What Is Mulhoe? The History of Korea's Chilled Raw Fish Soup

Mulhoe is sliced raw fish served in a cold broth. It is said to have begun as a quick meal fishermen ate on their boats off Korea’s east coast, with no fire needed, and today people queue for it every summer as one of the east coast’s signature dishes.

Visit Sokcho in summer and sooner or later someone will say, “Let’s go eat mulhoe.” Yet surprisingly few people know where this icy bowl came from. We explain it to guests fairly often, and they tell us it tastes different once they know the story.

A dish born on fishing boats

Mulhoe is said to trace back to the working life of fishermen on Korea’s east coast.

For crews heading out before dawn, the biggest problem was food. You cannot easily use fire on a boat, and on the old wooden boats it was especially dangerous. Cooking rice in a cramped space with waves rolling under you is no small task.

So they improvised. Slice part of the fresh catch straight into a bowl, stir in gochujang or doenjang, pour in cold water, and drink it down.

No fire, few dishes, and above all fast. You could tip the bowl back with one hand and keep working with the other.

The name says it plainly: mul (water) + hoe (raw fish).

A rough working meal outlived the boats it was made on. Foods survive for a reason, and in mulhoe’s case the reason was simply that it tasted good.

Why fresh fish made it taste so good

Think about it. A fisherman eating fish he caught minutes earlier. No restaurant on earth can beat that for freshness.

That is also why we still get our seafood straight from fisherman friends at dawn. With mulhoe, freshness is the flavour.

What makes Sokcho-style mulhoe different?

What sets Sokcho-style mulhoe apart is a sweet-tangy gochujang broth poured over with flaked ice, and the habit of adding thin noodles and then rice after the fish. Mulhoe is eaten all along the east coast, but styles vary a lot by region. Same name, yet you may wonder whether it is even the same dish.

Sokcho and the Gangwon coast

Squid and raw fish with a sweet-tangy gochujang broth poured over.

The defining feature is flaked ice. The broth is made ahead, chilled hard, and served with ice so the temperature holds to the last mouthful.

It’s also common to add thin noodles, then rice. You don’t stop at the fish: noodles first, then rice, so one bowl gives you three different tastes.

Pohang (North Gyeongsang)

The style here is to mix rice in with the fish first, then pour water over it. Thick gochujang seasoning dominates, with the sauce leading rather than the broth. Denser and heavier than the Sokcho version.

Jeju

Completely different. The broth is doenjang-based, with damselfish or swordtip squid (hanchi). The famous versions are jari-mulhoe and hanchi-mulhoe.

Using doenjang rather than gochujang changes both colour and flavour entirely: nutty and mild. Adding jepi leaves (chopi, Korean prickly ash, a relative of Sichuan pepper) for aroma is a Jeju signature.

For Sokcho, it comes down to the broth

The heart of Sokcho-style mulhoe is the broth.

Because the iced broth stays cold to the end, people finish every drop, and the last spoonful of rice tastes so good.

It is also why we insist on earthenware pots. The thick ceramic holds the cold, so the broth stays chilled to the last spoonful.

Why do people eat mulhoe in summer?

Cold broth helps you forget the heat for a while, and the sour edge revives a flagging appetite.

That is why a bowl of mulhoe tastes especially good on a drowsy afternoon after swimming, or after sweating your way down a mountain. It is precisely what your body wants when it wants something cold.

But it’s really a year-round dish

Many people think of it only as summer food, but it has always been eaten year-round.

Plenty of Sokcho locals eat mulhoe for breakfast as haejang, a meal to settle the stomach after drinking. The cold broth is especially soothing the morning after. That’s part of why we open at 9 a.m.

And a good number of our regulars insist winter mulhoe is the best version. Eating something ice-cold in a warm room is a pleasure only those in the know seem to appreciate. Fish also carries more fat in winter, which can make it taste even better.

What hasn’t changed about mulhoe

Today’s mulhoe is far from the version eaten on boats. The broth is more refined and the bowls are prettier.

The essence is unchanged though: the freshest possible ingredients, eaten cold.

That is all we really do here. Take the best of what our fisherman friends bring in that morning, pour over a broth we have spent years refining, and serve it in an earthenware pot.

Trying mulhoe in Sokcho

Sokcho Hangari Mulhoe makes Sokcho-style mulhoe right in front of Sokcho Beach.

We serve it in custom-made hangari (earthenware pots), and the thick pot holds the cold so the chill lasts.

We are a 3-minute walk from Sokcho Express Bus Terminal, with a large private car park. And because we are right in front of Sokcho Beach, you can walk out for a stroll or a swim right after eating.

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Trying it for the first time? Read our beginner’s guide to eating mulhoe. Just knowing the order makes it noticeably better.