Korean Blood Sausage Soup
Quick answer
Sundae-guk is a hearty soup built on a long-simmered pork bone broth that turns milky white from hours of boiling.
What makes this special
- Blood sausage in bone broth absorbs the hot stock through its casing.
- Blood sausage in bone broth absorbs the hot stock through its glass noodle-blood casing
- Sundae simmered on low for exactly 8 minutes; high heat splits the casing
Key ingredients
Core cooking flow
- 1 Slice 400 g of sundae into 2 cm rounds, then cut the boiled pork with the gr...
- 2 Pour 1600 ml of beef bone broth into a pot and heat over medium heat until the edges begin to bubble.
- 3 Add 200 g of boiled pork first and simmer over medium-low heat for 10 minutes.
Sundae-guk is a hearty soup built on a long-simmered pork bone broth that turns milky white from hours of boiling. Thick slices of Korean blood sausage - pork intestine casing stuffed with glass noodles, barley, and pig's blood - sit in the center of the bowl, their chewy casing absorbing the hot broth while the dense filling inside stays warm and soft. Alongside the sundae, slices of boiled pork shoulder and, in more traditional versions, offal like liver or lung add variety in texture and a faint mineral note. The broth itself is rich yet surprisingly clean, seasoned at the table with either salted shrimp paste or coarse salt depending on the diner's preference. Stirring in a spoonful of dadaegi, a thick chili paste condiment, transforms the bowl entirely, cutting through the richness with a sharp heat. Some shops finish the soup with ground perilla seeds for added nuttiness. Rice is spooned directly into the bowl and eaten together with the broth, making sundae-guk one of the most satisfying cold-weather meals in the Korean street-food tradition.
Instructions
Read the steps as a cooking flow: prep, heat, seasoning, doneness control, and finish.
- 1Finish
Slice 400 g of sundae into 2 cm rounds, then cut the boiled pork with the grain into easy bite-size pieces.
Thinly slice the green onion and keep it separate for the finishing stage.
- 2Control
Pour 1600 ml of beef bone broth into a pot and heat over medium heat until the edges begin to bubble.
Add the minced garlic and soup soy sauce, then stir so the seasoning spreads evenly.
- 3Control
Add 200 g of boiled pork first and simmer over medium-low heat for 10 minutes.
Lower the heat if the broth boils hard or turns cloudy, and let the pork flavor gently season the soup.
- 4Control
Add the sundae, reduce to low heat, and warm it for only 7 to 8 minutes.
Do not stir hard with a spoon; instead, ladle hot broth over the slices to prevent the casings from bursting.
- 5Control
Keep the heat low and stir in 30 g of perilla seed powder a little at a time, then simmer for 2 more minutes.
Do not cook it long or the broth can taste heavy; add the green onion right away.
- 6Finish
Transfer the soup to bowls carefully so the sundae slices stay intact, then pour in plenty of hot broth.
Serve salted shrimp and Korean chili flakes on the side so each bowl can be seasoned for saltiness and heat.
After the steps
Pick a recipe that fits this dish.
Continue with shared ingredients, meal pairings, or a similar method.
Recipes That Go Well With This
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Korean Blood Sausage Perilla Stew
Perilla seed powder transforms beef bone broth into a thick, nutty liquid that serves as the foundation for this particular type of Korean stew. The main component, sundae, uses pork intestine as a casing to hold a mixture of glass noodles, glutinous rice, and vegetables, resulting in a chewy exterior and a multi-layered interior structure. This texture provides a different eating experience compared to stews that rely on standard cuts of meat. The oily characteristics of the ground seeds interact with the sausage filling to create a savory profile that stands apart from more common jjigae varieties. Pieces of cabbage maintain their firm texture throughout the simmering process, adding volume and a clean element that balances the heavy base. Just before the pot leaves the stove, fresh perilla leaves are added to introduce a grassy scent into the fatty broth, which helps manage the overall richness. A single spoonful of gochugaru provides enough heat to sharpen the nutty qualities of the perilla without overpowering the savory elements. Because the sausage casing can burst if boiled for too long, the pieces are only heated briefly at the very end of the cooking process. Serving the stew in a heavy stone pot ensures that the liquid remains at a boiling temperature for the duration of the meal.
Korean Pork Bone Hangover Soup
Ppyeo-haejang-guk is a Korean hangover soup built on a foundation of pork neck bones simmered for well over an hour until their collagen dissolves into a heavy, full-bodied stock. The bones are soaked and blanched beforehand to eliminate any off-flavors, and the resulting broth is clean despite its richness. Blanched napa cabbage outer leaves are pre-seasoned with doenjang, gochugaru, garlic, and soup soy sauce before being added to the pot, where they absorb the meaty broth and release their own earthy flavors in return. Perilla seed powder is stirred in at the end, thickening the liquid to a creamy consistency and adding a nutty finish. The completed soup is spicy, deeply savory, and thick enough to feel restorative after a long night. In Korea, this style of haejang-guk is a morning-after institution, served steaming in dedicated restaurants that open before dawn.
Korean Egg Fried Rice (Quick Wok-Tossed Grain Bowl)
Gyeran-bokkeumbap is the most fundamental Korean fried rice, built from two beaten eggs and one bowl of cooked rice and finished in under ten minutes. The eggs go into a smoking-hot oiled pan, and the rice is added the moment they are half-set, then tossed rapidly so every grain picks up an individual egg coating that makes the rice fluffy and lightly glossy rather than clumped. Cold leftover rice performs best because its lower moisture lets the grains separate cleanly during stir-frying, but freshly cooked rice spread out and briefly cooled reduces sticking enough to be workable. A thin line of soy sauce poured along the rim of the pan caramelizes on contact and carries a trace of smokiness through the rice. A finishing drizzle of sesame oil and a scattering of sliced green onion add a toasty fragrance that completes this simple but satisfying base. The ratio of egg to rice is sturdy enough that a handful of kimchi, diced ham, or refrigerator scraps can be stirred in without changing the essential character of the dish.
Korean Blood Curd Soup (Spicy Ox Blood and Beansprout Stew)
Seonji-guk is a Korean blood curd soup built from coagulated ox blood, seasoned napa cabbage outer leaves, and bean sprouts in a spicy, doenjang-accented broth. The napa greens are pre-dressed with soybean paste, garlic, and chili flakes before going into the pot, where they simmer and release an earthy, fermented depth into the liquid. Bean sprouts are added for their crisp texture and clean, refreshing bite. The blood curd - cut into large cubes - goes in partway through cooking and simmers just eight minutes to heat through without breaking apart. Its texture is soft and faintly springy, unlike anything else in the Korean soup canon, and it absorbs the surrounding spicy broth. Gochugaru gives the soup a ruddy color and a slow-building warmth. In Korea, seonji-guk is closely associated with the morning-after meal, served in dedicated haejang-guk restaurants as a restorative after heavy drinking.
Serve with this
Korean Konjac Noodle Salad
Silgonyak-chae-muchim tosses 250 grams of blanched konjac noodles with julienned cucumber, carrot, and onion in a gochujang-based dressing spiked with vinegar, sugar, soy sauce, and garlic. Blanching the noodles for two minutes removes their faint alkaline smell and softens their rubbery chew to a pleasant springiness. The vegetables provide crisp contrast - cucumber adds a cool snap, carrot a mild sweetness, and onion a sharp bite. The dressing clings to the translucent noodles, turning them a vivid reddish hue. At only 95 calories per serving, this banchan relies on texture and bold seasoning rather than fat for its appeal. Chilling for 10 minutes before serving firms up the noodles and intensifies the tangy-spicy flavor profile.
Korean Chamnamul Kimchi (Pimpinella Kimchi)
Chamnamul kimchi is a spring kimchi made by salting chamnamul greens for just ten minutes to wilt them slightly, then dressing with gochugaru, anchovy fish sauce, and salted shrimp without rinsing. Skipping the rinse allows the residual salt to convert into umami during fermentation rather than being washed away, deepening the overall flavor. Pureed Korean pear and onion blended with sweet rice paste form the seasoning base, contributing a natural sweetness that rounds off the sharp edges of the chili heat. After three hours of initial fermentation at room temperature followed by refrigeration, the kimchi reaches its best balance within one to two days, when the grassy herbal aroma of chamnamul aligns with the fermented depth of the fish sauce. Because chamnamul has a high moisture content, fermentation moves quickly, and the kimchi softens past its peak if left too long. Best consumed within three to four days for optimal texture and fragrance.
Korean Seaweed Oyster Pancake
Fresh oysters and rehydrated seaweed folded into a pancake batter and pan-fried into a jeon packed with ocean flavor. As the oysters cook, they release their briny juices into the batter, spreading their concentrated umami through every bite. The seaweed provides a soft, slightly slippery contrast in texture against the crisp outer surface. Soup soy sauce seasons the batter cleanly without competing with the seafood, while minced red chili adds color and a measured heat. Garlic deepens the marine aroma. This jeon is at its best during winter when oysters are plump and full in flavor.
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Haejangguk is Korea's iconic hangover soup, a thick and fiery bowl built to restore the body after a long night of drinking. The base is a pork spine broth simmered for several hours until it turns milky, opaque, and deeply savory, carrying a weight that sits in the stomach rather than passing through it. Outer napa cabbage leaves called ugeoji are seasoned with doenjang and garlic before being added to the broth, contributing fibrous, chewy texture alongside the soup's fermented depth. Congealed blood, known as seonji, is a traditional inclusion cut into thick blocks: iron-dense and high in protein, it provides serious nutritional restoration and a visually striking dark contrast in the stone pot. Gochugaru delivers heat strong enough to draw sweat to the forehead, and Koreans have long held that this intensity helps flush toxins from the body and clear the mind after a night of drinking. The finished soup arrives still bubbling in its dolsot, and the first few spoonfuls tend to produce an involuntary exhale of relief. Dedicated haejangguk restaurants open before dawn to serve construction workers and late-night revelers, and the dish has occupied a fixed position in Korean culinary and drinking culture for centuries.
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