''Tangsuyuk'' () is a Korean Chinese meat dish with

sweet and sour Sweet and sour is a generic term that encompasses many styles of sauce, cuisine and cooking methods. It is commonly used in East Asia and Southeast Asia, and has been used in England since the Middle Ages. Dickson Wright, Clarissa (2011) ''A Histor ...

sauce. It can be made with either

pork Pork is the culinary name for the meat of the domestic pig (''Sus domesticus''). It is the most commonly consumed meat worldwide, with evidence of pig husbandry dating back to 5000 BCE. Pork is eaten both freshly cooked and preserved; ...

beef Beef is the culinary name for meat from cattle (''Bos taurus''). In prehistoric times, humankind hunted aurochs and later domesticated them. Since that time, numerous breeds of cattle have been bred specifically for the quality or quantit ...

History and etymology

''Tangsuyuk'' is a dish that was first made by

Chinese merchants Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **'' Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of v ...

in the port city of Incheon, where the majority of the ethnic Chinese population in contemporary

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korean Peninsula and sharing a land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed by the Yellow Sea, while its eas ...

live. It is derived from the Shandong-style dish '' tángcùròu'' (), as Chinese immigrants in Korea, including those that had first migrated to

Northeastern China Northeast China or Northeastern China () is a geographical region of China, which is often referred to as "Manchuria" or "Inner Manchuria" by surrounding countries and the West. It usually corresponds specifically to the three provinces east of ...

, mostly had Shandong ancestry. Although the

Chinese characters Chinese characters () are logograms developed for the writing of Chinese. In addition, they have been adapted to write other East Asian languages, and remain a key component of the Japanese writing system where they are known as ''kanji ...

meaning " sugar" (), "

vinegar Vinegar is an aqueous solution of acetic acid and trace compounds that may include flavorings. Vinegar typically contains 5–8% acetic acid by volume. Usually, the acetic acid is produced by a double fermentation, converting simple sugars to eth ...

" (), and " meat" () are pronounced ''dang'', ''cho'', and ''yuk'' in Korean, the dish is called ''tangsuyuk'', not ''dangchoyuk'', because the word ''tangsu'' derived from the transliteration of Chinese pronunciation ''tángcù'' , with the affricate ''c'' in the second syllable weakened into

fricative A fricative is a consonant produced by forcing air through a narrow channel made by placing two articulators close together. These may be the lower lip against the upper teeth, in the case of ; the back of the tongue against the soft palate in t ...

''s'' . The third syllable ''ròu'' () was not transliterated, as Sino-Korean word ''yuk'' () meaning "meat" was also commonly used in Korean dish names. As the word ''tangsuyuk'' is the combination of transliterated loanword ''tangsu'' and Sino-Korean ''yuk'', it was not a Sino-Korean vocabulary that could be written in

hanja Hanja (Hangul: ; Hanja: , ), alternatively known as Hancha, are Chinese characters () used in the writing of Korean. Hanja was used as early as the Gojoseon period, the first ever Korean kingdom. (, ) refers to Sino-Korean vocabulary, ...

. However, Koreans back-formed the second syllable with

''su'' (), meaning "water", perhaps because the sauce was considered soupy.

Preparation

Bite-size pieces of

loin The loins, or lumbus, are the sides between the lower ribs and pelvis, and the lower part of the back. The term is used to describe the anatomy of humans and quadrupeds, such as horses, pigs, or cattle. The anatomical reference also applies to pa ...

are coated with batter, usually made by soaking a mixture of

potato The potato is a starchy food, a tuber of the plant ''Solanum tuberosum'' and is a root vegetable native to the Americas. The plant is a perennial in the nightshade family Solanaceae. Wild potato species can be found from the southern Unit ...

or sweet potato starch and corn starch in water for several hours and draining the excess water. Glutinous rice flour may also be used. Egg white or cooking oil is added to the batter to change its consistency. Similarly to other Korean deep fried dishes, battered ''tangsuyuk'' meat is double-fried. ''Tangsuyuk'' is served with

sauce, which is typically made by boiling

, sugar and water, with variety of fruits and vegetables like carrot, cucumber,

onion An onion (''Allium cepa'' L., from Latin ''cepa'' meaning "onion"), also known as the bulb onion or common onion, is a vegetable that is the most widely cultivated species of the genus ''Allium''. The shallot is a botanical variety of the onio ...

, water chestnut,

wood ear mushroom Wood-ear or tree ear (, Korean: 목이 버섯), also translated wood jellyfish or , can refer to a few similar-looking edible fungi used primarily in Chinese cuisine; these are commonly sold in Asian markets shredded and dried. * ''Auricularia he ...

and

pineapple The pineapple (''Ananas comosus'') is a tropical plant with an edible fruit; it is the most economically significant plant in the family Bromeliaceae. The pineapple is indigenous to South America, where it has been cultivated for many centuri ...

. Starch slurry is used to thicken the sauce.

Gallery

Beoseot-tangsuyuk.jpg, ''Beoseot-tangsuyuk'', a vegan/vegetarian ''tangsuyuk'' dish using

shiitake mushroom The shiitake (alternate form shitake) (; ''Lentinula edodes'') is an edible mushroom native to East Asia, which is now cultivated and consumed around the globe. It is considered a medicinal mushroom in some forms of traditional medicine. Ta ...

as a meat substitute

References

{{portalbar, Food, Korea Deep fried foods Korean Chinese cuisine Korean beef dishes Korean pork dishes

History and etymology

Preparation

Gallery

See also

References