this.

But Koreans feel that their bodies are relaxed after they excrete waste from their bodies when they sweat.

Why don’t you relax while you eat this hot Yukgaejang instead of eating vitamins?




Canon EOS 550D | f/4.0 | iso 1250 | 2013:04:18 16:18:22 | Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode | 33mm


육개장, 보양식, 개, 닭계장, yukgaejang, health-food, dog, chicken-soup, ユッケジャン, 香辣牛肉汤
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