''Samgye-tang'' () or ginseng chicken soup, * meaning

ginseng Ginseng () is the root of plants in the genus ''Panax'', such as Korean ginseng ('' P. ginseng''), South China ginseng ('' P. notoginseng''), and American ginseng ('' P. quinquefolius''), typically characterized by the presence of ginsenosides an ...

( Kor. ''sam'') - chicken (Kor. ''gye'') - soup (Kor. ''tang'') in Korean, consists primarily of a whole young

chicken The chicken (''Gallus gallus domesticus'') is a domesticated junglefowl species, with attributes of wild species such as the grey and the Ceylon junglefowl that are originally from Southeastern Asia. Rooster or cock is a term for an adult m ...

( ''poussin'') filled with garlic, rice,

jujube Jujube (), sometimes jujuba, known by the scientific name ''Ziziphus jujuba'' and also called red date, Chinese date, and Chinese jujube, is a species in the genus ''Ziziphus'' in the buckthorn family Rhamnaceae. Description It is a smal ...

, and

. Samgye-tang is a Korean traditional soup for body health. Samgye-tang is a representative summer health food. Soup made with chicken that is slightly larger than the chick is called Yeonggye Baeksuk, and the chicken is divided into half is called Banggye-tang. Samgyetang in Korea

History

During the

Joseon Dynasty Joseon (; ; Middle Korean: 됴ᇢ〯션〮 Dyǒw syéon or 됴ᇢ〯션〯 Dyǒw syěon), officially the Great Joseon (; ), was the last dynastic kingdom of Korea, lasting just over 500 years. It was founded by Yi Seong-gye in July 1392 and re ...

(1392-1897), people enjoyed the numerous chicken soup dishes that were similar to Samgye-tang, including Yeongye-tang, Chonggye-tang, and Hwanggye-tang. While it was the custom to make a soup with young chicken and serve it to elders during the summer days, the chicken boiled with milkvetch roots and its broth were served to the sick queen during

King Injo Injo of Joseon (7 December 1595 – 17 June 1649), born Yi Jong, was the sixteenth ruler of the Joseon Dynasty of Korea. He was the grandson of King Seonjo and son of Prince Jeongwon. He was the king during the Later Jin invasion of Joseon, ...

's reign. However, the description of the dish that most closely resembles today's form of Samgye-tang can be found in Joseon Yorijaebeop (), the cookbook Shinyoung Bang, the professor of

Ewha Womans University Ewha Womans University () is a private women's university in Seoul founded in 1886 by Mary F. Scranton under Emperor Gojong. It was the first university founded in South Korea. Currently, Ewha is one of the world's largest female educational ins ...

, wrote in 1917 to compile the information on how to make various traditional dishes of Joseon. In the book, it is described that Dakguk (닭국), or chicken soup, is made by gutting a chicken and stuffing the inside with three spoons of glutinous rice and one spoon of ginseng powder, followed by tying up the opening and boiling the chicken with ten bowls of water. During the Japanese colonial era, the Japanese officials who investigated the cultures of former Joseon noted that rich families boiled the chicken stuffed with ginseng and used the broth as medicine in summer. The dish began to be commercially sold at restaurants around 1940s and under the name Gyesam-tang (() in 1950s, which meant chicken ginseng soup. With the supplying of modern

refrigerator A refrigerator, colloquially fridge, is a commercial and home appliance consisting of a thermally insulated compartment and a heat pump (mechanical, electronic or chemical) that transfers heat from its inside to its external environment so th ...

s in Korea, it became possible to preserve a ginseng as whole instead of powder. Thus, since 1960s, it became more common to stuff the chicken with a whole piece of ginseng instead of powder, reaching today's form of the dish. To emphasize the medicinal effects of the ginseng in the soup, many people since then have started calling the dish Samgye-tang (ginseng chicken soup) instead of Gyesam-tang (chicken ginseng soup).

Custom

It is the custom in Korea to eat Samgye-tang during hot

summer Summer is the hottest of the four temperate seasons, occurring after spring and before autumn. At or centred on the summer solstice, the earliest sunrise and latest sunset occurs, daylight hours are longest and dark hours are shortest, wit ...

days in order to replenish the nutrients that were lost through the sweating and physical activities. It is especially popular to eat this chicken soup on sambok (삼복) days, which are three distinct days of the lunar calendar—''Chobok'' (초복), ''Jungbok'' (중복), and ''Malbok'' (말복)—commonly among the hottest and most sultry summer days in Korea. Some specialty restaurants in South Korea serve only ''samgyetang'', having gained local popularity through their special recipes for the dish, which are often kept as

secret Secrecy is the practice of hiding information from certain individuals or groups who do not have the "need to know", perhaps while sharing it with other individuals. That which is kept hidden is known as the secret. Secrecy is often controvers ...

s. The dish is sometimes accompanied by a small complimentary bottle of ''

insam-ju ''Insam-ju'' (), also called ginseng liquor or ginseng wine, is an alcoholic beverage made of ginseng. As ginseng itself, the liquor is one of the specialities of both North and South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (RO ...

'' (ginseng wine) in certain restaurants.

Recipe

The recipe for Samgye-tang is to put glutinous rice, garlic and jujube wrapped in clean cloth in the stomach of the gutted chicken, and boil it in a pot with plenty of water to get it out when the meat is fully cooked. Ginseng is wrapped in a cloth, put in soup, and the ingredients of ginseng are thickened, so it is seasoned with salt to drink only the soup, or seasoned meat in the soup. However, if ginseng is mixed with glutinous rice and put into a chicken, the nutrients of ginseng permeate the chicken bones, reducing the nutrients of ginseng. In addition to ginseng, it is also eaten with poison ivy, cedar, and abalone. Some say that jujube should not be eaten because it absorbs the bad ingredients of Samgye-tang, but it is not true and can be eaten. Although it is considered standard to add young chicken and ginseng for 6 years as ingredients in Samgye-tang, many restaurants do not find these ingredients easily and often use Ungchu or 4-year-old ginseng because the cost of ingredients becomes more expensive. In fact, there is an opinion that four-year-old ginseng has no problem because saponin, the effective ingredient of ginseng, is not much different from six-year-old ginseng. Some companies use ginseng for one to two years or replace it with

Astragalus propinquus ''Astragalus propinquus'' (syn. ''Astragalus membranaceus'', commonly known as Mongolian milkvetch in English; 'Хунчир' in Mongolian; ''huáng qí'' (), ''běi qí'' () or ''huáng huā huáng qí'' (), in Mongolia, is a flowering plant i ...

that tastes similar.

Gallery

Samgye-tang.jpg, ''Samgye-tang'' (closeup) Image:Korean soup-Samgyetang-13.jpg, ''Samgyetang'' Image:Korean soup-Samgyetang-12.jpg, ''Samgyetang'' Image:Korean soup-Samgyetang-06.jpg, ''Samgyetang'' with ''

kimchi ''Kimchi'' (; ko, 김치, gimchi, ), is a traditional Korean side dish of salted and fermented vegetables, such as napa cabbage and Korean radish. A wide selection of seasonings are used, including ''gochugaru'' (Korean chili powder), sprin ...

'' and ''

'' (ginseng wine) Image:Korean chicken soup-Ogolgyetang-01.jpg, '' Ogolgye samgyetang''

References

External links