Samgyeopsal
Unmarinated pork belly grilled until golden and crisp, cut with scissors and eaten in lettuce wraps with ssamjang, garlic and a tangy scallion salad: the Korean barbecue night, made at home. About 30 minutes for four.
- Time
- 30 min
- Level
- Easy
- Spice
- Serves
- 4
What is Samgyeopsal?
WHAT IT IS
Samgyeopsal-gui is pork belly, named sam-gyeop-sal ('three-layer flesh') for its stripes of lean and fat, grilled plain at the table and cut into bite-size pieces with scissors. Diners wrap each piece in lettuce or perilla leaves with ssamjang, garlic, green chili and scallion salad. Kimchi and garlic often go on the grill too, cooking in the pork fat.
WHERE IT COMES FROM
Pork belly, once also called segyeopsal, was traditionally steamed, boiled into pyeonyuk or braised. Korea's encyclopedias say restaurants specializing in grilled samgyeopsal appear to date from the late 1970s: a 1978 newspaper already lists a pork-belly grill house in Seoul, and in 1983 another called Samgak-dong a 'samgyeopsal alley'. Portable gas burners, common from the mid-1980s, made grilling at home and outdoors easy, and around the 1997 financial crisis it was so popular that people spoke of 'IMF samgyeopsal'.
Sources:Encyclopedia of Korean CultureEncyclopedia of Korean Folk Culture
Ingredients
재료Each Korean item has a substitute, in case you can’t get to a store.
Paid links · The store links in this list are affiliate links: K for All earns a commission when you buy through them. Sales, shipping and refunds are handled by each store.
- 2 lb (900 g)Skinless pork belly, sliced about ⅜ inch (1 cm) thick 돼지고기 삼겹살
Substitute: Korean grocers sell it sliced for grilling. Thinner slices crisp faster; thicker ones stay juicier. Paper-thin frozen belly (daepae samgyeopsal) cooks in seconds.
Any grocer - 1 large head (about 20 leaves)Red or green leaf lettuce, washed and dried 상추Any grocer
- 16 leaves (optional)Perilla leaves (kkaennip) 깻잎
Substitute: Their minty, grassy flavor is a classic match for pork. Korean grocers sell them in bundles.
Any grocer - 10 clovesGarlic, thinly sliced (half for the grill, half to eat raw in the wraps) 마늘Any grocer
- 3Green chili peppers (or jalapeños), sliced 풋고추Any grocer
- 1 mediumOnion, cut into thick rings, to grill (add mushrooms too if you like) 양파Any grocer
- 4Scallions, cut into 3-inch (7–8 cm) lengths and shredded lengthwise, for the scallion salad 대파Any grocer
- 1 tbspSoy sauce, for the scallion salad 간장
Sempio Korean Soy Sauce, Rich and Delicate · 860 ml
Check price on Amazon Amazon US - 1 tspGochugaru (Korean red pepper flakes), for the scallion salad 고춧가루
Taekyung Red Pepper Powder · 1 lb
Check price on Amazon Amazon US - 2 tbspToasted sesame oil, for the scallion salad and the salt dip 참기름
Otoki Premium Roasted Sesame Oil · 10.82 fl oz
Check price on Amazon Amazon US - ½ cupSsamjang (seasoned soybean dipping paste) 쌈장
Chung Jung One O’Food Ssamjang (Seasoned Soybean Paste), Mild · 500 g
Substitute: To make your own, mix 2 tbsp doenjang, 1 tbsp gochujang, 1 tsp minced garlic, 1 tsp sesame oil and 1 tsp sesame seeds.
Check price on Amazon Amazon US - For the scallion salad: 1 tsp sugar, 2 tsp rice vinegar and 1 tsp sesame seeds. For the salt dip: ½ tsp salt and a pinch of black pepper. A little cooking oil for the panIn your pantry
- To grill and serveWell-fermented napa cabbage kimchi 김치
Substitute: Sour kimchi grilled in the pork fat is a favorite. Lay a few pieces at the edge of the grill.
Search on Amazon Amazon US -
Method
만드는 법Sources we compared:MaangchiKorean BapsangMy Korean Kitchen
- 1
Set up the wraps and dips
Wash the lettuce and perilla leaves, shake them dry and pile them on a plate or in a basket. Put the ssamjang in small dishes. For the salt dip (gireumjang), mix 1 tbsp of the sesame oil with ½ tsp salt and a pinch of pepper in a small dish. Put the sliced garlic and chili in small bowls.
- 2
Make the scallion salad
Soak the shredded scallions in cold water for 5 minutes to soften their bite, then drain well. In a bowl, mix the soy sauce, gochugaru, sugar, vinegar, the remaining 1 tbsp sesame oil and the sesame seeds. Toss the scallions with this dressing just before you start grilling.
Dressed too early, the scallions go limp and watery. Keep the dressing and scallions apart until the last moment.
- 3
Heat the grill
Heat a tabletop grill, or a heavy skillet or grill pan on the stove, over medium-high heat and wipe on a thin film of oil. Lay the pork in a single layer without crowding. Put some garlic slices, onion rings and kimchi at the edge, where they'll cook in the dripping fat.
Pork belly spits and smokes. Turn on the hood fan, and spoon off fat as it collects so it doesn't burn.
- 4
Grill, flip once and cut
Cook without moving the pork until the underside is golden and crisp, 3–4 minutes, then flip and cook the other side for 2–3 minutes. Cut it into bite-size pieces with kitchen scissors right on the grill. It's ready when there's no pink in the middle and the juices run clear; an instant-read thermometer should show at least 145°F (63°C), the USDA safe minimum for whole cuts of pork (with a 3-minute rest), and crisp belly is well past it. Move cooked pieces to the cooler edge and keep grilling in batches.
Use separate tongs for raw and cooked pork, and keep the raw pork on its own plate.
- 5
Wrap and eat
Hold a lettuce leaf in your palm, add a perilla leaf and a piece of pork, then a dab of ssamjang, a slice of garlic or chili and some scallion salad. Fold it into a small parcel and eat it in one bite. Or dip the pork in the sesame-oil salt and eat it as it is.
At samgyeopsal restaurants, many people finish with a bowl of doenjang-jjigae (soybean paste stew) and rice.
Say it in Korean
한국어로 말해 보세요For a samgyeopsal restaurant, where you grill at the table.
Cookware you’ll need
조리 도구A tabletop grill is traditional, but any heavy skillet or grill pan works. This is the 12-inch pan we link to (for gas and electric stoves, not induction).
