Seolleongtang (Ox-bone Soup)

Seolleongtang is a soup made by simmering ox bones, intestines and shank for a long time. The name of the soup comes from a story in which the king held a memorial service at the seonnongdan (an altar) with his officers, and offered an ox as a sacrifice and shared ox bone soup afterwards with the attendants.

Ingredients

● 1 kg ox-knee bone, 600 g gristle, 700 g ox-tongue, water for cleaning

● 200 g beef (brisket), 200 g beef (shank)

● 35 cups boiling water

● fragrant seasoning: 30 g green onion, 65 g garlic, 20 g ginger, 50 g onion

● seasonings: 40 g green onion, 2/3 tbsp salt, 1/8 tsp ground black pepper

1. Wash and clean ox-knee bone, gristle and ox-tongue, soak in water for 5~6 hours to draw out the blood.

2. Wipe blood of brisket and shank with cotton cloths. Wash the fragrant seasoning ingredients.

3. Trim and wash vegetables for fragrant seasoning and green onion. Finely chop green onion.

4. Pour water in the pot and bring to the boil on a high heat. When it boils, add ox-knee bone, gristle and ox-tongue, and boil it for 5 minutes for pre-cleaning, then discard the boiling water.

5. Put water, ox-knee bone and gristle in the pot, boil it for 1 hour on a high heat. Then lower the heat to medium, simmer it for five hours, skimming off the foam and fats. Add the ox-tongue, brisket and shank in the pot, boil for one hour. Add the fragrant seasoning, boil for one hour, then boil for another 30 min. after reduce the heat to low.

6. When ox-tongue and beef are well-done, take them out from the broth, cut into 3 cm-wide, 4 cm-long and 0.2 cm-thick pieces. Cool down the broth, skim fats, and boil for 10 minutes on high heat.

7. Place the cut beef in a bowl, pour broth and serve with seasonings.

Tips

● Ox-head meat, ox-hooves and/or breast meat may be added.

● Large pieces of onion and radish in the soup can also be tasty.

● Ground red pepper may be added to taste.

(Adapted from the Institute of Traditional Korean Food)