Using a Lunar Calendar there are three hot days during summer. Chobok, Joongbok, and Malbok which are defined as first hot day, middle hot day and final hot day. This year, those three days were on July 19, July 29, and August 8. Koreans are served fine food such as Samgyetang (chicken stew) and Choouhtang (mudfish) to strengthen the body which is weakened by the hot weather.

Samgyetang is chicken stew which consists of ginger. Other medicinal herbs like wolfberry and angelica sinensis could be added. The young chicken, which can serve one person, can be used for Samgyetang. Like a turkey feast on Thanksgiving Day, all of the ingredients has to be stubbed in the chicken’s cavity and you must close the flaps over the cavity (use the skewer or sew with thread). After that, put the chicken in a pot, about half filled with water, and boil it for several hours. It is served with salt and pepper. Spicy red chili pepper paste can be added to enrich its flavors and taste to one’s preference. Samgyetang is a symbolic dish in Korea in the summer time.

Chyeotang is also one of the Korean traditional health foods for the summer season with rich flavors. The rich soup stock boiled with grinded mudfish (sometimes whole mudfish can be used) and tofu, dried Chinese cabbage, beef and mungbean sprouts will provide delicious tastes and flavors. Mudfish has high protein content and excellent amino acids composition. Also, it is rich in vitamin B, vitamin D, vitamin A, calcium and iron. Slippery mucus increases protein absorption and production. Because Chyeotang uses the all of the mudfish including its inner organs and bones, it is a good dish for growing children and middle-aged women who are worrying about osteoporosis due to the low amount of calcium. It is served with minced red peppers, whole green pepper and Chinese pepper powder.

Why do Koreans serve a warm dish like Samgyetang or Chyeotang during the summer? When people sweat, inner body temperature goes down significantly and this leads to harmful effects to the stomach and liver. Koreans say that people order the hot dish to prevent that and also to betters one’s appetite in the warm weather.

John J. Lee is a freelance writer and developer for a Korean restaurants finder.