Morning-After Classic · Bean Sprout Soup
Kongnamul Gukbap
Photo: Lee Eunyoung / Wikimedia Commons · CC0 1.0
A 1929 magazine already described Jeonju locals making a bean-sprout hangover soup called 'takbaekiguk' — the dish's roots go back roughly a century.
Bean sprouts are simmered in a broth until it turns milky, then poured bubbling-hot over rice with a raw egg cracked in at the last second, served with a side of shrimp-sauce seasoning. Jeonju's Nambu Market and train station area have sold it as an early-morning fixture for decades.
Why it's made this way: Amino acids in bean sprouts like aspartic acid are said to help the body process alcohol, which is why this humble soup became one of Korea's most famous hangover cures, and Jeonju, North Jeolla's culinary capital, is considered home to its most distinctive versions.
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