Korean · soup

Samgyetang (Whole Chicken Simmered with Ginseng and Sweet Rice)

Samgyetang (Whole Chicken Simmered with Ginseng and Sweet Rice) reads allium 5.4, nutty 4.1 and salinity 4.1 on Palate's 0–10 flavor X-ray — a Korean soup, about 2 hr 35 min. Measured from the recipe itself: ingredients and technique.

The flavor X-ray — six axes, 0–10

The measured notes (of 18)

Allium 5.4 · Nutty 4.1 · Salinity 4.1 · Sweetness 3.6 · Earthy 3.0 · Warm Spice 2.7 · Herbaceous 2.3 · Richness 1.9 · Umami 1.7 · Fruity 1.5 · Bitterness 1.3 · Heat 0.8

What's in it (12)

Time & effort: about 2 hr 35 min (1 hr 35 min active) · effort: involved

Nutrition (per 100 g, engine-estimated): 6.2 kcal, 0.2 g protein, 0 g fat, 1.3 g carbs

How it's cooked (7 steps)

  1. Soak the sweet rice an hour ahead; it must be glutinous rice, not ordinary short-grain, because it swells inside the bird and thickens the broth into something closer to a porridge than a soup, which is the whole texture of the dish.
  2. Stuff each bird with half the drained rice, one ginseng root, two jujubes, four garlic cloves and two chestnuts. Fill it no more than two-thirds; the rice will double. Cross the legs and tuck one through a slit cut in the skin above the other, or tie them, so the stuffing stays in.
  3. Sit the birds breast-up in a deep pot that just holds them, add the water and the ginger, and bring to a boil. Skim the foam off steadily for the first 5 minutes and keep skimming until the surface is clear, which is what gives samgyetang its pale, clean broth.
  4. Turn the heat to low, cover, and simmer 60 to 75 minutes. It is done when a leg pulls away from the body with no resistance and the rice inside has swollen into a soft mass. Ginseng is bitter and medicinal, and it will perfume the whole kitchen; that bitterness against the sweet rice and the fat of the bird is the point of the dish.
  5. Serve each bird whole in a deep bowl with its broth, the scallions scattered on top. Season with the salt and pepper only at the table, in a small dish, so each person dips each piece of meat as they tear it off with their spoon and chopsticks. Salt in the pot draws the flavour out of the bird and into the broth, and here it is meant to stay in the meat.
  6. Samgyetang is eaten in the hottest weeks of the year, on the three sambok days of high summer, on the principle of fighting heat with heat. Add the sesame salt to the dipping dish if you like.
  7. Substitutions: very small chickens (500 g each) can stand in for the poussins; 2 dried roots soaked 30 minutes can stand in for the fresh ginseng roots.

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Every number above is Palate's engine-measured estimate, computed from this recipe's ingredients and techniques — not human-tasted ratings or reviews.