Galmaegisal (갈매기살)

Galmaegisal in the raw.

Undoubtedly, one of the most popular types of Korean food is grilled meat (구이 – gui).  This can include just about every meat imaginable, with pork (돼지고기 - dwaeji gogi) and beef (소고기 – so gogi) being the most popular.  Of course, there are various cuts of these types of meat, each varying in taste and price.  Some of the more popular pork cuts to grill include pork belly (삼겹살 – samgyeopsal) and rib meat (갈비 – galbi).  Popular beef cuts include marinated thinly-sliced sirloin (불고기 – bulgogi) and rib meat (갈비 – galbi… except in cow form this time).  These are some of the first meats I learned about.  Galbi is actually so pervasive that some foreigners tend to call all grilled meat ‘galbi.’  Galbi is popular because it’s delicious, but there are other cuts of meat out there that are just as good.  Galmaegisal (갈매기살) is one of these cuts of meat.

Galmaegisal being grilled.

Galmaegisal is pork, but to be honest, I’m not sure exactly sure what part of the pig it comes from.  Unfortunately, I don’t have any korean butcher friends who can tell me the complexities of each cut of meat.  However, some very brief internet research has led me to believe that it’s a cut of meat located near the pig’s diaphragm.  While I’m not positive about the meat’s origins, I am positive that it’s delicious.  It’s very meaty and not as fatty as other cuts of pork.  It’s butchered into bite-sized pieces, and like all other gui, it’s grilled at your table.  Another plus is that it’s a very inexpensive cut of meat.  There’s a restaurant (식당 – shikdang) by my apartment that sells 800 grams (that’s 1.76 pounds for my fellow Americans out there) for ₩10,000 (a little under $9 USD).  That’s a lot of tasty grilled pork for less than ten bucks.  I actually eat at that restaurant so frequently that the owner seems quite fond of me.  I ran into him at the local market the other day and he greeted me with a pat on the butt.  I suppose I’m his number one patron.

A tasty bit of galmaegisal floating in some sauce with onions.

I’ll leave you with an interesting anecdote.  The etymology of the word ‘galmaegisal’ is intriguing.  In Korean, ‘galmaegi’ (갈매기) means seagull and ‘sal’ means meat.  Although the direct translation of ‘galmaegisal’ is ‘seagull meat,’ let me assure you that it is not, in fact, seagull meat.  I asked my Korean co-worker, Soo, why the meat was named this way.  After some research, she concluded that it’s a mystery.  I wonder if the Korean word for seagull meat is directly translated into ‘pork diaphragm meat’?

Jeju-do (제주도), Heukdwaeji (흑돼지) and Okdom gui (옥돔구이)

The southern coast of Jeju-do

In mid-October, Elizabeth and I visited Jeju-do (제주도), a large volcanic island off of the southern tip of the Korean peninsula.  Jeju-do is a popular Korean vacation destination for various reasons.  The climate on Jeju-do is much different than that of the Korean peninsula (and Seoul in particular).  It’s a sub-tropical climate, and we chose to visit in October because autumn is supposed to be the season where it rains the least.  Unfortunately for us, it rained anyway.

The rain didn’t ruin the trip for us, as Jeju-do is strikingly beautiful, rain or no rain.  There are many things to see on Jeju, most of them being natural geological formations.  It has South Korea’s tallest mountain, Hallasan, which is an extinct shield volcano, a series of lava tubes, a handful of waterfalls, over three-hundred secondary volcanoes (오름 – oreum in the Jeju dialect), and a beautiful tuff cone volcano that rises out of the water on the eastern tip of the island.  If you couldn’t tell from all of that, Jeju is a volcanic island.

Part of the Manjanggul lava tube, illuminated.

The first stop we made on our trip was the Manjanggul (만장굴) lava tube.  I’m not exactly a volcanologist, but from what I understand a lava tube is a long cave that forms when molten lava travels below the surface of a volcanic lava flow.  The outside portion of the lava flow hardens, while the inside continues to flow.  After it’s done flowing, it leaves a long cave which is perfect to go spelunking in.  It’s about what you’d expect out of a cave: long, rocky, and damp.  The most exciting part is an impressive lava pillar which extends from the bottom to the top of the cave.

Okdom gui, a semi-dried and subsequently fried fish that is a specialty of Jeju-do

Prior to our spelunking expedition, we ate at a restaurant right outside of the entrance of the cave.  I had read about a local specialty in Jeju-do called okdom gui (옥돔구이), so I decided to give it a try. Okdom is a type of fish which is only found along the coast of Jeju-do.  After being caught, it is semi-dried and then fried.  It’s probably about the best fish I’ve eaten in Korea.  The dried and fried combination creates a soft, crispy texture that is really enjoyable.  It’s a very common dish on Jeju-do, but unfortunately is rather difficult to find on the mainland.  We had our okdom gui with a side of meat-filled dumplings (고기만두 – gogi mandu), which is one of our favorite snacks.

The next stop on our trip was a small town on the eastern tip of the island named Seongsan-ri (성산리).  Seongsan-ri is a nice little coastal town whose claim to fame is a beautiful extinct tuff cone volcano which juts out of the ocean.

Elizabeth standing in front of Seongsan Ichulbong.

The name of the volcano is Seongsan Ichulbong (성산 이출봉), which means ‘sunrise peak’.  Supposedly, the peak of this extinct volcano has the best view of a sunrise in all of Korea.  Unfortunately for us, it was storming on the morning we decided to hike to the peak and all of the clouds blocked the view of the sunrise.  It was still a beautiful view, despite our upturned umbrellas and soaked clothes.

A view of Seongsan-ri from atop Seongsan Ichulbong.

The night before our trip up the volcano, we decided to try another specialty of Jeju-do: black pig.  Pork is easily the most popular meat in Korea.  Koreans especially love pork fat.  Two of the dishes I have mentioned in previous posts, jokbal (족발) and ogyeopsal (오겹살), contain a hefty helping of pork fat.  This love of pork is also prevalent in Jeju-do, where a special breed of pig has been domesticated.  This black pig is supposed to taste a bit different than your typical domestic pig, but if you ask me it’s not very noticeable.  We ordered huekdwaeji samgyeopsal (흑돼지삼겹살), which literally means ‘black pig three-layered meat’.  This cut of meat is similar to bacon (or the ogyeopsal that I mentioned in a previous post), except it is uncured.  One thing that was noticeably different about this meat is that you could actually see black hair follicles on the outer edge of the meat.  All in all, it was your typical samgyeopsal, deliciously crispy and fatty.  Of course, I ate it with some leaf wraps (ssam – 쌈), because there is no better way to consume fatty pork meat.  Unfortunately, I don’t have any pictures of the black pork because I forgot my camera that evening.

Jeongbang Pokpo and a face only a mother could love.

For our last day on the trip, we travelled to Seogwipo (서귀포), a city that covers a large portion of the southern half of the island.  We walked around the city and checked out two really beautiful waterfalls.  The first waterfall we saw was Jeongbang waterfall (정방폭포 – jeongbang pokpo), which is supposedly the only waterfall in Asia that drops directly into the ocean.

Cheonjiyeon Pokpo and a face that more people could love (presumably).

I’m not sure how accurate this is, but I do know that it’s damn pretty.  The second waterfall we visited was Cheonjiyeon waterfall (천지연폭포 – cheonjiyeon pokpo).  This waterfall drops into a small tributary that runs a short course to the ocean.  Both of the waterfalls were pretty impressive.  Unfortunatley, there were no good eats to speak of on this last day of the trip as we were tired and settled for McDonald’s.

It was a great trip, and we’re considering going again next year.

Jokbal (족발)

Jokbal slices sitting on a bed of feet.

The other night, I decided I wanted to eat some jokbal (족발).  I read about Korean food extensively before I moved to Korea because I wanted to see what I was getting myself into.  I had eaten some of your standard Korean fare while living in the States, but I wanted to know more about Korean food that was popular in Korea but overlooked in the West.  Jokbal was one of the foods that I was excited to try once I crossed the pacific because it sounded very interesting.  Jokbal is pigs’ feet.

Pigs’ feet may not be strange to some people.  In fact, it’s part of the cuisine of the United States.  However, other people are pretty revolted at the idea of eating feet.  In my opinion, they’re actually pretty tasty (depending on how partial you are towards gelatinous pork fat).  Personally, I enjoy jokbal, but I wouldn’t say that it’s my favorite food.

When the slices of meat are gone, you're left with feet to gnaw on.

Jokbal is somewhat similar to pigs’ feet in the states, as they are both pickled in brine.  However, pigs’ feet in the states are smoked and pickled in vinegar and jokbal is pickled in a completely different fashion.  Jokbal is boiled in a brine usually consisting of some or all of the following: water (물 – mul), soy sauce (간장 – ganjang), garlic (만을 – maneul), leeks (부추 – buchu), green onions (파 – pa), ginger (생강 – sanggang), sugar (설탕 – seoltang),  and some other spices.  I’m not sure if there’s one definitive recipe for this brine; I think it varies from restaurant to restaurant.  One thing’s for sure though: it makes the jokbal tender and tasty.  After the jokbal is boiled in the brine, it’s steamed.  Prior to being served, slivers of meat are sliced off the feet.  The slices and the remaining portion of the feet are then served to you cold (if it was heated, the gelatinous fat would melt and the whole texture would change).   It’s usually served with banchan including cabbage kimchi, garlic, ssam, ssamjang and a salty, pickled shrimp dish (새우젓 – saeujeot).

The whole meal, including the banchan. The pickled shrimp (saeujeot) is in the center.

Jokbal tastes pretty good, but I supposed that’s dependent on your own personal preference.  It’s sweet, tender and filled with fat.  It’s all of the most unhealthy parts of pork wrapped into a little slice: dark meat and tendons with lots and lots of fat.  The slices are the best part, unless you prefer gnawing on feet (which isn’t as bad as it sounds, besides the toenails).  I like eating jokbal, but it’s definitely not an everyday kind of food.

I’ll leave you with an anecdote I heard from my Korean co-worker, Min: Korean women like to eat jokbal because the gelatinous fat (collagen?) is good for your skin.  Forget all of those expensive beauty products, ladies, you should just be eating pig feet.

Jeon (전)

Nokdujeon, a Korean pancake filled with bean sprouts.

After work on Monday night, Elizabeth and I decided to go to a new restaurant that opened near the academy (학원 – hagwon) that we work at.  I’m not sure if ‘restaurant’ is a fitting title for this place, because it’s not a place you’d go to eat a hearty meal.  This, like many other eating establishments in Korea, serves mainly booze and snacks (안주 – anju).  Anju are snacks that you are supposed to eat while drinking.  Koreans love to snack while drinking.  In fact, you are almost always expected to order anju when ordering drinks (unless you’re drinking at a western-style bar, of course).

Baechu kimchi, spicy fermented cabbage.

There are many different kinds of anju.  Some of the more popular anju include fried chicken, dried fish, beef jerky, nuts, soft tofu (두부 -dubu), steamed dishes (찜 -jjim), soups (탕 – tang), and the list goes on.  My personal favorite anju is korean style pancakes (전 – jeon).  There are many different kinds of jeon.  The most popular jean consists of green onions and seafood cooked inside of some batter (해물파전 – haemul pajeon).  Others include a simple green onion pancake (파전 – pajeon), a kimchi pancake (김치전 – kimchijeon), a hashbrowns-like potato pancake (김치전 – gamjajeon), and a mung bean pancake (빈대떡 – bindaetteok).  There are many more varieties, but those are the most common.  At the restaurant that night, we ordered a leek pancake (부추전 – buchujeon) that was pretty tasty.

Makgeolli, Korean rice wine.

Jeon (haemul pajeon in particular) is often accompanied by a sweet korean rice wine (막걸리 – makgeolli).  Makgeolli is made of rice and other grains, but is unfiltered so much of the grain stays suspended in the drink making it appear milky.  Makgeolli is a very common drink in Korea, and you can either get it by the bottle (there are many different brands) or if you’re lucky, the restaurant you’re at will have their own brewed.  You drink makgeolli out of bowls, and sometimes it’s served to you in a large metal kettle-like pitchers.  It really does accompany jeon quite well.

Buchujeon, a leek pancake. Very similar to pajeon, a green onion pancake.

It’s also common to eat jeon and drink makgeolli after hiking one of Korea’s various mountains (a very popular pastime).  Unfortunately, that night we ate our buchujeon with beer (맥주 – maekju) because I didn’t notice the makgeolli on the menu (possibly because I was distracted by the really cheap price of the maekju).  It was still tasty though.

Ogyeopsal (오겹살) and Galbi Tang (갈비탕)

A field in Ganghwado, an island off of the east coast of Korea.

This Sunday, Elizabeth and I decided to take a trip to Ganghwado (강화도), an island west of Seoul (서울). Ganghwado is located in the province of Gyeonggi-do (경기도) which surrounds Seoul city. Directly south of Ganghwado is the island where Incheon International Airport is located. To the north of Ganghwado is the city of Gaeseong (개성), which is in North Korea. In fact, the only thing separating Ganghwado from the North Korean border is the main channel of the Han River (한강 – Hangang), which is the same river that flows through Seoul. Interestingly, Gaeseong is so close to Seoul that the people who live there speak the Seoul dialect of Korean despite living in North Korea.

Ganghwado is surprisingly rural considering it’s proximity to Seoul. There were farms and rice fields everywhere. The main population center, Ganghwa-eup (강화읍) looked as if it had seen better days. We arrived at the island a bit later than we had anticipated, so we didn’t get to see all of the things we wanted to.

Bugeun-ni Goindol, one of many dolmen on Ganghwado.

One thing we did see was Bugeun-ni Goindol (보그니 고인돌), which is a prehistoric burial dolmen (think Stonehenge).  Apparently there are dolmen all over the island, but this one was the biggest. Ganghwado was populated by humans before written history (I suppose that’s what prehistory is, isn’t it?), so this grouping of stones was erected by some pretty ancient dudes. The rock at the top of the dolmen weighs over fifty tons; a pretty impressive feat for people with such little technology. Bugeun-ni Goindol is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Ganghwado and two other areas in Korea actually have the highest concentration of megaliths (prehistoric stone monuments) in the world. They say forty to fifty percent of all of the megaliths in the world are located on the Korean peninsula. Pretty interesting stuff.

Ssam, used to wrap grilled meat.

After we were finished with the dolmen, Elizabeth and I headed back to Ganghwa-eup to look for some dinner. We found ourselves a nice Korean family restaurant, sat down and perused the menu. They had lots of choices, many which I didn’t recognize. Some of the items I recognized included dwaeji galbi (돼지 갈비 – pork ribs), ogyeopsal (오겹살 – pork belly, literally ‘five-layered meat’) dwaeji modeum (돼지 모듬 – mixed pork, I’m assuming this was a mixed serving of dwaeji galbi and ogyeopsal), some expensive cuts of Korean beef whose names I can’t remember, galbi tang (갈비탕 – beef rib soup), and different varieties of naengmyeon (냉면 – cold buckwheat noodles). We opted for two servings of ogyeopsal and one serving of galbi tang.

Ogyeopsal ('five layered meat'), raw.

Ogyeopsal is very similar to the extremely popular (amongst koreans) samgyeopsal (삼겹살 – literally ‘three layered meat’).  Both of these meats are cuts of pork belly, so when you cook them you’re basically just cooking big slabs of pork fat. They come in long strips that you grill and subsequently cut into smaller pieces. They are similar to bacon, except they come uncured and are cut much thicker than the bacon that you find at supermarkets back in the states. The main difference between samgyeupsal and ogyeupsal is the width of the cut of meat. Samgyeupsal has three visible layers in the meat, while ogyeupsal has five layers. The difference is minimal, but ogyeupsal has an extra meaty layer, so the meat to fat ratio is higher than samgyeupsal. It’s also more expensive and more difficult to find, as samgyeupsal is amongst the most popular meat in Korea. In fact, this was the first time I was able to try ogyeupsal.

Galbi tang, beef rib soup.

Galbi tang (갈비탕) is beef short rib soup. If you read my first post on dak galbi (닭갈비), you may remember me mentioning that galbi means ribs. Typically, if you see galbi on a menu, it means beef ribs. There’s also dwaeji galbi (mentioned earlier) which means pork ribs. Galbi is prepared in different ways. The most popular way is to order it at gui (구이 – barbaque or grill) restaurants and grill it at your table. Another way to prepare it is in a soup with vegetables such as onions, mushrooms, potatoes and dates. This soup is called galbi tang.

Ogyeopsal, grilled (and delicious).

This was the first time that Elizabeth and I tried both of these dishes. We’ve eaten samgyeupsal and galbi a countless number of times, but we had never tried their cousins: ogyeupsal and galbi tang. The ogyeupsal was pretty identical to samgyeupsal with perhaps a negligible amount of extra meat on the cut. However, it was still quite delicious. A lot of people I’ve met aren’t very fond of samgyeupsal, I suppose it depends on how much you like pork fat. Personally, I like it a lot. It’s not really like bacon because bacon is thin and cured. Bacon is usually salty, smoky and crispy. Samgyeupsal and ogyeupsal are different. They’re not cured, so they’re not salty or smoky. Also, they’re thick, so they never really get all that crispy. The result is tasty chunks of pork fat. The typical way to eat this meat is by placing it in a ssam (쌈 – leaf wrap) with some raw garlic, ssamjang (쌈장 – wrap sauce), and maybe some baechu kimchi (배추김치 – cabbage kimchi). You can also dip the meat in a mixture of sesame oil and coarse salt called gireumjang (기름장) if you’re not big on the ssam. I suppose you could just eat the meat straight up, but what’s the fun in that?

Our table, filled to the brim with banchan.

The galbi tang was also good. It came with a side of diced green onions (pa – 파) for you to add to your liking. There were also little jars of salt and pepper at the table, so we added some. It was about what you’d expect, tender chunks of beef and veggies. I personally didn’t get to eat much of it because Elizabeth was devouring it while I grilled the ogyeupsal. I’m always the grill master when we go out to eat, so sometimes I miss out on some of the eating while I’m grilling.

We received an overwhelming amount of banchan (반찬 – side dishes) with this meal. Of the dishes I can remember, we had our usual baechu kimchi, ggakdugi (깍두기 – spicy radish kimchi), a salad, some sort of sort of squash (butternut?), some cooked baby nakji (낙지 – octopus), some ssam, what I’m assuming was shredded jellyfish in a horseradish sauce, raw chunks of some sort of liver, and the list goes on. The kimchi was tasty (as usual). The ssam was great with the ogyeupsal (as usual). I ate one of the baby octopuses and it was pretty good (tastes just like an adult octopus!). All in all, it was a good meal and we ate a ton.

The aftermath.

Elizabeth and I only have a few months left in Korea. We’re considering of going back to Ganghwado to see more of the island, but with such limited time I’m not sure if we’ll be able to fit it in our schedule. I do know that we will be traveling more of the country before we leave. This will include our second trip to Seoraksan (서락산), a mountain near the east coast that is very popular amongst hikers. We’re also traveling to an undetermined locale for Elizabeth’s birthday at the end of the month. More ridiculously long posts to come!

Dak Galbi (닭갈비)

Korean food is delicious.  When most westerners think of Korean food, I assume that kimchi (김치) or grilled meat dishes (gui – 구이) are the first (and possibly only) foods that come to mind.  However, Korean cuisine is quite varied.  There are countless dishes, many of which I’ve undoubtedly never heard of yet.  My goal with this blog is to share my experiences with Korean cuisine, and hopefully make some readers intrigued (and hungry) in the process.  For my first post, I’d like to talk about one of my absolute favorite dishes: dak galbi (닭갈비).

In Korean, dak (닭) means chicken and galbi (갈비) means ribs.  There is another (very popular) dish called galbi, which consists of beef short ribs that are typically grilled at your table (소갈비실 – so galbi sal).  The name dak galbi may be a bit confusing because you’re not actually eating chicken ribs.  As far as I can tell, this dish is given the name galbi because the preparation of the chicken meat is similar to the preparation of the beef rib meat in so galbi sal.  In both dishes, the meat comes to your table marinated and still attached to the bone.  Now that I’m done with that tedious explanation of how I assume the dish got it’s name,  I’ll tell you what the dish actually consists of.

An image of dak galbi before being cooked. Shamelessly stolen off of the internet.

The chicken meat is marinated in a gochujang (고추장 – fermented red pepper paste) based sauce.  The sauce is quite spicy, but certainly not overwhelmingly so (assuming you don’t have timid tastebuds).  The meat is then cut along with a myriad of vegetables and cooked in a pan at your table.  The vegetables typically consist of perilla leaves (깻잎 – kkaennip), cabbage (배추 – baechu), sweet potato (고구마 – goguma), Enoki mushrooms (팽이버섯 – paengi beoseot), and green onion (파 – pa).  There’s also some rice cakes (떡 – tteok)  thrown in there.  The pan is fired up and the contents within are stirred every few minutes (typically by your gracious waiter) until the chicken is cooked and the veggies have shriveled down to size.  Then it’s time to eat.  After you’ve eaten about two-thirds of dish, you can opt to have rice stirred in and cooked with the remaining dak galbi (볶음밥 – bokkeum bap).  That’s the way to go if you’re still hungry after eating most of the dish.  You can also choose to add other things to you dak galbi when you order, such as various noodles, additional tteok, cheese, or even octopus (낙지 – nakji).

Dak galbi after being cooked. Also stolen from the internet.

Dak galbi, like every Korean meal, is served with side dishes (반찬 – banchan).  These side dishes typically consist of spicy cabbage kimchi (배추김치 – baechu kimchi), a water kimchi (물김치 – mul kimchi) to quell the spiciness, a salad, and lettuce and perilla leaves which are used to wrap (쌈 – ssam) portions of the dak galbi.  Ssam is served with a lot of Korean dishes and it always comes with ssamjang (쌈장, literally “wrap sauce”) and sliced garlic cloves (마늘 – maneul).  You can eat the dak galbi straight up, or you can wrap it up in ssam.  I really like ssam because I enjoy mixing many flavors together.  I can put a little bit of salty ssamjang, spicy dak galbi, tangy kimchi and pungent garlic onto a perilla leaf and let the (cliché forthcoming) flavor explosion commence.  As for the mul kimchi, I don’t like it too much.  It’s cold, sour, and somewhat briny which just isn’t my cup of tea.  Other than that, I really enjoy the banchan that’s served with dak galbi.

Perilla leaf ssam.

Dak galbi originates from a city called Chuncheon (춘천) which is east of Seoul in a province named Gangwondo (강원도).  Apparently the dish was created sometime in the 1970s.  If you go to Chuncheon today, there’s a street called Dak Galbi Geori (닭 갈비 거리 – literally “Dak Galbi Street”) which is lined with twenty to thirty dak galbi restaurants.  Me and my girlfriend Elizabeth are a bit fond of (obsessed with) dak galbi.  We heard there was a dak galbi festival happening in Chuncheon during the last week of August, so we hopped on a train and made our way there.  Once we arrived, we hailed a cab and headed for Dak Galbi Geori.  We had just assumed that all of the festivities would be taking place on Dak Galbi Geori, turns out they weren’t.  However, it was pouring rain and we had to make the best of the situation so we ducked into one of the many dak galbi restaurants.  We enjoyed our nine-in-the-morning dak galbi breakfast.  It was the best dak galbi I’ve ever had and the portions were huge.  We had originally decided that the day was going to be a full-on dak galbi binge, but after our breakfast we decided to call it a day and took the next train back to Seoul (it’s only an hour train ride, after all).

Dak Galbi Street in Chuncheon.

If you live in Korea, you don’t need to travel to Chuncheon to enjoy some dak galbi.  In Seoul, there are many dak galbi restaurants and I’m sure that any decent sized city also has its share.  However, if you live outside of Korea, it may be a bit more challenging to find.  I know that in Los Angeles, there’s a Korea-town.  According to yelp, there’s a restaurant in K-town named (surprise, surprise) Chuncheon Dak Galbi.  Other than that, I think you’d be hard-pressed to find dak galbi in the states.  Of course, you can always try making it yourself if you have access to a Korean grocery store or Asian supermarket that sells the various ingredients (such as gochujang) that you’ll need.  One recipe I found comes from an amateur Korean cook who hosts a bog titled ‘My Korean Kitchen’.

I hope you enjoyed my first blog post.  I realize that I might have gotten a bit ridiculous with Korean vocabulary and Hangul (korean alphabet).  I also realize that I like to throw up parentheses everywhere (willy nilly).  Those things might make it difficult to get through this wall of text that I’ve thrown at you.  If you’ve made it this far, thank you.  I’ll probably tone it down a bit in the future.  Don’t forget to enjoy your dak galbi, and don’t forget to wear a bib.

Yours truly, eating dak galbi, bibbed up.