Samgyeopsal
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''Samgyeopsal'' (; ), ''samgyeopsal-gui'' ( ), or grilled pork belly is a type of ''
gui The GUI ( "UI" by itself is still usually pronounced . or ), graphical user interface, is a form of user interface that allows users to interact with electronic devices through graphical icons and audio indicator such as primary notation, inste ...
'' (grilled dish) in
Korean cuisine Korean cuisine has evolved through centuries of social and political change. Originating from ancient agricultural and nomadic traditions in Korea and southern Manchuria, Korean cuisine reflects a complex interaction of the natural envi ...
.


Etymology

Directly translated from Korean, ''samgyeop-sal'' () means "three layer flesh," referring to striations of lean meat and fat in the
pork belly Pork belly or belly pork is a boneless and fatty cut of meat from the belly of a pig. Pork belly is particularly popular in Hispanic, Chinese, Danish, Norwegian, Korean, Thai and Filipino cuisine. Regional dishes France In Alsatian ...
that appear as three layers when cut. It is the part of the abdomen under the loin from the 5th rib or 6th rib to the hind limb. In Korea, the word ''samgyeop-sal,'' meaning "pork belly", often refers to ''samgyeop-sal-gui'' (grilled pork belly), in the same way that the word ''
galbi ''Galbi'' * (), ''galbi-gui'' (), or grilled ribs, is a type of ''gui'' (grilled dish) in Korean cuisine. "''Galbi''" is the Korean word for "rib", and the dish is usually made with beef short ribs. When pork spare ribs or another meat is us ...
,'' meaning "ribs", often refers to ''galbi-gui'' (grilled beef ribs). ''
Gui The GUI ( "UI" by itself is still usually pronounced . or ), graphical user interface, is a form of user interface that allows users to interact with electronic devices through graphical icons and audio indicator such as primary notation, inste ...
'' refers to roasted, baked, or grilled dishes. One can also find ''ogyeopsal'' (), with an ''o'' meaning "five" and "gyeop" meaning a layer. ''Ogyeop-sal'' includes the skin part of the pork belly, unlike ''samgyeop-sal'' where the skin is removed.


History

The first mention of the meat dish was in a ''Donga-ilbo'' article published on November 3, 1984, titled "How to Distinguish Between Good and Bad Meat", where the dish is called "segyepsal (세겹살)" instead of samgyeopsal. The word samgyeopsal only became an entry for the Standard Korean Language Dictionary after 1994. The last mention of "segyeopsal" was in an article in 1974. Until the 1980s, the main type of meat the Koreans preferred was beef, but pork and chicken meat were encouraged at a national policy level as a good alternative as most of the cattle were used for agriculture and thus beef supplies were deficient. In response to government policies,
Chaebol A chaebol (, ; ) is a large industrial South Korean conglomerate run and controlled by an individual or family. A chaebol often consists of multiple diversified affiliates, controlled by a person or group whose power over the group often exc ...
s, especially
Samsung The Samsung Group (or simply Samsung) ( ko, 삼성 ) is a South Korean multinational manufacturing conglomerate headquartered in Samsung Town, Seoul, South Korea. It comprises numerous affiliated businesses, most of them united under the ...
, started to run pork farms. Samsung later shut down the farms due to backlash from farmers worried that Samsung was attempting real estate
speculation In finance, speculation is the purchase of an asset (a commodity, goods, or real estate) with the hope that it will become more valuable shortly. (It can also refer to short sales in which the speculator hopes for a decline in value.) Many ...
. During the late 1980s to the 1990s, the dish became a popular menu along with
Jokbal ''Jokbal''(족발) is a Korean dish consisting of pig's trotters cooked with soy sauce and spices.Jokbal
a ...
and
sundae A sundae () is an ice cream dessert of American origin that typically consists of one or more scoops of ice cream topped with sauce or syrup and in some cases other toppings such as: sprinkles, whipped cream, marshmallows, peanuts, maraschi ...
(a type of sausage, not the ice cream), as Samsung and Lotte entered the meat processing industry. The use of pork in traditional Korean cuisine such as Bossam or jeyuk-bokkeum focused on methods of hiding its smell with strong seasoning using spices such as ginger, garlic, and leek. After the smell problem was solved by scientific methods such as castration of pigs at the production level, the popularization of samgyeopsal became possible. In 1996, "daepae samgyeopsal", a samgyeopsal that is named because it is thinly cut like it was cut by a Plane (called "daepae" in Korean. A tool to cut wood), was invented. The Hoesik culture after the 1998 financial crisis also popularized the dish as part of the South Korean office cuisine. During the 2000s, beoljip samgyeopsal, which was named as such because the way the meat is cut resembled a beehive (beoljip in Korean) appeared. From 2005, the Jeju island culture of providing bigger portions of meat in
geun Geun, also spelled Gun, Keun, or Kun, is a rare Korean family name, a single-syllable Korean given name, and an element in some two-syllable names. Family name As a family name, Geun is written with one hanja, meaning "axe" (; 도끼 근), also t ...
(a traditional Korean unit that is equivalent to 600gs) instead of 100 grams, and the popularization of
Jeju Black pig The Jeju Black () is a Korean breed of domestic pig. It is named for, and originates from, the large island of Jeju-do, which lies to the south of the country in the Korea Strait. It is a small pig with a black skin and smooth coat of hair. It h ...
meat influenced the samgyeopsal culture.


Preparation

Thick, fatty slices of
pork belly Pork belly or belly pork is a boneless and fatty cut of meat from the belly of a pig. Pork belly is particularly popular in Hispanic, Chinese, Danish, Norwegian, Korean, Thai and Filipino cuisine. Regional dishes France In Alsatian ...
, sometimes with the skin left on and sometimes scored on the diagonal, are grilled on a slanted metal griddle or a gridiron at the diners' table, inset with charcoal grills or convex gas burners. Usually, diners grill the meat themselves, flipping and cutting them with tongs and scissors, and eat directly from the grill. The meat is usually neither marinated nor seasoned, although marinated samgyeopsal in flavors such as ginseng, wine, garlic, herbs, curry, doenjang, and gochujang has gained popularity since the late 2000s. Slices of garlic, onions, green chili peppers, mushrooms, and kimchi are often grilled alongside using the fat trickling from the pork belly. Common accompaniments for ''samgyeopsal'' include ''
ssam ' (), meaning "wrapped", refers to a dish in Korean cuisine in which, usually, leafy vegetables are used to wrap a piece of meat such as pork or other filling.
'' vegetables such as
lettuce Lettuce (''Lactuca sativa'') is an annual plant of the family Asteraceae. It is most often grown as a leaf vegetable, but sometimes for its stem and seeds. Lettuce is most often used for salads, although it is also seen in other kinds of food, ...
, ''
kkaennip ''Perilla frutescens'', commonly called deulkkae, perilla or Korean perilla, is a species of ''Perilla'' in the mint family Lamiaceae. It is an annual plant native to Southeast Asia and Indian highlands, and is traditionally grown in the Korean ...
'' (perilla leaves), ''ssammu'' (pickled
radish The radish (''Raphanus raphanistrum'' subsp. ''sativus'') is an Eating, edible root vegetable of the family Brassicaceae that was domesticated in Asia prior to Roman Empire, Roman times. Radishes are grown and consumed throughout the world, be ...
paper) and dipping sauces such as ''
ssamjang ''Ssamjang'' ( ko, 쌈장) is a thick, spicy paste used with food wrapped in a leaf in Korean cuisine. The sauce is made of fermented soy beans (''doenjang''), red chili paste (''gochujang''), sesame oil, onion, garlic, green onions, and optio ...
'' (made with seasoned mixture of
chili paste Chili sauce and chili paste are condiments prepared with chili peppers. Chili sauce may be Scoville scale, hot, Sweetness, sweet or a combination thereof, and may differ from hot sauce in that many sweet or mild varieties exist, which is typic ...
and soy bean paste) and ''gireum-jang'' (made with
sesame oil Sesame oil is an edible vegetable oil derived from sesame seeds. The oil is one of the earliest-known crop-based oils. Worldwide mass modern production is limited due to the inefficient manual harvesting process required to extract the oil. O ...
, salt, and black pepper), ''
jangajji ''Jangajji'' () or pickled vegetables is a type of ''banchan'' (side dish) made by pickling vegetables. * Unlike kimchi, ''jangajji'' is non-fermented vegetables, usually pickled in soy sauce, soybean paste, or chili paste. ''Jangajji'' dishe ...
'' (soy sauce-pickled vegetables) such as '' myeongi-jangajji'' (pickled Siberian onion leaves) or ''yangpa-jangajji'' (pickled onions),
kimchi ''Kimchi'' (; ko, 김치, gimchi, ), is a traditional Korean side dish of salted and fermented vegetables, such as napa cabbage and Korean radish. A wide selection of seasonings are used, including ''gochugaru'' (Korean chili powder), sprin ...
, as well as sliced
garlic Garlic (''Allium sativum'') is a species of bulbous flowering plant in the genus ''Allium''. Its close relatives include the onion, shallot, leek, chive, Allium fistulosum, Welsh onion and Allium chinense, Chinese onion. It is native to South A ...
,
onion An onion (''Allium cepa'' L., from Latin ''cepa'' meaning "onion"), also known as the bulb onion or common onion, is a vegetable that is the most widely cultivated species of the genus ''Allium''. The shallot is a botanical variety of the onion ...
s, and seasoned shredded
scallion Scallions (also known as spring onions or green onions) are vegetables derived from various species in the genus ''Allium''. Scallions generally have a milder taste than most onions and their close relatives include garlic, shallot, leek, ch ...
s. Garlic, onions, and kimchi can be either grilled with the meat or consumed raw with the cooked meat.
Mushrooms A mushroom or toadstool is the fleshy, spore-bearing Sporocarp (fungi), fruiting body of a fungus, typically produced above ground, on soil, or on its food source. ''Toadstool'' generally denotes one poisonous to humans. The standard for the na ...
, such as button mushrooms or
oyster mushrooms ''Pleurotus'' is a genus of gilled mushrooms which includes one of the most widely eaten mushrooms, '' P. ostreatus''. Species of ''Pleurotus'' may be called oyster, abalone, or tree mushrooms, and are some of the most commonly cultivated edib ...
, are also grilled with the meat.


Consumption

Grilled meat is placed on fresh and/or pickled leaves of vegetables, with some ''
ssamjang ''Ssamjang'' ( ko, 쌈장) is a thick, spicy paste used with food wrapped in a leaf in Korean cuisine. The sauce is made of fermented soy beans (''doenjang''), red chili paste (''gochujang''), sesame oil, onion, garlic, green onions, and optio ...
'', and rolled up to make ''
ssam ' (), meaning "wrapped", refers to a dish in Korean cuisine in which, usually, leafy vegetables are used to wrap a piece of meat such as pork or other filling.
'' (wrap) which is eaten in one mouthful. Any combination of accompaniments mentioned above can be added to the roll according to preference, most popularly sliced garlic.
Cooked rice Cooked rice refers to rice that has been cooked either by steaming or boiling. The terms steamed rice or boiled rice are also commonly used. Any variant of Asian rice (both Indica and Japonica varieties), African rice or wild rice, glutinous ...
, stews such as ''
kimchi-jjigae ''Kimchi-jjigae'' * () or kimchi stew is a ''jjigae'', or stew-like Korean dish, made with ''kimchi'' and other ingredients, such as pork or seafood, scallions, onions, and diced tofu. It is one of the most common stews in Korean cuisine. H ...
'' and ''
doenjang-jjigae Doenjang-jjigae (Korean: 된장찌개; Korean: wen.dʑaŋ.t͈ɕi.ɡɛ, referred to in English as soybean paste stew, is a Korean traditional '' jjigae'' (stew-type dish), made from the primary ingredient of ''doenjang'' (soybean paste), and ...
'', as well as ''
naengmyeon Naengmyeon * (, in South Korea) or raengmyŏn (, in North Korea) is a noodle dish of North Korean origin which consists of long and thin handmade noodles made from the flour and starch of various ingredients, including buckwheat (메밀, ''me ...
'' (cold noodles), can be served as meals. Sometimes, leftover meat is mixed with rice, '' gim-garu'' (seaweed flakes), and seasonings to make ''
bokkeum-bap ''Bokkeum-bap'' () or fried rice is a Korean dish made by stir-frying ''bap'' (cooked rice) with other ingredients in oil. * The name of the most prominent ingredient other than cooked rice often appears at the very front of the name of the dis ...
'' (fried rice) at the end. Samgyeopsal is often accompanied by, or accompanying (as '' anju'') shots of
soju (; Hangul: ; Hanja: ) is a clear and colorless Korean distilled alcoholic beverage. It is usually consumed neat. Its alcohol content varies from about 12.9% to 53% alcohol by volume (ABV), although since 2007 low alcohol soju below 20% h ...
. ''
Somaek ''Somaek'' () is a beer cocktail made with soju and beer. The beer used is typically a lager-style. Etymology It is a syllabic abbreviation of two Korean words, ''soju'' () and '' maekju'' (, "beer"). Preparation The ratio varies liberally ...
'', a simple cocktail made by dumping a shot of soju into a glass of beer, is also a popular beverage consumed with ''samgyeopasal''.


Popularity

In
South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...
, the third day of March is "Samgyeopsal Day", due to samgyeopsal's three-layered composition. According to a 2006 survey by
National Agricultural Cooperative Federation The South Korean National Agricultural Cooperative Federation (initialized as NH (in Korean, derived from NongHyup) or NACF) was established in 1961 to enhance the social and economic status of its membership and to promote a balanced developmen ...
, 85% of South Korean adults stated that their favourite slice of pork is the pork belly.
2006 ACK Survey


Myth of Samgyeopsal's purifying qualities

There is a myth in South Korea that eating Samgyeopsal protects humans from air pollution by
particulates Particulates – also known as atmospheric aerosol particles, atmospheric particulate matter, particulate matter (PM) or suspended particulate matter (SPM) – are microscopic particles of solid or liquid matter suspended in the air. The ter ...
(sometimes translated as fine dust 미세먼지 in Korean). This is thought to have originated from the practice of Korean miners eating pork after an intensive mining operation. Contrary to the myth, samgyeopsal can rather help the absorption of chemicals in the particulates that are soluble in oil.


See also

* * *


References

{{Bacon Korean pork dishes Barbecue South Korean meat dishes Table-cooked dishes