Sunday May 23, 2010
The weekend's been rainy which was a nice interlude to the unbearable heat. I like soup on rainy days, wet food on wet days. Koreans do a rice stuffed cornish hen soup called Samgyetang.
This has always been my favorite Korean dish. It holds a dear place in my heart because it is a comforting soup and also because this dish is my grandfather's specialty. If you know me well, you know I am obsessed with my grandfather and he is the great man of my life. Many of my American friends (and when I say American I obviously mean the non-Korean ones :-) have tried my grandfather's version. They enjoyed it even though the flavor of the soup (dried red dates and ginseng) and the texture of the rice (chewy and congealed) are not tastes that the American palate is so used to. I think this is a testament to how well he does it.
My friend told me of a place that does this dish right. It is a huge restaurant that usually has lines out the door and down the block. No menus are needed, they are cornish hen specialists. You know immediately to either get one of the rotisserie hens in the windows or the soup. We all got the soup.
The cornish hens were about half the size of the ones you get in America because they weren't growth hormoned up the wazoo. The flavor was more hen-ey (? Ok so I'm not a food writer) and the texture more tender. The soup flavor was sublime and I almost felt healthier because the ginseng was so prominent.
The restaurant has a nice touch of offering all guests a shot of ginseng soju as soon as you sit down. I didn't think I would like it but it was kind of tasty. The negative health effects of the soju were offset by the healthy benefits of ginseng. It felt like you weren't drinking.
After eating this meal, I really felt like I was in Korea because it is nearly impossible to find a good Samgyetang restaurant in the east coast. It is an extremely labor intensive dish and not very viable to be profitable in the States.
I was almost praying it wouldn't be better than my grandfather's. It pains me to say this, but it was. It will be a more than adequate replacement when I am craving a taste of family cooking.
Free Shots!
Ginseng display:
Gloomy view from my bedroom:
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