Seolleongtang

Seolleongtang
Korean name
Hangul	설렁탕
Hanja	- - 湯
Revised Romanization	Seolleongtang
McCune–Reischauer	Sŏllŏngt'ang

Seolleongtang is a Korean soup made from the bones of the four legs of an cow. Generally, only salt and green onions are used as seasoning. It is typically cooked 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; the rice may be added directly to the soup.

Etymology

In the Silla dynasty, Koreans regularly made nationwide sacrifices to their ancestors, such as Dangun (the legendary founder of the kingdom of Gojoseon). The nationwide sacrifice was called Seonnongje (hangul: 선농제; hanja: 先農祭), and the altar for the sacrifice was called Seonnongdan (hangul: 선농단; hanja: 先農壇). Seongjoong of Joseon had visited the sacrifice with himself, and had eaten a meal with the people of Joseon. In order to supply enough meal for the people of Joseon, king Seongjong ordered to invent new food for many people made from insufficient material, which was called seonnongtang (tang meaning "soup"). The sole ingredient used in the preparation of seolleongtang is the leg bones of an ox. At that time, this food was called seonnongtang, and it is now called seolleongtang for easier pronounication. The phonetic values have changed as follows:

• Seonnongtang (선농탕, Sǒnnongt'ang) > Seollongtang (설롱탕, Sǒllongt'ang) > Seolleongtang (설렁탕, Sŏllŏngt'ang)

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

See also

• Korean cuisine