Meat
Pig's blood
Also called pork blood, fresh pig blood, lueat mu
Fresh blood from pigs, sold chilled with salt or an anticoagulant added so it stays liquid, or already cooked into soft maroon cubes. Raw blood thickens a soup as it heats; cooked cubes are eaten as they are.
Origin
Used wherever pigs are slaughtered close to the kitchen: black pudding in Britain, morcilla in Spain, dinuguan in the Philippines, and Thai boat noodles, where a spoonful of salted blood goes into each bowl. Cow's blood is used the same way in the beef version.
Flavour
Rich, iron-like and mineral, faintly salty. In a broth it reads less as blood than as body and depth, the way liver does in a gravy.
How to use it
Whisk raw blood with a pinch of salt so it does not clot, then stir a tablespoon or two into the hot broth just before serving and bring it back to a simmer; do not boil it hard afterwards or it goes grainy. Asian butchers and farms that slaughter on site sell it.
Storage
Fresh blood keeps two days in the fridge and freezes for three months. Buy it only from a source that handles it as food, and always cook it.
