Pa-sanjeok (Green Onion and Beef Skewers)

Sanjeok are skewered, grilled foods, and pa-sanjeok is the version that alternates beef with green onion. The Encyclopedia of Korean Culture explains that the pieces are cut 5–6 cm long, so that a finished skewer resembles the counting sticks once used for arithmetic (sangaji) — hence the alternative spellings 筭炙 and 算炙. It records that sanjeok developed from the broader jeok family of grilled foods and that a recipe for winter-melon jeok in Gyugon siuibang, which it calls the oldest surviving Korean cookbook, already matches modern sanjeok, suggesting the method was settled by the mid-Joseon period. Of pa-sanjeok it says simply that meat and green onion are threaded together and grilled, and that tender forced green onion (umpa) is best in winter and slender jjokpa in autumn.

The Encyclopedia of Korean Folk Culture draws careful lines within the family. True sanjeok are raw ingredients threaded on skewers and cooked directly over the fire, as with beef, green onion and rice-cake sanjeok; nureumjeok are made from ingredients that are seasoned and cooked before threading; and jijim-nureumjeok are raw skewers coated in flour and egg and fried. Many families today make the last of these for the holidays and still call it pa-sanjeok, but the older dish is grilled, which is why it is classed here with grilled foods.

Jeok are central to the ancestral-rite table. The folk encyclopedia lists meat jeok first among the offerings, followed by fish and vegetable jeok, and describes how they were stacked by origin — fish from the sea at the bottom, meat from the land above, and chicken (bongjeok) at the top. A 1924 cookbook it quotes notes that sanjeok were piled high on memorial and banquet tables. Beef sanjeok also served as a rice side dish and as a garnish for noodles and rice-cake soup. See jesa food.

• Lean and simply cooked: grilled lean beef with green onion is lower in fat than the battered jeon on the same table.
• Green onion: a source of vitamin K and adds sweetness when grilled, so less sugar is needed in the marinade.
• Beef nutrients: a source of protein, vitamin B12, zinc and iron.

• Grilled pa-sanjeok: beef and green onion threaded raw and grilled over charcoal or on a grill pan — the older form.
• Pan-fried (jijim-nureumjeok) style: skewers dusted in flour and dipped in egg, then fried flat; the common holiday version in many homes.
• Tteok-sanjeok: white rice cake alternated with beef, a New Year favorite according to the folk encyclopedia.
• Other sanjeok: pine mushroom with beef in autumn, aralia shoots in spring; in Gyeongsang, shark meat (dombaegi) sanjeok for the rites.