''Samgyeopsal'' (), ''samgyeopsal-gui'' (), or grilled pork belly is a type of '' gui'' (grilled dish) in

Korean cuisine Korean cuisine is the set of foods and culinary styles which are associated with Korean culture. This cuisine has evolved through centuries of social and political change. Originating from ancient Prehistoric Korea, agricultural and nomad ...

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, fatty Primal cut, cut of pork from the Abdomen, belly of a pig. Pork belly is particularly popular in American cuisine, American, British cuisine, British, Swedish cuisine, Swedish, Danish cuisine, Danish, ...

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'' * (), ''kalbi'', ''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 m ...

,'' meaning "ribs", often refers to ''galbi-gui'' (grilled beef ribs). '' Gui'' 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 '' The Dong-A Ilbo'' article published on November 3, 1984, titled "How to Distinguish Between Good and Bad Meat", where the dish is called ''segyeopsal'' () instead of ''samgyeopsal''. The word samgyeopsal only became an entry for the ''

Standard Korean Language Dictionary ''Standard Korean Language Dictionary'' () is a dictionary of the Korean language, published by the National Institute of Korean Language. History The compilation of Standard Korean Language Dictionary was commenced on 1 January 1992, by The ...

'' after 1994. 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. Several dozen large South Kore ...

s, especially

Samsung Samsung Group (; stylised as SΛMSUNG) is a South Korean Multinational corporation, multinational manufacturing Conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered in the Samsung Town office complex in Seoul. The group consists of numerous a ...

, 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, good (economics), goods, or real estate) with the hope that it will become more valuable in a brief amount of time. It can also refer to short sales in which the speculator hope ...

. During the late 1980s to the 1990s, the dish became a popular menu item along with

Jokbal ''Jokbal'' () is a Korean dish consisting of pig's trotters cooked with soy sauce and spices.Jokbal
at

and

sundae A sundae (Sunday Ice) () is an ice cream frozen dessert of American origin that typically consists of one or more scoops of ice cream topped with a sweet sauce or syrup and other toppings such as sprinkles, whipped cream, marshmallows, chocola ...

, as Samsung and Lotte entered the meat processing industry. The use of pork in traditional Korean cuisine such as

Bossam ''Bossam'' () is a pork dish in Korean cuisine. It usually consists of pork shoulder that is boiled in spices and thinly sliced. The meat is served with side dishes such as spicy radish salad, sliced raw garlic, ''ssamjang'' (wrap sauce), ''saeu ...

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 (a tool to cut wood, called "daepae" in Korean), was invented. The

Hoesik () is a popular type of gathering in the society of South Korea, and refers to a group of people getting together to eat and drink. In Korean society, ''hoesik'' has been established as a subculture of an organization or enterprise. In Korean cor ...

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 Jeju Island (Jeju language, Jeju/) is South Korea's largest island, covering an area of , which is 1.83% of the total area of the country. Alongside outlying islands, it is part of Jeju Province and makes up the majority of the province. The i ...

culture of providing bigger portions of meat in (a traditional Korean unit that is equivalent to 600g) instead of 100 grams, and the popularization of Jeju Black pig meat influenced the samgyeopsal culture.

Preparation

Thick, fatty slices of

, 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 ' () are dishes in Korean cuisine where one food is wrapped in another. A common variety is meat such as pork wrapped in a leafy vegetable.lettuce Lettuce (''Lactuca sativa'') is an annual plant of the family Asteraceae mostly grown as a leaf vegetable. The leaves are most often used raw in Green salad, green salads, although lettuce is also seen in other kinds of food, such as sandwiche ...

, ''

kkaennip ''Perilla frutescens'', also called deulkkae () 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 peninsula ...

'' (perilla leaves), ''ssammu'' (pickled

radish The radish (''Raphanus sativus'') is a flowering plant in the mustard family, Brassicaceae. Its large taproot is commonly used as a root vegetable, although the entire plant is edible and its leaves are sometimes used as a leaf vegetable. Origina ...

paper) and

dipping sauce A dip or dipping sauce is a common condiment for many types of food. Dips are used to add flavor or texture to a food, such as pita bread, dumplings, crackers, chopped raw vegetables, fruits, seafood, cubed pieces of meat and cheese, potato ch ...

s such as ''

ssamjang ''Ssamjang'' () 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 optionally br ...

'' (made with seasoned mixture of

chili paste Chili sauce and chili paste are condiments prepared with chili peppers. Chili sauce may be hot, sweet or a combination thereof, and may differ from hot sauce in that many sweet or mild varieties exist, which is typically lacking in hot sauces ...

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. ...

, 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'' dish ...

'' (soy sauce-pickled vegetables) such as '' myeongi-jangajji'' (pickled Siberian onion leaves) or ''yangpa-jangajji'' (pickled onions),

kimchi Kimchi (; ) is a traditional Korean side dish (''banchan'') consisting of salted and fermented vegetables, most often napa cabbage or Korean radish. A wide selection of seasonings are used, including '' gochugaru'' (Korean chili powder), ...

, as well as sliced

garlic Garlic (''Allium sativum'') is a species of bulbous flowering plants in the genus '' Allium''. Its close relatives include the onion, shallot, leek, chives, Welsh onion, and Chinese onion. Garlic is native to central and south Asia, str ...

onion An onion (''Allium cepa'' , from Latin ), 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 which was classifie ...

s, and seasoned shredded

scallion Scallions (also known as green onions and spring onions) are edible vegetables of various species in the genus ''Allium''. Scallions generally have a milder taste than most onions. Their close relatives include garlic, shallots, leeks, chive ...

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 fruiting body of a fungus, typically produced above ground on soil or another food source. ''Toadstool'' generally refers to a poisonous mushroom. The standard for the name "mushroom" is ...

, such as button mushrooms or oyster mushrooms, are also grilled with the meat.

Consumption

Grilled meat is placed on fresh and/or pickled leaves of vegetables, with some ''

'', and rolled up to make ''

ssam ' () are dishes in Korean cuisine where one food is wrapped in another. A common variety is meat such as pork wrapped in a leafy vegetable. 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 Oryza sativa, Asian rice (both Indica rice, indica and Japonica rice, japonica varieties) ...

, stews such as '' kimchi-jjigae'' and ''

doenjang-jjigae Doenjang-jjigae (), 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 additional optional ingredients of vegetables, seafood ...

'', 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 most commonly bu ...

'' (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 dish ...

'' (fried rice) at the end. Samgyeopsal is often accompanied by, or accompanying (as '' anju'') shots of

soju Soju (English pronunciation: ; ) is a clear and colorless distilled alcoholic beverage from Korea, traditionally made from rice, but later from other grains and has a flavor similar to vodka. It is usually consumed neat. Its alcohol content ...

. '' Somaek'', a simple cocktail made by dumping a shot of soju into a glass of beer, is also a popular beverage consumed with ''samgyeopasal''.

In culture

In South Korea, March 3 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 developme ...

, 85% of South Korean adults stated that their favourite slice of pork is the pork belly.
2006 ACK Survey There is a myth in South Korea that eating ''samgyeopsal'' protects humans from air pollution by

particulates Particulate matter (PM) or particulates are microscopic particles of solid or liquid matter suspension (chemistry), suspended in the atmosphere of Earth, air. An ''aerosol'' is a mixture of particulates and air, as opposed to the particulate ...

(). 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.

References