Samgyeopsal (), samgyeopsal-gui (), or grilled pork belly is a type of gui (grilled dish) in Korean cuisine.
Etymology
Directly translated from Korean, samgyeop-sal () means "three layer flesh", referring to striations of lean meat and fat in the pork belly that appear as three layers when cut.
It is the part of the abdomen under the loin from the 5th rib or 6th rib to the hind limb. In Korea, the word samgyeop-sal, meaning "pork belly", often refers to samgyeop-sal-gui (grilled pork belly), in the same way that the word galbi, meaning "ribs", often refers to galbi-gui (grilled beef ribs). Gui refers to roasted, baked, or grilled dishes.
One can also find ogyeopsal (), with an o meaning "five" and "gyeop" meaning a layer. Ogyeop-sal includes the skin part of the pork belly, unlike samgyeop-sal where the skin is removed.
History
The first mention of the meat dish was in a The Dong-A Ilbo article published on November 3, 1984, titled "How to Distinguish Between Good and Bad Meat", where the dish is called segyeopsal () instead of samgyeopsal. The word samgyeopsal only became an entry for the Standard Korean Language Dictionary after 1994.
Until the 1980s, the main type of meat the Koreans preferred was beef, but pork and chicken meat were encouraged at a national policy level as a good alternative as most of the cattle were used for agriculture and thus beef supplies were deficient.
During the late 1980s to the 1990s, the dish became a popular menu item along with Jokbal and sundae, as Samsung and Lotte entered the meat processing industry. From 2005, the Jeju island culture of providing bigger portions of meat in (a traditional Korean unit that is equivalent to 600g) instead of 100 grams, and the popularization of Jeju Black pig meat influenced the samgyeopsal culture. sometimes with the skin left on and sometimes scored on the diagonal, Usually, diners grill the meat themselves, flipping and cutting them with tongs and scissors, and eat directly from the grill. Slices of garlic, onions, green chili peppers, mushrooms, and kimchi are often grilled alongside using the fat trickling from the pork belly. Garlic, onions, and kimchi can be either grilled with the meat or consumed raw with the cooked meat. Mushrooms, such as button mushrooms or oyster mushrooms, are also grilled with the meat.
Consumption
Grilled meat is placed on fresh and/or pickled leaves of vegetables, with some ssamjang, and rolled up to make ssam (wrap) which is eaten in one mouthful. Somaek, a simple cocktail made by dumping a shot of soju into a glass of beer, is also a popular beverage consumed with samgyeopasal. According to a 2006 survey by National Agricultural Cooperative Federation, 85% of South Korean adults stated that their favourite slice of pork is the pork belly.
There is a myth in South Korea that eating samgyeopsal protects humans from air pollution by particulates (). This is thought to have originated from the practice of Korean miners eating pork after an intensive mining operation.