Samgyetang (Ginseng Chicken Soup)

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Heavy 5 to 6 quart pot with lid
• •Kitchen twine or wooden skewers
• •Skimmer or wide spoon
• •Instant-read thermometer

Instructions

1. 1

   Soak the rice

   Rinse the sweet rice in several changes of water until the water runs mostly clear, then soak it in cool water for 1 hour. Drain it well. This rice cooks inside the bird, so it needs that head start; dry rice in the cavity stays hard while the chicken grows tired.

   Do not use ordinary short-grain rice here if you can help it. Sweet rice turns tender and gently sticky inside the chicken, which is the texture this soup expects.
2. 2

   Clean the chickens

   Pat the chickens dry and remove any large yellow fat from the cavity opening and tail end. Do not rinse poultry under the faucet; it spreads raw chicken juices around the sink. If the cavity needs cleaning, wipe it with a damp paper towel and wash your hands and board well afterward.

3. 3

   Stuff them loosely

   Put 1/4 cup drained sweet rice into each chicken with 1 ginseng root, 3 garlic cloves, 1 jujube, and 1 chestnut if using. Add 3 gingko nuts to each if you like their faint bitterness. Leave room. The rice will swell, and a packed cavity turns pasty instead of tender. Cross the legs and tie them with kitchen twine, or tuck the legs through small slits in the skin if you know that old market trick.

4. 4

   Start the broth

   Set the stuffed chickens in a heavy 5 to 6 quart pot. Add the remaining 4 garlic cloves, remaining 2 jujubes, ginger slices, bruised scallion whites, and 8 cups water. The water should nearly cover the chickens; add a little more if your pot is wide. Bring it just to a boil over medium-high heat, then skim the gray foam from the surface. Skimming now keeps the broth clean later.

5. 5

   Simmer gently

   Lower the heat so the broth moves in small, steady bubbles, not a hard boil. Partly cover the pot and cook 55 to 70 minutes, turning the chickens once if the top sits above the broth. Add hot water by the half cup if the level drops too far. Hard boiling makes the meat rough and clouds the soup; samgyetang should taste strong but look calm.

6. 6

   Check doneness

   The chicken is done when the thickest part of the thigh reaches 74 C or 165 F and the rice inside is tender. If the meat is done but the rice still has a hard center, cover the pot and simmer 10 minutes more. This is why we measure and check. 손맛 is real; I measure it anyway, so the next cook does not have to guess.

7. 7

   Season with restraint

   Lift out the ginger and scallion whites. Stir 1 teaspoon fine sea salt into the broth, then taste. It should be lightly seasoned, almost shy, because each person will finish the bowl with salt and pepper at the table. Mix the 2 teaspoons salt with the 1/2 teaspoon black pepper in a small dish for dipping pieces of chicken.

8. 8

   Serve whole

   Place one chicken in each deep bowl and ladle the broth around it with the garlic, jujubes, and ginseng. Scatter sliced scallion greens over the top. Serve with the salt-pepper dish, ripe kkakdugi (radish kimchi), and rice if the table is hungry. Tear the chicken open at the table and spoon the rice into the broth as you eat.

Chef Tips

• •Buy the smallest chickens you can find, one per person if possible. A young bird cooks before the rice breaks down, and the meat stays gentle. A large roasting chicken can be used, but it becomes a different table: carve it and share, and expect the cooking time to stretch.
• •Fresh ginseng gives the clearest taste. If you cannot find it, use 6 to 8g dried ginseng slices for the pot, not a sweetened ginseng drink. 시대가 바뀌면 음식도 바뀌어야 해요. When times change, food must change too, but the substitute still has to behave like the ingredient.
• •Safe shortcut: a pressure cooker works. Cook the stuffed small chickens with 7 cups water on high pressure for 22 minutes, then let the pressure release naturally for 15 minutes. Do not skip soaking the rice, and do not pack the cavity tight.
• •Serve the soup with kkakdugi or baechu kimchi that has some acidity. The soup is mild by design, and the sharp radish bite wakes the bowl without changing it.
• •Refrigerate leftovers within 2 hours. Keep the chicken and broth together in a covered container up to 3 days, and reheat until the broth is boiling and the meat is hot all the way through.

Advance Preparation

• •Rinse and soak the sweet rice up to 8 hours ahead in the refrigerator, then drain it just before stuffing.
• •The garlic, jujubes, ginseng, and scallions can be prepared a day ahead and refrigerated. Do not stuff raw chickens ahead of time; fill them right before cooking for better food safety.
• •Samgyetang is best served the day it is made. If you need to cook ahead, simmer it fully, cool it quickly, refrigerate it, and reheat gently with a splash of water to loosen the broth.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 1150g)