곰탕 (what could it mean?)
Wednesday, April 2nd, 2008This is a very common question that I get from my non-Korean friends.
“What’s 곰탕? Is there really 곰 in there?”
And as you know, 곰 means “bear”, the animal. 
So imagine - a bear soup … hehe.
But in fact it has nothing to do with bears(곰) although it’s 곰 + 탕(soup). If you look at the sign in the picture above, it says 닭곰탕 too. So it must have something to do with 닭(chicken) and 곰(bear) together in a soup?
The truth is, 곰 is actually a noun coming from the verb “고다”. And 고다 means to boil something to a pulp or let the flavor come out of something by boiling in water (usually with various spices added) for many hours. So, 곰 is not the animal ‘bear’ but a nominalization of 고다, therefore the act of 고다. So 곰탕 is a soup that you make by boiling something for a long period of time until the soup decreases in volume and turns very thick and rich.
What usually goes into a 곰탕 is cow bones, but here they also put in chicken.
I don’t know how tasty it might sound to you now, it’s one of the must-try menus when you come to Korea! Has anyone had 곰탕 before?
Posted by Hyunwoo in Explore Korea |
April 2nd, 2008 at 4:16 pm
Too bad… I really would like to try 곰고기! But I bet bear meat would be really expensive.
I haven’t knowingly had 곰탕 before… I say knowingly because I rarely know what the soup is that gets served at school each day. Also, I might have had it during a 회식….
All I know is that I’ve never ordered it…
형…곰탕 같이 먹자!
April 2nd, 2008 at 11:16 pm
오스틴, yeah what you get served at school might be some sort of 곰탕 too
but not as good as real ones 
hehe, I guess? Let’s go eat 곰탕 some day soon!
April 3rd, 2008 at 12:04 am
응 급식은 별로 안 좋긴 하지만 미국 급식보다 좋거든…. 그리고 더 건강하고 개다가 덜 싸지!
곰탕은 맛있겠잖아! 곧 먹으로 가자! 이번 주말에 내 입학시험 잘 보면 한턱 낼게!
April 3rd, 2008 at 9:24 am
I bugged my wife about eating bear soup once. She didn’t think it was funny.
April 4th, 2008 at 12:12 am
오민 ,
“더” 싼 거야? 아니면 “덜” 싼 거야? ㅎㅎㅎ
April 4th, 2008 at 12:12 am
Steve, ㅋㅋㅋㅋ I still find it funny.
April 4th, 2008 at 6:48 am
I’ve eaten alligator before, but not bear
I imagine bear is much more expensive than gator. And it would probably be too tough and chewy. Anyone ever try gator before? I can take it or leave it, but the fact that I have had it gives me material for interesting conversations at parties and gatherings.
April 4th, 2008 at 7:38 am
ㅎㅎㅎ 덜 비싼대
How can I write, “I should have said….”
April 4th, 2008 at 1:02 pm
Bouks, I’ve never tried alligator before… but I can imagine it would taste kinda like turtle ?… haha
오민(Austin), you can say “~~라고 했어야 하는데”
April 6th, 2008 at 11:29 pm
i have had 곰탕 before. one time i was very sick and one of my korean friends made this soup that she cooked for like two days! she said it was very good if you were sick (and she cooked that long for me!) so i went to her house and ate it even though i really wasn’t feeling well. i don’t know if it made me feel any better, but it was good!
April 7th, 2008 at 2:33 am
Emily, wow. It was soooo nice of your friend to do that! It really takes a long time to make good 곰탕
I don’t know the exact health benefits of 곰탕 either, but it’s good 
April 7th, 2008 at 12:26 pm
yes, it was very very nice of her! when she told me how long it took to cook, i couldn’t believe she would do that for me!