Seolleongtang
Encyclopedia
Seolleongtang or Sul Lung Tang is a Korea
Korea
Korea ) is an East Asian geographic region that is currently divided into two separate sovereign states — North Korea and South Korea. Located on the Korean Peninsula, Korea is bordered by the People's Republic of China to the northwest, Russia to the northeast, and is separated from Japan to the...

n broth soup made from ox bones (mostly leg bones), brisket
Brisket
Brisket is a cut of meat from the breast or lower chest of beef or veal. The beef brisket is one of the eight beef primal cuts. The brisket muscles include the superficial and deep pectorals. As cattle do not have collar bones, these muscles support about 60% of the body weight of standing/moving...

 and other cuts. Seasoning is generally done at the table according to personal taste by adding salt
Edible salt
Salt, also known as table salt, or rock salt, is a mineral that is composed primarily of sodium chloride , a chemical compound belonging to the larger class of ionic salts. It is essential for animal life in small quantities, but is harmful to animals and plants in excess...

, ground black pepper, red pepper, minced garlic, or chopped spring onions. Seolleongtang is typically simmered over a low flame over a period of several hours to an entire day, to allow the flavor to be gradually extracted from the bones. It has a milky off-white, cloudy appearance and is normally eaten together with rice
Rice
Rice is the seed of the monocot plants Oryza sativa or Oryza glaberrima . As a cereal grain, it is the most important staple food for a large part of the world's human population, especially in East Asia, Southeast Asia, South Asia, the Middle East, and the West Indies...

 and several side dishes; the rice is sometimes added directly to the soup.

History and etymology

In the Joseon dynasty
Joseon Dynasty
Joseon , was a Korean state founded by Taejo Yi Seong-gye that lasted for approximately five centuries. It was founded in the aftermath of the overthrow of the Goryeo at what is today the city of Kaesong. Early on, Korea was retitled and the capital was relocated to modern-day Seoul...

, Koreans regularly made nationwide sacrifices to their ancestors, such as Dangun
Dangun
Dangun Wanggeom was the legendary founder of Gojoseon, the first Korean kingdom, around present-day Liaoning, Manchuria, and the Korean Peninsula. He is said to be the "grandson of heaven", and to have founded the kingdom in 2333 BC...

 (the legendary founder of the kingdom of Gojoseon
Gojoseon
Gojoseon was an ancient Korean kingdom. Go , meaning "ancient," distinguishes it from the later Joseon Dynasty; Joseon, as it is called in contemporaneous writings, is also romanized as Chosŏn....

). The nationwide sacrifice was called Seonnongje (hangul: 선농제; hanja: 先農祭, Seonnong meaning "venerated farmer"), and the altar for the sacrifice was called Seonnong dan (hangul: 선농단; hanja: 先農壇), which dates back to the Silla Dynasty.
King Seongjong
Seongjong of Joseon
Seongjong of Joseon was the ninth king of the Joseon Dynasty of Korea. He succeeded King Yejong in 1469 and ruled until 1494.-Reign:...

 had visited the sacrifice himself, and had eaten a meal with the people of Joseon. In order to increase the food supply in Joseon, King Seongjong ordered them to invent dishes that could feed the maximum number of people using the least amount of ingredients, and seonnongtang (tang meaning "soup") was one of these.

Seonnongtang is now called seolleongtang for easier pronunciation. The phonetic values have changed as follows:
  • Seonnongtang (선농탕, Sŏnnongt'ang) > Seollongtang (설롱탕, Sŏllongt'ang) > Seolleongtang (설렁탕, Sŏllŏngt'ang)


The first change is a consonant liquidization making the two "N" sounds into softer "L" sounds for easy pronunciation. The second change is a vowel harmonization of the "O" sound affected by the "Ŏ" sound.

It has also been proposed that the word seolleong derives from the Mongolian
Mongolian language
The Mongolian language is the official language of Mongolia and the best-known member of the Mongolic language family. The number of speakers across all its dialects may be 5.2 million, including the vast majority of the residents of Mongolia and many of the Mongolian residents of the Inner...

 word sju-ru or sjullu, which means "broth."

Among common mis-beliefs related to the dish, the name may come from its snowy white color and hearty taste, so seolleongtang was named "雪濃湯" in hanja
Hanja
Hanja is the Korean name for the Chinese characters hanzi. More specifically, it refers to those Chinese characters borrowed from Chinese and incorporated into the Korean language with Korean pronunciation...

 (literally "snowy thick soup"). Therefore, several Korean dictionaries say that the hanja
Hanja
Hanja is the Korean name for the Chinese characters hanzi. More specifically, it refers to those Chinese characters borrowed from Chinese and incorporated into the Korean language with Korean pronunciation...

 spelling such as 雪濃湯 is an incorrect usage for the dish. Nevertheless, the misspelling is used to refer to the soup in hanja
Hanja
Hanja is the Korean name for the Chinese characters hanzi. More specifically, it refers to those Chinese characters borrowed from Chinese and incorporated into the Korean language with Korean pronunciation...

.

See also

  • Galbitang
    Galbitang
    Galbitang is a variety of guk, or Korean soup, made primarily from beef short ribs along with stewing beef, daikon, onions, and other ingredients. The short ribs, or "galbi" also refers to grilled short ribs in Korean barbecue while the suffix tang is another name for guk...

    , beef short rib soup
  • Samgyetang
    Samgyetang
    Samgyetang is a variety of guk or Korean soup, which primarily consists of a whole young chicken and Korean ginseng. The dish's name literally translates as "ginseng chicken soup" in English...

    , chicken ginseng soup
  • Haejangguk
    Haejangguk
    Haejangguk refers to all kinds of guk eaten as a hangover cure in Korean cuisine. It means "soup to chase a hangover" and also called sulguk in pure Korean...

    , soups eaten as a hangover remedy
  • Gomguk
    Gomguk
    Gomguk, also called gomtang, refers to a soup in Korean cuisine made with various beef parts such as ribs, oxtail, brisket, ox's head or ox bones by slow simmering on a low flame. The broth of gomguk tends to have a milky color with a rich and hearty taste.-Regional:*Hyeonpung gomtang : from the...

  • Guk
    Guk
    Guk , also sometimes known as Tang , is a class of soup-like dishes in Korean cuisine. Guk and tang are commonly grouped together and regarded as the same type of dish, although guk is more watery and a basic dish for the Korean table setting, and is usually eaten at home...

  • Korean cuisine
  • List of Korean dishes
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