Sinseollo

🍖 With meat or fish

Sinseollo is a dish from Korean royal court cuisine, a rich stew of meatballs, small round jeonyueo, mushrooms and vegetables in broth. It takes its name from the vessel in which it is served and belongs to the jeongol family of elaborate chowder-like stews.

History

According to the sources, the dish was originally based on vegetables, and meat and fish were added in later years. It is served in a large bundt pan-shaped vessel with a hole in the centre, where hot embers are placed to keep the broth warm throughout the meal. Over time the name of that vessel came to mean the dish as well.

The dish is also known as yeolguja tang, which literally means a soup that makes the mouth happy. Up to twenty-five ingredients may go into it, including beef, pork, chicken, pheasant, fish, abalone and sea cucumbers.

Culture

Sinseollo is a communal dish, meant to sustain a long meal while the broth stays hot over the embers. The ingredients are arranged in layers: boiled beef and seasoned beef with seafood, then mushrooms, carrots and other vegetables, and finally meatballs, walnuts, pine nuts, ginkgo nuts and finely shredded red pepper as a colourful garnish. Stock is poured over and the pot is cooked over charcoal. Today it is mostly found in restaurants serving royal court cuisine and at festive occasions.

Legend and fact

A story tells of a scholar at the court of King Yeonsan who, disillusioned with politics after his exile, withdrew to the mountains and cooked his meals on a small portable brazier. According to tradition, he vanished there and became a sinseon, a Taoist immortal, which is how the vessel got its name. It is a popular explanation; what can be said with more confidence is that the term refers to the vessel and the dish.

Trivia

A name that describes pleasure. Its alternative name, yeolguja tang, literally means 'a soup that makes the mouth happy', a phrase that puts the emphasis on the pleasure of eating.

Up to twenty-five ingredients. According to the sources, a version of the dish can combine up to twenty-five ingredients, from meats and fish to mushrooms, nuts and vegetables.