SAMGYEOPSAL (pork belly)

Welcome to K-food for the week! It’s your weekly newsletter posted every Thursday (Korean time), so that you can make your Friday dinner a little more special.

Samgyeopsal (삼겹살, read as sam-gyup-sal) is a famous KBBQ dish that many Korean people enjoy.

In this photo, pork belly, known as Samgyeopsal to Korean people, looks thinly chopped. But the authentic KBBQ style is widely sliced by 2 inch (4.5cm). The reason that it’s cut like this photo is because of my dad’s cooking style. (That’s the photo of my family’s home cooked Samgyeopsal!)

The taste of those pork bellies is buttery and salty. And when you eat it while drinking liquor, it tastes sweet. the texture is slightly crispy when you bite into it, but it’s juicy when you bite even more.

The flavor might be a bit fatty, but when you wrap it with lettuce and steamed rice and eat it, it tastes less fatty. That’s called a Ssam, and making Ssam with Ssamjang and eating it is the appropriate way to eat Samgyeopsal (other than eating it alone or eating with steamed rice). Putting Ssamjang (reddish brown sauce) into the Ssam makes it less fatty and gives it a nice hint of soy paste.

Eating it with Beer and Soju is a good combination. But the most delicious way to eat pork belly is eating it with your friends and families. So I suggest you to make a reservation at a KBBQ restaurant and invite them for dinner!

This was K-food for the week. I hope you have an amazing meal!