Juk (Korean food)

Juk (죽; 粥; [tɕuk̚]) is a Korean porridge dish that is made by boiling rice or other grains or legumes, such as beans, sesame, nuts, and pumpkin. Juk is often eaten warm, especially as a morning meal, but can also be eaten at any time of the day.

Depending on the ingredients and consistency, juk can be considered as food for recuperation, a delicacy, or famine food. It is known to have nutritional benefits, and is considered to be beneficial to digestion because of its soft texture. It is a staple "get well" dish; a dish to eat when one is sick or recovering from bad health. Juk is also considered an ideal food for babies, the ill or elderly, as it is easily eaten and digested. It is also sold commercially by many chain stores in South Korea, and is a common takeout dish.

The most basic form of juk is made from plain rice and water, and is called ssaljuk (쌀죽; 'rice porridge') or huinjuk (흰죽; 'white porridge'). Being largely unflavored, it is served with a number of more flavorful side dishes, such as jeotgal (salted seafood) and various types of kimchi.

There are more than forty varieties of juk mentioned in historical documents. Notable varieties include jatjuk made from finely ground pine nuts, jeonbok-juk made with abalones, yulmu-juk made from yulmu (Coix lacryma-jobi var. ma-yuen), and patjuk made from red beans.