"I enjoy Korean food very much and frequently eat at Korean restaurants. One of my favorite dishes is "dwen jan jigae" (not sure if I am spelling that correctly) but essentially it is soybean paste soup. Delicious. However, I find that many restaurants place some sort of seafood in the dish, even though when the item is listed in the menu without ever mentioning seafood. I've found, for example, a s single mussel or single clam in my soybean paste soup. It ruins the flavor as far as I am concerned. Are there different words in Korean to indicate when this soup includes seafood and when it does not? "
Thank you for your question. Tchigaes are stews. They are usually made with predetermined base broth or stock, which then is flourished by cornucopia of vegetables, seasonings, and main protein ingredients of choice (meat, fish, beans-Doenjan).  There  are two sources of  your concern; one being the broth, and the other, added protein elements. Many Korean restaurants both in Korea & in the US use dried anchovy based stock. This stock is clear, lightly golden yellow, & delicate. The stock is at times made richer by addition of radish, sea kelp, dried shrimp. I know, I know! The anchovy thing. It isn't the anchovy that you imagine. These are not the more familiar salted, olive-oil packed Italian style anchovies (For the record, I love these Italian anchovies). The anchovies used in many Asian cuisine for stock are wild caught, freshly cleaned &  steamed, then quickly dried. When you make stock with them, it actually gives a profound flavor with no fishy taste at all. A kind of like a walk through a kelp forest in your scuba gear! OK. You get the picture. Anchovies very inexpensive, plentiful, and geographically ubiquitous. Therefore, many poor nations in Asia developed recipes involving anchovy stock. This is also why many Korean homes & restaurants use anchovy stock. In continuation with this seafood base flavor of anchovy stock, many restaurants also add mussels (usually cultivated green lip muscles) or clams, as well as a wonderful array of vegetables. This, in fact, is the second source of seafood in Doenjangtchigae. Food is a kind of like your spouse. It is a whole package with his/her wonderful characteristics & annoying habits and all. Therefore, it is not always easy to ask to alter the traditional recipes in a Korean restaurant. Obviously, traditional recipes are a kind of like our DNA, it evolved over many years to reflect periods of dirt-poor hardship & also periods of bounty. Anchovies have been providing many poor populations with their much-needed protein at a very low cost for millennia. Thankfully, Korean restaurants don't usually have time to ponder on the philosophies of food like I do.
So, you can just ask them. Most restaurants will accommodate your wishes with no hesitation & with pleasure. Fortunately, these restaurants also have ready made beef stock for their Yukgaejang, Galbitang. So, all they have to do is put beef stock instead of anchovy stock, and leave out the seafood items. If they are the kind of people that go above and beyond, they may throw in a few pieces of beef or bulgogi into your DoenJangTchigae.
Remember, Korea is very mountainous and many regions were isolated, forcing them develop different variations of same recipe using what's available in the area. There are many other recipes using beef, seafood, vegetarian, or even pork.
There are two restaurant in Chicago area that serve beef based Doenjangtchigae. I can e-mail you the names of those restaurants. Happy Eating!!!!


Transliteration; Doenjang Tchigae
*DoenJang; fermented & aged soybeen paste; Jang (paste, savory, salt & fermented soy bean paste in the consistence of peanut butter), Traditional Korean Doenjang's texture is akin to that of crunch peanut butter as the tranditional Korean DoenJangs were not ground up to a paste. Rather, one can see the remnant shapes of disintegrating (from natural fermentation) soy been pieces, giving it a more rustic texture. In modern commercially available DoenJang preparations, the bean pieces are ground up to appear more like the Japanese Miso. The more fluid & thin texture of Miso & commercial Korean Doenjang results from this extra processing.
*Tchigae; stew, usually with predetermined base broth or stock, which then is flourished by cornucopia of vegetables, seasonings, and main protein ingredients of choice (meat, fish, beans-Doenjang).