Sliced Rice Pasta Soup (Tteokguk)

Basic Info:

            Slice rice pasta soup is prepared with slices of rice cake, beef, eggs, dried laver, etc. People usually boil beef leg bone, the brisket of beef, shin fore shank, etc. to taste the deep taste of beef stock. Koreans feast on rice cake soup on the New Year’s Day morning altogether with their families, and consider the rice cake soup as age, so if you have one bowl of rice cake soup, you get one year older.

Historical Facts:

            Koreans used to have tteokguk on the New Year’s Day because they thought white rice cake would make them solemn and clean as they start the New Year. They thought the New Year is when all the creatures in earth rebirth so they had to respect such day with reverent mind, showing the religious aspect of Korea back then. They had tteokguk to hold a memorial ceremony for ancestors on the New Day with such mind as well.

Sliced Rice Pasta Soup (Tteokguk)

      In the 3^rd century B.C., Chinese collection of poems called “Hwan-sah” mentions about a soup similar with tteokguk that has meat stock as well, which shows how tteokguk was inspired by Chinese culture. The record in the mid-Joseon period briefly mentions about tteokguk in the past, which had red pepper, soy sauce and pheasant meat instead of beef. The nobility hunted pheasants with the skills learned from Yuan Dynasty in the late Goryeo period, and made dumplings with pheasant meat. Such hunting and making dumplings with meat were considered luxurious at that time. On the other hand, poor peasants had chicken instead of pheasant because pheasant was expensive and hard to get. This eventually made such saying that goes “Chicken instead of pheasant,” meaning people should have something to substitute with another if they don’t have enough power or opportunity to have the one they need.

CCOT:

            In the modern days, people usually make tteokguk with beef while the past Joseon period usually had pheasant meat or chicken for the soup. It is because Korea had economically developed and is able to get beef easier than before. However, it is the same to have tteokguk on the New Year’s Day with respectful mind.

Experience:

            I’ve always had tteokguk on the New Year’s Day with all my family members, including all my cousins in Busan and Gangwon-do. We come together and have a memorial ceremony for ancestors on the New Year’s Day with tteokguk and other traditional Korean foods. Tteokguk is one of my favorite Korean foods because the rice cake and beef tastes good together with warm beef soup.