Samgyeopsal-gui (Table-Grilled Pork Belly)

Variations

• Thin-cut belly (3-5mm): the older standard and still common, and cooked almost the opposite way — turn it often, cook it fast, cut it before or after as you like, and never mind standing the fat edge up. Three or four minutes in total. The "do not touch it" rule in this recipe applies only to thick cuts.
• Ogyeopsal: cut with the skin left on. The skin adds a chewy extra layer, but it has to be pressed skin-down for longer first or it stays tough.
• Daepae samgyeopsal: shaved paper-thin from the frozen block. Effectively a stir-fry, and usually cooked with bean sprouts.
• Which plate: cast iron holds heat and suits thick cuts; an open grate lets fat drip onto the fire for smoke but burns easily. A sloped plate drains the fat and cuts down the spitting (grilling).
• What to grill alongside: kimchi, garlic, onion, mushrooms, bean sprouts, cheese. Kimchi cooked in the rendered fat loses its sharpness and turns sweeter (kimchi).
• The fried rice at the end: rice fried in the leftover fat with kimchi, seaweed flakes and sesame oil. It is essentially kimchi fried rice, and it is the fixed last course of a samgyeopsal meal.
• Same pig, other methods: suyuk boils it, jeyuk-bokkeum marinates and stir-fries it, jokbal braises it long in soy. Only samgyeopsal-gui grills it unseasoned. For the table-grill format, Japan's yakiniku is the counterpart, and for beef there is galbi-gui.
• What goes beside it: kimchi and kkakdugi, doenjang jjigae, and naengmyeon to finish.

Tips

• Thickness decides the method. Past 15mm, every habit from thin slices becomes the wrong answer: turning often, pre-cutting and blasting it fast all cost you. Asking the butcher for a thickness is step one.
• Do not cut it before cooking. The commonest loss here and the least visible. Cut early, every new face leaks juice, and the small pieces overcook almost immediately. Scissors come out after (cooking meat and resting).
• Do not keep turning it. Every turn drops the surface temperature and browning stops. Four minutes one side, three the other, untouched in between (browning).
• Stand the fat edge down first. On a thick piece the fat is the last thing to cook. Laid flat throughout, the meat is done while the fat edge is still flabby. Two minutes held with tongs fixes it.
• Do not oil the plate. Belly is largely fat by weight and supplies its own within a minute. Oil added beforehand burns first and leaves only bitterness (cooking oils).
• Preheat properly. On a lukewarm plate the meat gives up water and boils. Five minutes, and it should sizzle the instant it lands (heat control).
• Salt lightly, and during cooking. Salted in advance, osmosis beads water on the surface and delays browning. The ssamjang and the sesame dip do the seasoning anyway, so the meat itself can be under-salted (salt and seasoning).
• Shake the leaves dry. Wet lettuce sheds the ssamjang and turns to lukewarm water against hot pork. Drain them in a colander or shake them out.
• Wrap to one mouthful. Built big enough to need two bites, the second bite is already cool and the whole construction has fallen apart.
• Do not make the ssamjang salty. The meat carries salt and the ssamjang goes on a little at a time. Two parts doenjang to one of gochujang is the reference, with sesame oil and seeds pulling the salt back (fermented pastes).
• Kimchi goes on later, once fat has rendered. Put on at the start, its liquid cools the plate and that water blocks the meat from browning. Wait until fat has pooled, then push it over.
• Plan for the fried rice. The rendered fat is the last ingredient of the meal. Wiping the plate down after the meat is throwing it away (reviving leftovers).