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.

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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.

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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.

samgaetang

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

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