Samgyetang (Ginseng Chicken Soup)

Variations

• Its broth turns white for a different reason than seolleongtang's does. That whiteness is fat and gelatine emulsified into water over hours of hard boiling, and it needs a rolling boil to happen at all. Samgyetang clouds in about forty minutes, and what clouds it is starch escaping from the glutinous rice inside the bird, plus the collagen of a young chicken. One colour, two causes.
• Putting the rice inside the bird is the structure of the dish. Tipped straight into the pot it would give up all its starch and the pot would become porridge — which is jeonbok-juk's subject. Inside the cavity the bird acts as a membrane and only some of that starch gets out, so the rice stays rice and the broth still thickens.
• Filling it only two-thirds full is because glutinous rice nearly doubles as it takes up water. Packed full, the cavity splits and the lot goes into the broth — and at that moment the dish is chicken porridge.
• Abalone samgyetang: with abalone, for a richer tonic.
• Perilla samgyetang: ground perilla seed stirred in, nutty and thick.
• Garlic or nurungji: loads of garlic, or scorched rice added.
• Baeksuk: the plain version, chicken simmered without the rice and ginseng.

Tips

• Fill the cavity only two-thirds so the rice does not burst it as it swells; close it with the legs.
• A young, small chicken is traditional — it turns tender fast.
• Trim the tail fat so the broth is not greasy.
• Simmer 40 minutes or more for a milky, deep broth.
• Do not salt the pot — season at the table with salt and pepper.
• A young bird is not only faster. Its collagen has not yet cross-linked into the tough form, so forty minutes is enough to turn it to gelatine (braising). An older bird needs hours to reach the same place, and by then the rice has long since collapsed.
• Leaving the pot unsalted is a design decision. Salt added early cannot be taken back, and the ratio of rice to broth differs in every bowl, so one seasoning cannot suit them all. Seolleongtang makes the same choice for the same reason (salt and seasoning).