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
