Samyetang And Choouhtang For Hot Summer Days
Using a Lunar Calendar there are three hot days during summer. Koreans call them Chobok, Joongbok, and Malbok which represent the first hot day, middle hot day and final hot day. This year, they were July 19, July 29, and August 8. Koreans eat fine food such as Samgyetang (chicken stew) and Choouhtang (mudfish) to strengthen the body which is weakened by the hot weather.
Samgyetang is chicken stew which contains ginseng, glutinous rice, garlic, jujube fruit and ginger. Other medicinal herbs like wolfberry and angelica sinensis could be added. The young chicken, which is good enough for one person, can be used for Samgyetang. Like a turkey feast on Thanksgiving Day, all of the ingredients has to be inserted into the chicken’s cavity and you must close the flaps over the cavity (use the skewer or sew with thread). Now, put it in a pot, almost half filled with water, and cook it for many hours. It is served with pepper and salt. Hot red chili pepper paste can be added to enrich its flavors and taste to one’s preference. Samgyetang is a representative food in Korea during the summer time.
Chyeotang is also one of the Korean traditional health foods for the summer season with rich flavors. The rich soup stock boiled with grinded mudfish (sometimes whole mudfish can be used) and dried Chinese cabbage, tofu, beef and mungbean sprouts will provide excellent tastes and flavors. Mudfish has high protein content and excellent amino acids composition. Also, it is rich in vitamin B, vitamin D, vitamin A, calcium and iron. Slippery mucus increases protein absorption and creation. Because Chyeotang uses the entire mudfish including its bones and inner organs, it is a healthy dish for growing children and middle-aged women who are worrying about osteoporosis due to the low amount of calcium. It is served with whole green pepper, minced red peppers and Chinese pepper powder.
Why do Koreans cook a hot dish like Samgyetang or Choouhtang during the summer? When people sweat, inner body temperature goes down a lot and this makes harmful effects to the stomach and liver. Koreans say that people order the hot dish to stop that and also to improve one’s appetite in the hot weather.
John J. Lee is a freelance writer and developer for a Korean restaurants list.
John Lee is a freelance writer and developer for a Korean restaurants directory.


