Sungnyung (숭늉)

Korea, nationwide

Origin

Sungnyung is the scorched-rice water of the Korean table, made in the household kitchen wherever rice was cooked in an iron or earthenware pot over a fire. It belongs to the everyday domestic tradition rather than to any court or temple record, and it was carried by the women who kept the hearth. It closes the meal as the last act of the rice itself, taking the crust that forms on the base of the pot and turning it into a drink.

Description

Sungnyung is a pale, lightly golden drink made by pouring hot water into the pot in which short-grain rice (Oryza sativa) has been cooked, once the rice has been served and a layer of toasted rice, nurungji, remains fixed to the base. The water is left to stand briefly, then heated and loosened, so that the crust softens and gives up its starch and toasted grain flavour. The result is thin and faintly cloudy, with a few soft grains of rice, and it is taken warm from a bowl at the end of the meal.

III

The Thread

—Both turn the last of the cooked rice into a closing dish by pouring hot liquid over it, so that nothing from the pot is wasted. Ochazuke is made with tea or dashi over served rice and is eaten as a dish with toppings, whereas sungnyung is a plain drink drawn from the toasted crust itself. Japanese

—Guoba is the crust of rice scorched on the base of the pot, and like nurungji it is prized for its toasted grain flavour. It is usually fried crisp or served under a sauce as a dish, while the Korean crust is softened in water and drunk. Chinese

—Tahdig is the deliberately formed golden crust at the bottom of the rice pot, valued for the same toasted flavour that gives sungnyung its character. It is turned out whole and eaten crisp at the table, where the Korean crust is dissolved into a warm drink. Persian

Flavour Context

Sungnyung is drunk at the end of a meal of rice, soup and banchan, after the salt, fermented and chilli flavours of the table. Its mild toasted-grain taste and warmth settle and cleanse the mouth, and it is neutral enough to follow the strongest kimchi or jjigae without competing with it. The structural reason is contrast: after a savoury, pungent meal, a plain, gently sweet and starchy liquid closes the sequence quietly.

V · Quality Hierarchy

Short-grain rice cooked in a heavy iron or stone pot over direct heat, so that… Rice cooked in a thick-bottomed pot on the hob, with a deliberate period of low…

VI · Sensory Tests

sight: The crust in the pot should be an even pale gold to light brown across the base, lifting at…

VII · Where the dish lives or dies

The pivot is the crust: the rice must be left over low heat at the end of cooking until the base turns an even pale…

Pillars V — VII

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