Blood as Food
published by stevetheblogger on Jul 2, 2012
To eat or drink blood in many cultures is deemed taboo but it might surprise you to know that it is more common than you think. In-fact some cultures consume blood as food, often in combination with meat. The blood may be in the form of blood sausage, as a thickener for sauces or in a blood soup.
In China, Thailand, and Vietnam, coagulated chicken, duck, goose or pig blood, known in Chinese as “blood tofu” is used in soups, such as the classic Thai dish “pork blood soup”.
Duck Blood Soup
In Korea, people consume Haejangguk, a soup with coagulated blood and sundae, a blood sausage-like dish made generally by boiling or steaming cow or pig’s intestines that are stuffed with various ingredients, such as cellophane noodles, kimchi, scallions, etc.
Portuguese blood sausge
In the Philippines, a popular dish called dinuguan is made from pig’s blood and seasoned with chili and is traditionally eaten with steamed rice.
English uncooked blood sausage
In Laos, and sometimes Thailand a raw meat salad, is made with minced raw meat, seasoned in spices, and covered with blood. Some people in China and Vietnam also consider certain types of snake blood to be an aphrodisiac, and drink it with rice wine.
In the South Indian state of Tamil Nadu, stir-fried lamb blood is a common dish ate at breakfast and lunch. This dish is a stir-fry with lamb stomach and intestines with spices like ginger, garlic, cloves, cinnamon, red chili powder, green chilies, coriander powder, cumin, shallots and grated coconut.
Blood pudding
In Vietnam, congealed pork blood is used in Bun bo Hue, a spicy soup. It is simply solidified, then put into the broth to absorb the flavor.
In Britain, Ireland and some Commonwealth countries, “black pudding” or “blood pudding” is made from blood and some filler grains and spices, often oatmeal.
In Sweden, the blood soup “svartsoppa”, made with goose blood, is traditionally eaten on the eve of Saint Martin.
In Finland, pig’s blood is used, with milk, flour and molasses, to make blood pancakes “veriohukainen”, usually served with a topping of jam.
And My Favorite:
In Portugal they have a blood soup named papas de sarrabulho. “Papas” translates as “mash” and “sarrabulho” is a popular expression for coagulated blood, so the literal translation would be “mashed blood”. The soup is made with pig’s blood, chicken meat, pork, ham, salami, lemon and bread, and is typically sprinkled with cumin, which provides the dish with its distinctive odor. It is usually served in the winter because it is a rather heavy dish.
So if you ever want to go on a diet bookmark this page as it might stop you eating.
stevetheblogger.
My thanks to Wikipedia for help in the names of some of these foods.
