Comments on: Pork Belly (Samgyeopsal in Korean) Party

By: Kat

Kat — Fri, 05 Jan 2007 08:38:08 +0000

ooh, you are making me hungry…this sounds and looks really good!

By: tigerfish

tigerfish — Fri, 05 Jan 2007 19:40:05 +0000

Is that considered Korean BBQ ?

By: slayer3

slayer3 — Fri, 05 Jan 2007 20:42:42 +0000

What side dishes did you serve with this?

By: Equinox

Equinox — Sat, 06 Jan 2007 00:25:35 +0000

난 삼겹살을 먹어 본 적이 있어요. 참 맛있어요.
I can understand why Koreans can go crazy without eating it =)

By: sue

sue — Sat, 06 Jan 2007 01:57:55 +0000

Hi Kat,
I know, it made me drool too.
I was salivating at the end of the post.

Hi tigerfish,
I guess it is considered as BBQ. Koreans usually mean cooking seasoned meat when they say BBQ. The meat isn’t seasoned, but you can season it with some kind of soy sauce or chili paste if you want.

Hi slayer3,
I served it with some Kimchi, fresh vegetables like lettuce, Perilla leaves, mug worts, chicory, cucumber, non-spicy green chili, spicy green chili and garlic (both to bake), and Ssamjang sauce (dipping sauce).

Hi Equinox,
I agree it is delicious, in a savory way.

By: simcooks

simcooks — Sat, 06 Jan 2007 19:11:46 +0000

I am a pork person too! You don’t want to turn the meat too often because you want the meat to sear in the high heat, meaning let the sugars in the meat juice caramelize and turn brown. The brown part is what makes the meat very tasty.

By: Rasa Malaysia

Rasa Malaysia — Sun, 07 Jan 2007 00:15:21 +0000

For Malaysians, we usually use pork stomach to cook up this very savory soup. And this pork belly soup is a special festive soup and would show up only when we celebrate the Chinese festivities.

By: sue

sue — Sun, 07 Jan 2007 03:13:11 +0000

Hi simcooks,
I totally agree with you. The brown part is the best.

Hi Rasa Malaysia,
It must be a really special soup.

By: Baxterita

Baxterita — Mon, 08 Jan 2007 18:24:03 +0000

Love it! Turned my white Hubby into pork belly and soju, and he keeps craving it…

By: Gil

Gil — Mon, 08 Jan 2007 20:25:39 +0000

Love this dish.
I (an average white american male with an uneducated tongue) don’t really like the traditional sour kimchi that is usually served with this. I make my wife crazy by insisting on fresh (less than 4 day old) kimchi. Wrapping the pork belly in a large fresh kimchi leaf with a bit of rice, raw garlic & jalapeno or hot green chili slice is pure heaven.
The salted sesame oil/black pepper sauce is also very good.

By: Sally Tan

Sally Tan — Tue, 09 Jan 2007 03:52:46 +0000

is this similar to bossam?

By: sue

sue — Tue, 09 Jan 2007 09:44:12 +0000

Sally,

Bossam and samgyeopsal BBQ is different.
Bossam is steamed meat (its tenderness is the aim), and samgyeopsal BBQ is grilled (being more crispy is the aim of it).
However you can use the same meat for both.

By: Sally Tan

Sally Tan — Wed, 10 Jan 2007 23:00:29 +0000

I think I will make this for a party!!!! I love this website! Thank you for the recipe!!!

By: sue

sue — Thu, 11 Jan 2007 00:47:42 +0000

Thanks Sally,

I hope you have a wonderful party.

By: baobaighost

baobaighost — Mon, 15 Jan 2007 02:09:28 +0000

Hi,
Is pork belly you got with some soft bones? Because I found that there are two different kinds of pork belly. One is without bones and the other one is with some very little soft bones.

By: sue

sue — Mon, 15 Jan 2007 03:11:47 +0000

Hi baobaighost,

I can’t really say the pork belly I used was 100% bone less.
99% of the meat didn’t have any bones, but occasionally (only 2-3 times) it had some soft bones, and I just cut them out with scissors as the meat was cooked. If there is pork belly that doesn’t have any bones, I would go with it.

By: Gil

Gil — Sun, 28 Jan 2007 21:37:48 +0000

The pork belly with the soft bones is cut from the very end of the pork ribs and is usually “meatier” than the more common pork belly.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Mon, 24 Sep 2007 15:29:39 +0000

Hi Sue, I posted a a reply on the forum to the ‘This is Sue’ thread but just wanted to leave a reply here to say my first ever attempt at cooking a Korean meal (including samgyeopsal) went very well yesterday - thanks for the advice! Jeremy

By: Chelsea

Chelsea — Fri, 12 Oct 2007 22:06:49 +0000

I bought some samgeopsal for dinner tonight!! I’m excited. I’ve made it 3 other times, once for a party. I don’t have a grill plate, so I just cooked it in a frying pan on the stove. Everyone loved it!
And me, a person who doesn’t like pork much, and meats that have fat… well, I love it!! I even crave it sometimes!
Thanx so much for this recipe!!

By: saturn

saturn — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 00:04:33 +0000

I just made it yesterday and today for the first time. It’s delicious!I love meat wrapped with salads so this will become one of my favourite food!And it’s so easy to make!

By: Ophoeng

Ophoeng — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 12:05:07 +0000

When you put ‘pork belly’ on your title, I was thinking that it is the inside of its belly you mean, so I wonder how you, Korean, love eating that inner part of the pork.

But when I saw your picture, then I knew what you mean. We call it ’sam-cwan’ in Hok-kien adapted Bahasa Indonesia, literally it means 3 layers (skin, fat and meat). We use to cook that part (yes you are trully right, it is on the belly side of the pork) grilled until crispy on the skin part, or make it in stew, Chinese style.

I think the word Samgyeopsal, the ’sam’ = three, right?

Thank you for sharing the way you enjoy the ’sam cwan’ in Korean way. It is so interesting to read how you Korean love it very much, so love that you are not supposed to pick the opposite side’s when you gather to have Samgyeopsal party.

I think I will try it some day.