Korean Job Discussion Forums

kermo · Posted: Tue Oct 31, 2006 6:00 am Post subject: What's 해장국 made of?

There's a 24 hour restaurant near my place that serves a long list of things I don't recognize. Many of them are 탕s, like 감자탕, and some are quite expensive.

I went with a group of friends, and just asked the ajumma for her recommendation. She brought us a soup that prominently featured a large chunk of vertebrae. It smelled like cinnamon or another savory spice. My friends thought the meat tasted like lamb.

We asked the ajumma what the soup was made of (at least, I thought I did until I looked up her answer,) and she replied 해장고기. When I looked up 해장 in my dictionary, it said "Hangover cure." Any idea what kind of meat this was?

blackjack · Joined: 04 Jan 2006 Location: anyang

my korea cookbook says haejangguk (hanguk on my computer won't work) is made of fresh poached ox blood, so it was probably made with beef

n3ptne · Joined: 14 Sep 2005 Location: Poh*A*ng City

I asked a lady friend... said it was pork.

ChuckECheese · Joined: 20 Jul 2006

It could have been the ox tail since you said it looked like vertebrae.

Koreans go crazy over ox tail soup. Was it good?

aldershot · Joined: 17 Jul 2006

yup, it's pig-spine soup. delicious stuff, i eat it at least twice a week. the boiled yellow spinal fluid is what gets rid of that hangover.

Privateer · Joined: 31 Aug 2005 Location: Easy Street.

I think it's made from a cow's insides - stomach and everything else. Could be the tail in there as well. And it's supposed to be good hangover food.

Rteacher · Joined: 23 May 2005 Location: Western MA, USA

If that's the cure for hangover I think it's best not to get drunk ...

Tiberious aka Sparkles · Joined: 23 Jan 2003 Location: I'm one cool cat!

Snips and snails and puppy dog tails.

candide · Joined: 03 Oct 2006

Ignore the Canadian idiots and vegan turds - that is 감자탕 - christ, you have been in Korea for how long again? Unless you have been a sheep and been reading the Bible each day, there is no excuse to not know what that is! No excuse! Forever!

(PS - Do you like white power music?)

ChopChaeJoe · Joined: 05 Mar 2006 Location: Seoul

Pig spine soup. The only time I had it, I was still pretty lit up after a very long night of drinking.

Not bad at all.

Qinella · Joined: 25 Feb 2005 Location: the crib

Kermo what is your problem?? Why don't you know about all the meats in Korea!!

Anyway it was probably 해장국, which I eat just about every day. Fabuloso.

flotsam · Joined: 28 Mar 2006

Did froggy fall off the wagon?

kermo · Posted: Tue Oct 31, 2006 2:33 pm Post subject:

flotsam · Joined: 28 Mar 2006

stumptown · Posted: Tue Oct 31, 2006 3:07 pm Post subject:

Kamjatang (too lazy to type hangul) has potatoes in it. Byeo Haejangkuk is the same without the potatoes. Seonchi Haejangkuk is the one made of boiled blood. And from my friends' descriptions it's pig spine. Just my two cents