Soon Dae on Sunday

[SheenaGreena]

hopefully nobody is reading chowhound, because I made the same post on the boston board.......

I am wondering, has anyone actually made this delicious street snack by hand? I am REALLY craving this stuff now and the steamed offal that goes with it. I still don 't know what the hell I am eating when I am eating that offal. I know I'm eating liver, but what are the other meats?

Does anyone else enjoy this or is it an acquired taste? Oh and soon dae guk is deliciuos as well, with those little black seeds floating in the soup (what are they?)

[Peter Green]

The immediate reaction to the name is "congealed blood". It can have other stuff, but primarily blood. Could be pig or cow. And rice.

I saw them making this before, but it was a long time ago in Cheju.

[Domestic Goddess]

From Wiki - The majority of Korea's soondae can be categorized as blood sausage. The most common type of soondae is made of potato noodle (dangmyon), barley, and pig's blood but some variants contain sesame leaves, green onion, fermented soy paste (dwen-jang), sweet rice, kimchi, bean sprouts, in addition to the common ingredients.

The other meats steamed with the blood sausage are chitterlings (intestines), liver, spleen, tongue, heart, etc. The variation of the meat depends on the vendor and her generosity. I usually nod my head vigorously when asked if I wanted the other steamed offal meat.

[SheenaGreena]

thanks domestic goddess, I always wondered what all that other offal was. Sometimes I like it more than the soondae. I loved the steamed liver, it imparts a great livery taste which I love. Also I think I eat the stomach, because it's sliced into rings. That has a great texture and chewiness, I love chewiness in my meats.

ETA: I am very jealous that you live in korea, I love the smell of steaming soondae in those huge metal bowls with the plastic wrap on top I think a lot of people are put off by the smell, but I think its positively divine

Edited November 3, 2006 by SheenaGreena (log)

[ZenKimchi]

And man, you can almost stick your thumb through those big veins in some of the offal.

I love me some SundaeGuk -- big bowl o' nasty. It's all rendered pork fat -- have you ever put leftovers in the fridge? Solid.

Don't know where to start tackling homemade sundae yet. I'm expecting to participate in KimJang this year. So I'll finally make my own kimchi. I'm also thinking of experimenting with how to make HoDdeok for the food journal.

Edited November 6, 2006 by ZenKimchi (log)

[Peter Green]

How come we haven't seen any jokes about Kim Jang Il (the Dear Kimchi)?

Can you post the schedule/review for the house to house move on doing this? It'd make a really neat description of the equivalent of a block party!

[SheenaGreena]

Don't know where to start tackling homemade sundae yet. I'm expecting to participate in KimJang this year. So I'll finally make my own kimchi. I'm also thinking of experimenting with how to make HoDdeok for the food journal.

you can make it the lazy american way:

open a cylinder of biscuits

stuff them with brown sugar and maybe some honey, cinnamon, or pine nuts

then roll them flat

pan fry

btw, if you have a recipe for them please let me know. I would like to know what the dough is made out of. Maybe if you let me know, I will run around boston like an old ajumma and sell hotteok on the streets when the bars close. I bet that I will make good money doing this.

[ZenKimchi]

You know, I think I'm going to take a basic sponge from The Breadmaker's Apprentice. The HoDdeok ladies are looking at me suspiciously because I stare at their dough too intently, trying to figure it out. It looks like a basic yeasty sponge

[Domestic Goddess]

Sheena and ZenKimchi - I will do my best to find out what the dough is made of and the recipe. Most of the street vendors are my friends and I'll get somebody to translate what they're saying.

BTW - I has sundae last sunday... I had a plateful and read my Terry Pratchett book while munching the steamed goodies. Old adjummas and adjassis were peering over my shoulder trying to decipher what I was reading. I bet they were thinking " crazy foreigner eating sundae". LOL

[ZenKimchi]

Had a similar experience at lunch today at Kimbap Cheonguk.

Ordered a bowl of Changukjang--the stinky, stinky soup. When the guy placed the boiling bowl in front of me, he basically asked, "Are you sure this is what you want?"

I crave it twice a year now. I guess it boosts my immune system, and my body is telling me something.

[SheenaGreena]

thankfully in korea most koreans dont ask me if I "really want to eat that" but they do stare at me an awful lot. I am half korean, so I look more white and more japanese then korean. Eating with my mother and other korean family members must help.

I still want soondae!!!!! I am going to maryland this christmas to visit my parents. They have a Seoul Soondae place there (do they have those in korea?) and I always get the combination plate...mmmm. I get it to go and eat all the offal in the car on the way back to my parents.

speaking of offal, domestic goddess or zen kimchi..do you like that dish of intestines stewed in a spicy chile broth? I love intestines, they are so chewy. They remind me of meat bubble gum

[Domestic Goddess]

Stewed intestines???? Oooh, gimme two cups of rice for that. Good during a rainy/windy day. LOL

Haven't deciphered the mystery of the hotteok dough yet... been rainy and drizzly back here. Made kimchi jjige and pajeon for lunch. I just got a tupperware full of kimchi from my hubby's boss.

[tristar]

The immediate reaction to the name is "congealed blood".  It can have other stuff, but primarily blood.  Could be pig or cow.  And rice.

I saw them making this before, but it was a long time ago in Cheju.

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This link is for a variation of Soon Dae 'sans blood' for anybody squeamish or with dietary restrictions who wants to try making it themselves!

Soon Dae

Best Regards,

Richard

[phage]

thanks domestic goddess, I always wondered what all that other offal was.  Sometimes I like it more than the soondae.  I loved the steamed liver, it imparts a great livery taste which I love.  Also I think I eat the stomach, because it's sliced into rings.  That has a great texture and chewiness, I love chewiness in my meats.

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Aren't the rings intestines? No matter, I love both.... Tibetans cook a lot with lungs - it's been a long time since I've eaten Tibetan food so I've forgot exactly what they are like (other than they reminded me of big tasty chunks of fat which I could eat huge amounts of without getting sated.) There's one thing I find among the sundae offal that has a lot of blood vessels interspersed around each slice - what organ would that be, I wonder....

There's a place in MD that serves sundaeguk?! I haven't found any on the West Coast though I haven't been to L.A.'s Koreatown.... I've gotten pre-packaged sundae in shops in Northern California and it's always a bit dry and tasteless compared to what they have in Korea - and more expensive. Does anyone know if such a restaurant exists anywhere in the area between Seattle and Sunnyvale?

Had a similar experience at lunch today at Kimbap Cheonguk.

Ordered a bowl of Changukjang--the stinky, stinky soup.  When the guy placed the boiling bowl in front of me, he basically asked, "Are you sure this is what you want?"

I crave it twice a year now.  I guess it boosts my immune system, and my body is telling me something.

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I've had that happen too - but not all that much - I do often order it at restaurants, but I have got some wheels of it at home and I just break off a piece and put it in the soup a lot, not always the amount that one would normally use, but it does enrichen the flavour of whatever soup I'm making (These would be soups of more-or-less Korean style - don't know that I'd use cheonggukjang in lobster bisque....)

* * * * * * * * * * * *

The bloodless sundae sounds tasty (not that have any problem with blood, but I don't usually see it for sale where I live, or intestines either) Wonder if I could make it without the blood and guts (sounds pallid but hafta make do with what I have....)

--phage

[Joon]

My favorite "offal" bit is the pig ears. That's the stuff that has the white cartilege running through it. Yum! Along with Jok Bal (pig feet) and Duk Boki, it's the food I miss the most from Korea.

Fortunately you can get some soon dae and "bits" here (NJ), but I also like the bits better than soondae, and unlike in korea I haven't found a place here that will sell you just the bits.

I'm pretty sure soondae is an acquired taste - my friends who love all sorts of weird and nasty korean food have never really raved about soondae.

By the way, I believe the black seeds in the soon dae guk are mustard seeds.

I can't believe they don't have Soondae in a big city like boston! If you haven't found any yet I'll bring you some when I head up there for St. Patty's day.

If you're REALLY feelin the crave, you can get blood sausage almost IDENTICAL to soondae at Latin joints. It's uncanny how similar their blood sausage is to soondae.

Edited February 20, 2007 by Joon (log)

[SheenaGreena]

My favorite "offal" bit is the pig ears. That's the stuff that has the white cartilege running through it. Yum! Along with Jok Bal (pig feet) and Duk Boki, it's the food I miss the most from Korea.

Fortunately you can get some soon dae and "bits" here (NJ), but I also like the bits better than soondae, and unlike in korea I haven't found a place here that will sell you just the bits.

I'm pretty sure soondae is an acquired taste - my friends who love all sorts of weird and nasty korean food have never really raved about soondae.

By the way, I believe the black seeds in the soon dae guk are mustard seeds.

I can't believe they don't have Soondae in a big city like boston! If you haven't found any yet I'll bring you some when I head up there for St. Patty's day.

If you're REALLY feelin the crave, you can get blood sausage almost IDENTICAL to soondae at Latin joints. It's uncanny how similar their blood sausage is to soondae.

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they have soondae that is prepackaged at the korean grocery store, but its already sliced and it always looks really dry. I can get it steamed and freshly cut/made when i visit my parents in maryland so I just wait till then.

I am going to see my parents for spring break, so only a few more weeks till I get soon dae.

mustard seeds in korean cooking? thats awesome, I never knew they used those. I know koreans eat hot mustard...but mustard seeds? how very indian!

[Joon]

they have soondae that is prepackaged at the korean grocery store, but its already sliced and it always looks really dry.  I can get it steamed and freshly cut/made when i visit my parents in maryland so I just wait till then. 

I am going to see my parents for spring break, so only a few more weeks till I get soon dae.

mustard seeds in korean cooking? thats awesome, I never knew they used those.  I know koreans eat hot mustard...but mustard seeds? how very indian!

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I don't think I've seen mustard seeds in any other korean food either. Actually as far as I remember there was no such thing as soon dae guk when I lived in korea so the whole dish might be a recent invention. A delicious, delicious recent invention.

Man I'm jealous, I don't think there's any place here where I can get soondae freshly made/cut..

[SheenaGreena]

I wonder if they have lotte grocery stores where you live? thats where we get ours. I am not sure if it is a maryland chain or a us chain. Its sold in the panchan and kimchi section of the grocery store and in the food court as well. Its expensive though. I think its like $10 to feed 2 people.

Im sure you agree with me that its expensive, because we both know how cheap soon dae is in korea.

[Domestic Goddess]

Yeah, you can buy a platterfull of soondae for $2 loaded with all the steamed offal. So cheap! Not to mention the odeng fish cakes that come as 3 for a dollar.

[phage]

No, the seed they use in Sundaeguk are the ones called "Wild Sesame" or ggaennip (깻잎). They are a type of perilla related to the Japanese shiso. The leaves are the heart-shaped ones often used in Ssambap and with soy sauce and such as banchan, or deep-fried and stuffed with hamburger (oh those are the leaves - what else do they do with the seeds, I wonder?) The seeds are about the size of a mustard seed but a redder shade of brown.

Not to say someone might use mustard seed somewhere, but I've never had them in sundaeguk.

I'm going to Sacramento tomorrow - I'm looking forward to a tasty Korean meal and stocking up on kimchi, ddeok, and other items I can't get where I live....

[SheenaGreena]

No, the seed they use in Sundaeguk are the ones called "Wild Sesame" or ggaennip (깻잎). They are a type of perilla related to the Japanese shiso.  The leaves are the heart-shaped ones often used in Ssambap and with soy sauce and such as banchan, or deep-fried and stuffed with hamburger (oh those are the leaves - what else do they do with the seeds, I wonder?)  The seeds are about the size of a mustard seed but a redder shade of brown.

Not to say someone might use mustard seed somewhere, but I've never had them in sundaeguk.

I'm going to Sacramento tomorrow - I'm looking forward to a tasty Korean meal and stocking up on kimchi, ddeok, and other items I can't get where I live....

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ah yes shiso seeds. I didn't know those were used in korean cooking. I know that they are pickled in japan and are quite tasty. Sometimes I forget how the two countries share a lot of the same ingredients but use them in completely different ways.

deep fried ggaenip stuffed with hamburger? awesome! I like adding them to spicy fish soup (whole not sliced) and wrapped up in my kimbap

[Joon]

No, the seed they use in Sundaeguk are the ones called "Wild Sesame" or ggaennip (깻잎). They are a type of perilla related to the Japanese shiso.  The leaves are the heart-shaped ones often used in Ssambap and with soy sauce and such as banchan, or deep-fried and stuffed with hamburger (oh those are the leaves - what else do they do with the seeds, I wonder?)  The seeds are about the size of a mustard seed but a redder shade of brown.

Not to say someone might use mustard seed somewhere, but I've never had them in sundaeguk.

I'm going to Sacramento tomorrow - I'm looking forward to a tasty Korean meal and stocking up on kimchi, ddeok, and other items I can't get where I live....

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Hmm! I always wondered about 참깨 vs. 들깨. I guess it makes a LOT more sense that it would be sesame seeds rather than mustard! Haha! Since Ggaenip = sesame and sesame seed = white I never realized that ggaenip = 들깨nip and "sesame seed" = 참깨. Thanks!

[GlorifiedRice]

Okay I tried Soondae today...

It had no flavor...Is it supposed too be bland?

[Hassouni]

No

[phage]

Whoo, it's been at least six years since I wrote on this thread. I find that sundaeguk is a lot commoner in the Western USA than it was back then. Try Pine Tree House (Sonamu jip) in Sacramento, JangSooJang in Salt Lake City, or New Seoul Garden in Beaverton, Oregon. But, alas, no Korean food where I live - a Korean restaurant one county over recently disappeared - but they only served dishes like bulgogi and galbi, nothing at all that might challenge the palates of the Republicans that live in this area. Well, perhaps another Korean restaurant will appear ephemerally nearby, and I'll be able to eat happily if briefly before they switch to teriyaki or return to the void.