Soups & Stews · Season 2 · Season of Spring II

Dodari-ssukguk

Dodari-ssukguk (Flounder and Mugwort Soup) · 도다리쑥국

Difficulty: Medium
Time to plan: 40 min
Serves: 2 servings
Recipe: 5 steps
Listed places: 2

Decision notes · editorial comparison of references and preparation plans

Should a seasonal soup name determine my trip?

Decide whether mugwort and fish broth appeal, then check today’s menu. Shepherd’s-purse stew is a seasonal alternative with a different herb and paste base.

Check before ordering or preparing: Check fish species, bones, mugwort availability and clear versus paste-seasoned broth.

KTO describes flounder and mugwort in a clear soup. KTO · Flounder and Mugwort Soup (도다리쑥국 / Dodarissukguk) · 2026-09-13

Alternative to compare: Naengi Doenjang-jjigae (Shepherd's Purse Soybean Stew)Make an order card Prepare this version

Food notes and context

This flounder-and-mugwort soup cooks prepared fish, young mugwort and radish in a clear broth. Unlike mugwort rice cakes, it carries the herb in a soup rather than a dough.

Check fish identification and cleaning status when buying, and ask whether the restaurant is serving the soup that day. Separate bones and compare its clear broth with heavily chili- or perilla-seasoned fish soups.

Cook this version

Images are AI-generated illustrations, not records of a kitchen test. Follow the written ingredients and steps. Ingredients and substitutions guide

Times and yields are planning values for this editorial preparation, not measured kitchen results. Substitutions can change flavor, texture and cooking needs. Read product directions and our measurement and doneness guide together.

Ingredients (2 servings)

Ingredient	Amount	Substitute abroad
Flounder, cleaned	2 fish	Plaice
Young mugwort	2 handfuls	Frozen mugwort (fainter scent)
Korean radish	1/4	Daikon
Scallion and garlic	A little	Anywhere
Rice-rinsing water	5 cups	Water with kelp
Soup soy and salt	To season	Anywhere

Step by step

1.Clean the flounder
Start with flounder already gutted and scaled by the supplier. Check for remaining fins and bones, portion as needed and keep refrigerated until cooking.
2.Trim the mugwort
Pick off tough stems and rinse the young leaves gently.
3.Start the radish broth
Simmer sliced radish in rice water until translucent.
4.Simmer the fish
Simmer the flounder without breaking the flesh. Ten minutes is only a guide: verify 63°C/145°F at the center, or opaque flesh that separates easily, before adding the mugwort and finishing.
5.Add mugwort and serve
Right before killing the flame, add mugwort and scallion, turn once, and bowl immediately.

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People eating (1–20)

Text to take with you

도다리쑥국 · Dodari-ssukguk · Dodari-ssukguk (Flounder and Mugwort Soup)

1명이 먹으려고 합니다. 인분·접시·냄비 중 주문 단위와 최소 주문량, 추천 양을 알려 주세요. / This is for 1 person. Please explain whether you sell portions, plates or pots, the minimum order and the recommended amount.

밥·반찬이 포함되나요? 따로 주문하는 항목과 추가 비용을 알려 주세요. / Are rice and side dishes included? Please explain separate items and extra charges.

주재료와 양념에 무엇이 들어가나요? / What are the main ingredients and seasonings?

Check fish species, bones, mugwort availability and clear versus paste-seasoned broth.

If you have ingredient restrictions, name them and ask about sauces, toppings and preparation equipment. The seller must confirm whether changes are possible.

https://k-roastmysoul.com/en/foods/dodari-ssukguk

Measurement, doneness and storage references

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Your notes

Places to check when planning a meal

Candidates to investigate for this food. Maps use sourced location records; confirm the current menu, opening and booking directly. This list is not a tasting review or an award certification.

Bunso Sikdang

207 Tongyeonghaean-ro, Tongyeong-si, Gyeongsangnam-do

We are rechecking this exact location before linking you there.

Seoho Market

Tongyeong, South Gyeongsang

Exact current location is not verified here. Confirm the venue through its official information before planning a visit.

The fictional face of this dish

Wood element · a slender, elongated face

You carry winter's clean endurance and the scent of new spring at once. A face like Tongyeong's first bowl of the season.

Upright: A flounder that crossed winter and mugwort just sprouted meet in one pot: that is this soup. The season has come for the long-enduring you to meet something newly beginning. Do not dodge that meeting.

Reversed: When the mugwort toughens the soup turns bitter, and when the flounder fattens fully, this soup's season has passed. Look at the calendar, not your lingering. Is what you are holding spring, or what used to be spring?

The K-Roast take: Grandma's roast

Fictional food metaphors inspired by traditional face-reading, not measurements of your face or personality.

Those eyes have cleared like a sky after winter. Do you know why this soup is Tongyeong's rite of spring? They say spring has not arrived until this one bowl is emptied. Your eyes are that rite. When you brighten, the people around you know the season has turned. Your face, child, is working as the neighborhood's calendar.

That lean nose suggests judgment without excess. Like the clear-broth version chosen here, your work becomes easier to see when the dressing is pared back. Soup seasoning differs by household, but no one else can supply the substance of your work. Tend that first.

That palate of yours runs plain, a mouth that seasons lightly. But plain and bland are a paper's width apart. This soup's plainness works because winter flounder's richness and mugwort's fragrance hold it up from below. Your understated way of speaking is charming only while there is substance beneath. Plain without substance is just watery, child.

Dodari-ssukguk is precious because it exists only a few weeks a year. For you too there come a few tides a year when sea and land open together. Not missing that window is the wisdom Tongyeong people learn from this bowl.
Grandma's blessing

Table compatibility

Sea squirt and flounder, both from Tongyeong's spring sea, lay spring on the table in double layers, while beside budae-jjigae, which tastes the same all year, this soup's few-week preciousness cannot even be explained.