Maeuntang매운탕

Maeuntang is a stew of fish cut into chunks, head and edible innards included, made fiery with chili powder and gochujang. Freshwater or saltwater fish both work, but catfish and mandarin fish (sogari) are traditionally ranked the tastiest. A freshwater maeuntang grows richer and thicker the longer it simmers, and cooks advise adding black pepper and minced ginger, since chili alone won't chase away the fishy smell.

The scene that suits maeuntang best is cheollyeop (川獵), a summer outing to net fish in a stream or river. The catch went straight into a pot hung over a fire on the bank, and sometimes a farmers' band came along to play. In the fourth-month verse of Jeong Hak-yu's Nongga wollyeongga, a song cycle of the farming year, the singer nets silvery fish in the stream, sets a pot on a flat rock to boil them, and asks who would trade this taste for the eight great delicacies.

Cheollyeop is thought to have grown out of the fishing ways of ancient times before turning into a pastime. The pleasure lives on: Seoul fans of freshwater maeuntang have long made trips upriver to Paldang or Cheongpyeong on the Han, or even as far as Yeoju and the Hantan River, just for a pot of it.