Asian Soup Cultures (1/3)

Feature of the Month Asian Soup Cultures Korean Soup Culture “Koreans call themselves t'angban minjok, a rice and soup eating people--and with good reason. Rice, soup (kuk/guk), and kimchee are traditionally served simultaneously at all meals, no matter how fancy or simple--breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Even when many other side dishes are included, soup usually serves as the beverage, as tea is not generally served until the end of the meal. Soup stocks can be made of beef, chicken, fish, dried seafood, or seaweed--and they often start with the water the rice has been washed in. Special soups are served for festivals, whether national holidays, Confucian rituals, or special occasions. For example: Ttok Manduguk (rice cake and dumpling soup) for New Years; red bean cereal soup for Dongi; kuk soo jang kuk (beef mushroom soup with long noodles) for marriage; miyokguk (seaweed soup) for brand new mothers; and okol kyesamt'ang (black rooster soup with some 20 ingredients) or kyesamt'ang (ginseng chicken soup) or paeksuk (plain chicken soup with sweet rice and garlic) for tonics. As with the rest of the Korean cuisine, these soups are any combination of hanguk omsikun saek'om, dalk'om, malk'om hago olk'un, tchagvtchal, ssubssul, kkoshohan masida--pleasantly sour, sweet, hot, burning hot, salty, bitter, and nutty. “ Korean soups (tang) are eaten year round but enjoyed most, like the stews, when the temperature drops below freezing. Unlike the stews, spice is not a main ingredient but can be added if desired. The one exception to this is yuk-kae-jang. Here spice is the main ingredient. It contains strips of beef and just looking at it, with its red broth, you know you'll be breathing fire. Sam-gae tang is a delicious, healthy soup that is made with a whole chicken, ginseng, garlic and a jujube. It's believed by Koreans to give one "stamina" although I've personally never experienced this burst of energy. Kal-bi tang is made with boiled pork short ribs and most commonly green onions. The restaurant can make or break this soup depending on the quality of meat that is used. Sol-long tang is a hearty beef stock soup that you add salt to. Most of the Korean soups, like most Korean meals, are served with rice and plenty of side dishes. -- Hi Soo Shin Henpinstall, Growing Up in a Korean Kitchen Japanese Soup Culture No Japanese meal is complete without at least one soup. The simplest meal consists of one soup and 3 side dishes. Japanese soup as a category is known as shirumono--and includes both clear soups and thick soups (of which the latter is the biggest category by far). Clear soup is called suimono, or "something to drink." These are elegant, sparkling, and generally have 3 tiny solid bits of ingredients in them--often a bite of seafood, a slice of complementary vegetable, and a not-necessarily-to-be-eaten thing for fragrance (lemon peel, pepper leaves, whatever). They're served after the appetizer, as the beginning of the main part of the main meal; as palate cleansers (like sorbets); and sometimes in place of the last course of thick soup, with the rice. People go nuts over them cause they're served in covered bowls, so you take off the top and snuff in this great aroma and see a beautifully designed "picture" in the bowl for your pleasure. Thick soups--generally known by the generic name of shirumono--are made of stock, miso, and lots of meat/fish/veggie things. For Japanese soups the key ingredient is always the best quality fresh dashi stock made from the best quality kelp and bonito fish flakes. Typical Japanese soups include the following. Miso Soup With Silken Tofu And Scallions