Physical Location Map of South Korea, highlighted continent

DOG SOUP AND CAT WINE.
NOW I AM BACK IN JAPAN TEACHING ENGLISH, BUT I STILL HAVE A LINK TO KOREA IN THE FORM OF TWO KOREAN STUDENTS WHO ARE STUDYING WITH ME. It is interesting to talk to them and learn a little of their culture and their language and their people. Sometimes we have gone out to Korean restaurants where I have been impressed by the flavour and excitement of Korean cuisine. Recently one of my Korean students suggested that we eat boshintang -- dog meat soup, which is apparently very healthy. I am willing to give it a try! In both Korean and Japanese "bo-shin" means something like "preserve the body", so I guess "boshintang" means the tonic which preserves the body and keeps you healthy. One of my Japanese students who is a dietician and has partaken in Korean dog flesh said it was not only delicious, but it also "made her face look radiant, and cleared up her skin." Apparently in Korea women eat dogs to enhance their beauty. For men, however, dog meat is an aphrodisiac which pumps up their sexual potency!

Dog Soup is called, Gaejang, Gajangkuk, or Gujang, Gujangaeng, Guyoukgeng. It has been called Bosintang from the later part of 1940,but during the period of the 1988 Olympic games, it was banned to use the name of Bosintang, so its name was replaced by Youngyangtang, Sacheoltang, Mungmungtang. But nowadays, the name of Bosintang is widely used instead of Youngyangtang. Bosintang is made by boiling dog meat with thin soy paste, tearing it into pieces, putting ingredients such as green onion, leek, stalk of taro, brake into broth, and boiling it again to make Bosintang. In Kyungsang province, to get rid of the smell, perilla purple are put in the soup. Perilla are also used for ridding the smell. Taste of perilla is similar to that of dog, and it becomes a good match to dog meat. Side dishes of dog meat are Kimchi, fresh peppers, and cucumbers. Adding a glass of Soju(liquor) enhances the taste.

The standard amount of ingredients for one portion:
(1) Ingredients
100g of boiled dog meat
500g of gravy
20g of green onion
10g of a leek
10g of perilla leaves
100g of taro stalk soaked in water.

(2) Sauce
8g of salt
2g of mashed garlic
3g of perilla
2g of red pepper
2g of mashed ginger
a little amount of pepper.

(3) Cooking instruction
After boiling the meat with gravy and stalk of taro for some time, boil again after putting vegetables and other ingredients into it. Before eating, sprinkle pepper on it and put into an earthen bowl. The stalk of taro is to be kept in cold water one or two days to get rid of its smell and taste.

For more dog recipes, click here. And here's the information I promised about where to find quality dog burgers in Seoul:

Dogmeat hamburger restaurant in Korea: Renoir Restaurant, 143-5 Songpa-dong, Songpa-gu, Seoul. Tel: (02) 421-6345 Menu: dog meat hamburger, dogmeat cutlet, dogmeat meatball, dogmeat soup.

If the idea of dog soup freaks you out, Koreans also use cat meat -- not to eat, but to boil into a kind of cat wine. I kid you not -- and I am looking forward to drinking some someday, because it is meant to be good for curing arthritis, which I fear I may one day develop. There is a whole world of natural cures out there to prolong our life and fight disease, if we only open our mind to receiving them.

-- Korean Introduction - Seoul -- Incheon // Suwon Castle - Girl Hunting --