Mineo-tang (민어탕, Croaker Soup)

Mineo chooses its own season. In the deepest heat, when the croaker comes to market fat enough for soup and minari can wake a tired broth, this dish makes sense. Cook the month you're standing in. If the fish is dull-eyed and thin, don't force it into mineo-tang; make cod soup in winter and wait for summer to do this one properly.

In Jeolla, this is comfort food with a special-occasion price. On boknal (the dog days), when people look for a bowl that gives strength against the heat, some tables chose mineo over beef because the fish gives both broth and meat from one body. But it is not a soup to bully. Remove the gills and blood, use the head for depth, and add the body pieces only after the radish has already sweetened the pot.

Notebook 38, copied after Master Seong-nyeo's Jeolla lesson, gives the number that matters: 1.2kg fish to 8 cups water, 400g radish, 80g minari. Too much water and you make fish-flavored water. Too much soy and the broth turns heavy. The cook's job tonight is quiet: clean the fish, simmer without violence, taste before the final salt.