mary eats

Wandering the aisles of Costco the other day, the mountians of gift paks indicated that chusok is right around the corner. Sadly, none of these gift packs really dazzle. There is the shampoo/bath bar pack, the tuna and oil gift set, but my favorite is the spam pack.

To celebrate the spam gift pack I’ve composed this little ditty.

To the call and response tune, ”Time of the Season for love,” by the Zombies. Feel free to hum along.

Whats you name? *whats your name*

Who’s your boss? *who’s your boss*

Is he Chae-bol like me?

Have you taken? *have you taken*

Any time? *any time*

To con-si-der your chu-sok offering?

Have you looked a-rou-ound Hyundai? Or Walmart?

Singsaegae, Emart, too-o?

It’s the time of the season for spa-am.

**chaebol refers to the families that run the top companies like LG, Samsung, etc. A little like Korean royalty.

Friday, my review of Chungdam Sundubu, ran in The Korea Times, you can read it here.

Sundubu, spicy hot tofu soup, is one of my favorite Korean dishes. Thick with chunks of silken tofu, a fiery broth, red with heat and savory pork, it comforts, sooths, and kills any head cold.

Unfortunately, to many restaurants look at sundubu as an afterthought. Often the broth will be bland and watery, the contents of the soup, lifeless. Here sundubu does not exist to round out a Korean menu; it is placed on a pedestal, out of a passion for well being. Focused with attention to detail, it is perfected to please the most discerning sundubu connoisseurs, one Kevin L. Crowe.

Open 24 hours with an English menu. Ah-sa!

Side dishes. I know that fried whole fish looks nasty, but au contraire, flaky white meat rewards those willing to try.

dwachigalbi, pork spare ribs marinated in soysauce and chilies, served fajita style on a bed of sliced white onions

tofu agidashi, fried tofu in a pool of soy and binto broth, topped with minced ginger, and sliced green onion.

Beating the heat with momil, or cold noodles with a soy and rice wine dipping sauce, embellished with wasabi, grated raddish and minced green onion.

Special thanks to Gill and Tony for taking us.

Well into Bok, the hottest period of summer on the Korean calendar, folks are chomping at the bit to replenish their energy and stamina with a piping hot bowl of Samgaetang; chicken and ginseng soup.

According to Oriental and Korean natural medicine, eating hot foods on hot days will help keep the body temperature cooler. Where as if one indulges in delicious, cold, creamy, luscious, cold, sinfully decadent, and COLD ice cream, your body must produce more energy to heat up your body after you carelessly just cooled it down. I mean come on! It isn’t like you’d go jump in a cold swimming pool to cool down on the hottest day of the year. What are you? A baby? Act like a grown-up, go sweat it out in a sauna.

Originating in the Joseon Dynasty, 1392-1910, this reassuring soup combines a spring chicken, cleaned, and stuffed with glutinous rice and garlic, in a watery chicken stock with jujubes (Korean dates), sliced leeks and a stick or two of ginseng. First taste yields curious blandness. But ample kojung (red pepper paste), salt and pepper give this homely soup a punch for your kisser.

Goryeo Samgaetang, near city hall is an easy spot to try samgaetang for the first time. A well-known joint with both locals and tourists, there are English menus and grumpy ajumas for everybody.

Though delicious, nutritious, and a natural coolant, samgaetang is a pain in the breast to eat. Cooked whole in the pot means sorting through the bones and skin to get at the meat. That, and if you eat one of the fruity jujubes, according to Korean folklore, you’ll be taking in all the “poison” from the chicken. Anyone know if this is true? I bet is a big conspiracy theory so that those grumpy ajumas can pick through the soup remains and snatch up those jujubes for themselves.

As soon as my apartment cools down to a comfortable temperature, I promise a recipe. Not like you’d wanna cook in your kitchen now, with this global heat wave going on. This month’s issue of Seoul magazine features a recipe if you can’t wait. But I’d suggest a well air-conditioned restaurant.

Goryeo Samgaetang
Seoul, Korea
Phone: 02-752-9376
Subway: Line 2 and 1, City Hall station exit 10. Walk straight one block. Goryeo Samegaetang has a large white sigh with a chicken on it, on the right. Entrance opposite Tour les Jours
Hours: 10:00a.m.-8:00p.m.
Samgaetang 11,000 won