Sundae (순대)
Korean blood sausage with sweet potato vermicelli (dangmyeon), pig’s blood, and vegetables.
| Fresh pig’s blood | 400 ml |
| Cooked sweet-potato vermicelli (dangmyeon) | 200 g |
| Cooked glutinous rice | 100 g |
| Firm tofu, crumbled | 100 g |
| Chopped kimchi (optional) | 50 g |
| Blanched bean sprouts | 50 g |
| Spring onion, sliced | 30 g |
| Fresh garlic, crushed | 15 g |
| Fine salt | 12 g |
| Ground black pepper | 3 g |
| Sesame oil | 15 ml |
| Wide pig’s intestine (gopchang) | — |
- Preparing the vermicelli: Soak the dangmyeon in warm water for 30 minutes. Cook for 5 minutes in boiling water. Drain, then cut into 5 cm pieces.
- Preparing the vegetables: Blanch the bean sprouts. Chop the kimchi if using. Slice the spring onion.
- Cleaning the casings: Clean the pig’s intestine carefully, turning it inside out and rinsing it several times.
- Mixing: Beat the blood to loosen it. Add the vermicelli, glutinous rice, tofu, vegetables, garlic, salt, pepper, and sesame oil. Mix well.
- Stuffing: Fill the intestine two-thirds full (the sundae swells). Tie at the ends.
- Cooking: Steam for 30 to 40 minutes.
- Serving: Slice into rounds 2 cm thick. Serve hot with chilli salt (gochugaru + salt) or ssamjang sauce (a thick, spicy soybean paste).
The earliest written mentions of the sundae date back to the Goryeo period (918–1392), when court cookery texts describe a casing filled with meat and grains for royal banquets. The contemporary composition of the sundae stabilised during the Joseon period (1392–1897), when pork, without being the most prestigious meat, remained the most accessible in the Korean countryside. The dangmyeon, a translucent, gelatinous sweet potato vermicelli, is the most distinctive ingredient among the blood sausages of other traditions: it replaces the flour used in European and African blood sausages with a carbohydrate of an elastic texture that radically alters the final product's chew.
The aromatic profile is deliberately discreet. Where the French boudin noir stakes everything on the richness of blood and fat, and the black pudding on the grainy texture of oats, the sundae seeks a balance among blood, crumbled tofu, and vegetables, seasoned with salt, pepper, and sesame oil. The sundae is conceived to be accompanied by powerful condiments (gochugaru chilli salt, gochujang chilli paste) that bring intensity to the dish.
Steaming, rather than the poaching common to most blood sausages worldwide, produces a firmer, more gelatinous texture. The regional variants are the sundae of Byeongcheon, darker and more sanguine, and the abai sundae, from North Korea, which uses a large-calibre casing and more glutinous rice.
The sundae is sold in pojangmacha (street-food tents) and in covered markets, with the Gwangjang Market in Seoul being one of the most popular places. Several specialist restaurants in Seoul present regional variants in a gastronomic format that contrasts with their popular origins.
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