The story of Korean grilled pork belly: Why Koreans prefer samgyeopsal

Many Koreans think of samgyeopsal (삼겹살) first when it comes to pork. Samgyeopsal-gui (Korean grilled pork belly) grilled on a hot iron plate on the spot and enjoys a dramatic savory taste is widely loved as a nutritious food for the common people.

Samgyeopsal with cuts is being grilled on a grill. Charcoal grilled samgyeopsal has better flavor and less greasiness than samgyeopsal cooked in a pan.

In 1992, the Korean government revised Article 27 of the 'Natural Park Act' to ban cooking and camping in national parks, provincial parks, etc. This law is simply a law that prohibits grilling samgyeopsal on a portable gas burner and drinking soju in nature.

It was because of the worrying public opinion that the forests and valleys of the whole country were dirtied by the oil of samgyeopsal-gui, and the risk of forest fires was high due to the fire burning from the gas burner. It was a measure that came out after more than 10 years since the 1980s when many people started to enjoy Korean grilled pork belly in nature without any control.

Hometown of Samgyeopsal (삼겹살의 고향)

Pigs are divided into seven parts from the perspective of meat. Excluding the head, they are neck, ribs, front legs, samgyeopsal, sirloin, tenderloin, and hind legs. Among them, samgyeopsal refers to the fatty part of the belly where the fat and lean meat form layers.

The origin isn't clear, but samgyeopsal is said to have been developed in Kaeseong in the early 20th century. The merchants of Kaeseong, famous for doing business well, learned from somewhere and 'innovated' by feeding different ingredients alternately to lay the belly part with fat and lean meat.

The founder of the Korean restaurant Yongsoosan, born in 1928, Choi Sang-ok, recalled the samgyeopsal she saw in her hometown. "In Kaeseong's meat shop, they sold boiled pork samgyeopsal. It was clean and delicious. Kimchi stew made by boiling the water boiled with pork was also a delicacy."

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The first record of samgyeopsal is found in the cookbook <Joseon Cooking Method> (Joseon yori jebeop) published in 1931 by Bang Shin-young, a professor of home economics at Ewha Womans University. She expressed it in Korean order and cutely as "three-layered meat", "meat on the belly", and "three-layered pork".

Gukbap and Japanese tonkatsu (돼지고기국밥과 일본 돈가스)

Samgyeopsal in Kaeseong was delicious, but traditionally Koreans prefer beef to pork. Especially, the strong smell of pork, the oriental medicine prescription that prohibits pork, etc. are cited as one of the causes of such a phenomenon. However, as always, pork is much cheaper than beef, so the meat of the common people is still pork.

In the 1970s, a big change occurred in the pork market. The common people were able to buy pork cheaper. As Japan's economy proliferated in the 1960s and the demand for meat surged, Korea began to import pork from 1973. It was mostly lean meat without fat.

Food critic Hwang Gyo-ik interprets that from then on, the Japanese became captivated by tonkatsu and began to import loin and tenderloin for tonkatsu. The remaining parts were cheaply released in the market, and the common people ate pork more often. Hwang Gyo-ik estimates that the pork soup shop, which makes pork soup (gukbap) by boiling pork bones, intestines, and meat, has increased nationwide as a result of such a situation. In addition, the pig farming industry flourished, and the meat processing industry that makes ham, sausage, and bacon emerged.

The livestock industry and the meat processing industry agree that the popularity of samgyeopsal started to catch fire in the 1980s. It is said that the combination of cheap and delicious samgyeopsal and portable gas burners started the Korean grilled pork belly wind. 

Evolution of Samgyeopsal

However, it isn't clear how samgyeopsal became famous for grilling. It seems plausible that the taste of samgyeopsal-gui became known in the restaurants in Cheongju, Chungcheongbuk-do, called Ddalnejip (Daughter's House) and Mansujip (Mansu House), first grilled samgyeopsal on charcoal fire and sold it.

Anyway, the livestock industry and the meat processing industry agree that the popularity of samgyeopsal started to catch fire in the 1980s. It is said that the combination of cheap and delicious samgyeopsal and portable gas burners started the Korean grilled pork belly wind. Especially, it became an indispensable menu for company dinners for office workers.

Suyuk is a dish of tender pork boiled with various herbs and spices, sliced thinly and served on a plate with fresh vegetables. It is a traditional Korean dish that is popular and healthy. On the plate, along with suyuk, there are lettuce, onion kimchi, cucumber and pear slices. The dish is accompanied by a small bowl of pickled shrimp, ssamjang (a sauce made from soybean paste and chili powder with other ingredients), and minced garlic.

Samgyeopsal has evolved over time. There is samgyeopsal cooked on a flipped iron pot lid (called samgyeopsal sottukkeong), samgyeopsal marinated and aged in red wine, and recently, thin-sliced frozen samgyeopsal (daepae samgyeopsal) has become popular. 

Traditional pork lovers consider Jeju black pork ogeopsal as the best pork. Ogeopsal is the samgyeopsal part of the low-fat black pork, cut with the skin. It is known to be the most delicious (with a chewy texture) and the most expensive. But not all Jeju black pigs are native pigs. 

The small Jeju black pigs with upright ears, which have been raised since the Three Kingdoms period, were designated as Natural Monument No. 550 in 2015 after a rigorous examination. It means they are endangered. Currently, the Jeju Livestock Promotion Institute is protecting 260 of these historic pigs. Of course, there is no way to taste them.

There are separate Jeju black pigs that can be eaten. They are hybrid pigs bred by breeding boars made by crossbreeding Landrace, Yorkshire, and Duroc at the Jeju Livestock Promotion Institute. They're actually delicious and they've succeeded in marketing themselves with the image of Jeju native pigs and have established themselves as the best pork. It's the era of storytelling.

Korean pork dishes are boringly continued from the cooking methods until the 19th century, except for the new-style grilled samgyeopsal. There are boiled pork (suyuk) that is simply sliced and eaten, pressed pork that is boiled and pressed with heavy stones to make it chewy (called pyeonyuk), seasoned grilled pork, etc., and there are roles for soup stock for rice soup, kimchi stew, and red pepper paste stew.

However, the pork dishes that Jeju people have traditionally eaten are novel compared to the mainland. Jeju mothers ate a special seaweed soup with boiled pig's feet and seaweed. Momguk, which is boiled with pork broth and mojaban, a common seaweed in the Jeju sea, is also a food that isn't found on the mainland.

Dongpo Rou, Jamon, Rafute (둥포러우, 하몬, 라후테)

China is probably the country with the deepest love for pork in the world. In 2015, the Chinese ate 52% of the world's pork.

The Chinese call pork 'meat' and beef 'beef'. There are more than 1,500 kinds of 'meat' dishes in China. The most famous of them is Dongpo Rou (東坡肉), which is said to have been created by Su Dongpo, a literary man of the Song Dynasty. It is a fatty part like samgyeopsal steamed with alcohol and soy sauce. The color of this meat is red, so it is also called Hongshao Rou (紅燒肉), and it is said that Mao Zedong enjoyed it.

The most expensive pork in the world is probably the Cerdo ibérico de bellota, a breed of pork from Spain. Iberico pigs are freely grazed in natural oak forests and feed on mushrooms and acorns, and their meat is known to be the best in the world. The highest quality Spanish ham, 'Jamon Iberico', which is salted and dried for three years with the hind legs of Iberico, is treated as precious as a dowry.

Okinawa, Japan, also enjoys pork so much that they say, "Pigs eat everything except their cries." Chanpuru, which is stir-fried with bitter melon and pork, and Rafute (羅火腿), which is sweetly cooked with soy sauce and soju like China's Dongpo Rou (東坡肉), are Okinawa's specialty pork dishes.

Memory of samgyeopsal on the tip of the tongue (혀끝의 삼겹살 기억)

In Korea, the persistent increase in demand for samgyeopsal has made it 3 times more expensive than other parts, and the supply isn't smooth. So every year it's imported from Chile, Germany, Belgium, the United States, the Netherlands, Spain, etc. As interest in health increases, the demand for front legs, hind legs, and tenderloin, which have less fat than samgyeopsal, is also increasing, but the preference for Korean grilled pork belly among the locals is endless.

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(Source/ 설호정 (Soul Ho-joung, 薛湖靜) 식재료 칼럼니스트, Food columnist)