Kalguksu is not spicy. This is not a drill. This flexible dish is literally translated as knife noodles as the noodles are handmade and knife-cut. There are several ways to make a kalguksu, and there are at least 12 kalguksu dishes and among the most popular are the chicken, or clams.
There have been three instances where kalguksu might have appeared in historical records. The first one was in the Goryeo era, but there wasn’t that much information about it. The second instance was in a 12th century document which was more an description of the economic situation, putting the kalguksu in the category of special occasion food due to the prices of wheat flour at that time. Some centuries later, kalguksu made another appearance in a book on Joseon cooking.
What make this a particularly special dish are the handmade noodles, derived from combining eggs, water, oil and wheat flour. And then you have the anchovy and kelp stock, with eventual add-ins in the form of zucchini, carrots, mushrooms and seafood. Chicken stock is also a tasty base, so it might also be a good idea to explore this.
*photo source: https://blog.naver.com/balgo119/220425741910
