Guk
Guk (국, Korean pronunciation: [kuk]), also sometimes known as Tang (탕, Korean pronunciation: [tʰaŋ]), is a class of soup-like dishes in Korean cuisine. Guk and tang are commonly grouped together and regarded as the same type of dish, although guk is more watery and a basic dish for the Korean table setting, and is usually eaten at home; tang has less water than guk and has been developed for sale in restaurants.
Overview
Guk is a native Korean word, while tang is a Sino-Korean word that originally meant "boiling". Tang has been used as an honorific term in place of guk. Tang can denote the same meaning as guk in the names of dishes such as mae-untang (spicy seafood soup), daegutang (codfish soup), samgyetang (ginseng chicken soup), or chueotang (추어탕).
Generally, the names of soups made with vegetables are suffixed with guk rather than tang. Toranguk (taro soup), kimchiguk (kimchi soup), muguk (daikon soup), siraegiguk (soup made with napa cabbage), and miyeok guk (sea mustard soup) are some examples. Gamjaguk and gamjatang are made with different ingredients; gamjaguk is made largely with potatoes, but gamjatang is made with pork bones and few potatoes.
