My Korean Icon Contest
What
would be the first thing that will come into my mind when I hear the word
"Korea"? That's simple! Its SAM-GYEOP-SAL!!! For me, this dish
is just truly daebak (amazing)! This amazing dish also enticed some of my friends, some of them shared a piece of their thoughts in this blog of mine.
I always
have the craving to taste this dish every time I watch a Korean drama, why?
It's because every time they eat this dish, it seemed that they are enjoying the food
very much. But as far as I can remember it was when I watched We Got Married Yongseo Couple Episode 45, that I
hungered more after their famous Samgyeopsal . In this episode, YongHwa fried the pork belly and seasoned it with pepper. They used sesame leaves, red lettuce leaves, pepper, onion, garlic, onion and mixed rice. The virtual couple made a lettuce wrap for each other following their heart's desire on what to place inside the wrap. It's amusing to see that such food could bring people closer together and have fun. This may not only apply to couples but also to friends who wants their circle of friends to have a taste of their own lettuce wrap.
 |
| SeoHyun wrapping for YongHwa |
 |
| Yonghwa wrapping for Seohyun |
Seeing more thoroughly how to eat this dish made it more enticing for me to be decided to have a taste of this Korean cuisine. Since both my friend and I were watching the episode, we said to each other that we should have a taste of it.
---
Luckily
we have two other friends, who were able to find a Korean Restaurant that serves delicious home-cook korean dishes. And finally, when my birthday came last
year, we decided to have a taste of this delicious treat. We invited our other
friends to join us in this korean food taste experience. A 200gram samgyeopsal (1 serving; good for 2 persons) costs about Php200.00
and the minimum per order are 2 servings. Since there were 5 of us, we ordered
3 servings of samgyeopsal (as per owner's advice). And since we do not know how
to cook the meat perfectly, the store owner gladly assisted us in cooking this
dish.
 |
| At Seoul Korean Restaurant March 20,2012 |
The dish came along with soy bean paste (which added favor to the lettuce wrap), red leaf lettuce/ssangchu, sesame leaves/kketnip (we actually thought those were mint leaves), steamed rice/bop and banchan (ex. stir fried anchovies and geotjeon (freshly made kimchi to be eaten crisp w/o fermenting; from wiki)and etc).
I tried a few combinations, and it was absolutely delicious, there is a balance in the taste, and it was addicting actually to try different combinations. The meat was so tender and all, and the soy bean paste truly added a delicious taste to the whole wrap.
This dish alone can actually fuel you up since you can eat, rice (optional), meat and veggies all at once. Honestly, I am not a veggie lover especially raw veggies, but when I ate this mouth-watering dish, I couldn't even remember that I ate leafy vegetables at that moment. I tasted the sweetness and felt the crispiness of the lettuce, the abundant flavor of the soybean paste, the juiciness and the tenderness of the pork belly, the feel of the smooth steamed rice and the banchan that I placed inside my lettuce wrap. (And now I'm hungry, teehee). Now I can say that, truly enough that this dish is very enjoyable to eat with friends. It is actually challenging to eat the whole wrap in front of your friends especially if you unintentionally made a big wrap of samgyeopsal.
 |
| cr: http://forums.soompi.com/discussion/343934/samgyupsal-in-houston-tx |
One of my
friends who joined me in my quest to taste samgyeopsal described it as "a
one of kind dish which showcased a perfect combination of meat and veggies. It
is indeed a mouth-watering dish". Another friend shared that "this dish is perfect when gathering with friends. It is like a social food; you can make wraps for your friends and vice versa. Of course, lettuce wrapping may become a symbol of care and affection to the one whom you will give your wrap to"
And of course aside from friends who ate with me, I also asked the opinions of my friends who were able to taste this Korean cuisine from another Korean Restaurant and to quote:
"It is delicious! There's a healthy feeling when you eat it and it has an earthy taste" - And I absolutely with him, there's actually a balanced experience of the classic meaty taste and its sense of being healthy. No wonder, most of the Koreans that I have seen have a flawless skin!
"It's delicious and fresh, and you could actually see how it was cooked, and you could see how the pork belly is cut using a pair of kitchen scissors. And what makes it more delicious is the fact that there is a wide variety of banchan that can be added to this dish that will fit your taste and you can also add steamed rice to it. It is also best paired with soju since it serves as an appetizer to this dish" - Yes and yes! The fact that you're eating in a restaurant and you actually witness how your food is being cooked is truly amazing! And also, banchans will allow you to experiment on how to create your own lettuce wrap.
 |
| cr: http://heavytable.com/samgyupsal-korean-pork-belly/ |
"It's delicious, you can taste a lot of flavors in this dish alone, but the taste of course will also depend as to what you placed inside the lettuce wrap. For me, I like to combine kimchi, garlic, and cucumber and since most of it are raw (except for the meat), you can taste every little thing you placed inside the wrap. The lettuce should be green, well, it can have a few red colors in it as long as it is not purely red because for me, it quite bitter. I don't usually add rice since it will still fill me up even without eating/placing one. By the way, it is okay to overfill the wrap but take into mind that you will be eating it as a whole, thus it will be very difficult to eat if it is quite a big wrap. I also ate it at home before whenever I had the chance to buy pork belly; this is usually grilled but you can also fry it for convenience" - Now, this is quite informative. Healthy people tend to place more healthy banchan inside their wrap like garlic and onions, and I believe that it will result to a powerful taste (if you know what I mean). Thus, follow your heart on what to place inside, don't restrain yourself from experimenting from one combination to the other. And if you want to try this at home but you are not sure on how to make it, there are actually a lot of videos in the internet that will teach you on how to prepare your own samgyeoupsal.
 |
| Cr: Eliza for the photo (July 30,2010) |
<======UPDATE=====>
And because my friends randomly blurted out that they wanna eat in Kogi Bulgogi, we then decided to order Samgyeopsal alongside with Bulgogi... ^_^ and its absolutely delicious. I was actually stuffed after eating what we ordered. It had its own taste which is different from the one we had tasted in Seoul Korean Restaurant before. And now, we are craving for more Korean cuisine; we also plan to eat out in other Korean Restaurants to differentiate the tastes of how they prepare their samgyeopsal dish ^_^.
If you haven't tried this, well, it's a must try dish! And I swear, you won't regret ordering and eating this Korean Cuisine since this will leave you wanting more.
Do you have your own fun experience and story in eating samgyeopsal? you're welcome to share your thoughts below. ENJOY!!!!
Comments
Post a Comment