Samgyeopsal-gui (Grilled Pork Belly)

Samgyeopsal is pork belly — the cut below the loin, from where the ribs are removed back to the hind leg — named for the three layers (sam gyeop) of lean and fat it shows in section. The Encyclopedia of Korean Culture and the folk encyclopedia, both written by food historian Lee Kyu-jin, note that it was long called segyeopsal, using the native word for three. A 1934 Dong-A Ilbo article already ranked segyeopsal as the tastiest part of the pig, ahead of the neck; a 1957 court-cuisine cookbook made boiled sliced pork (jeyuk pyeonyuk) from it; and as late as 1983 a Chosun Ilbo article treated "samgyeopsal" as slang. The folk encyclopedia also reports — as a claim, not a fact — that Gaeseong merchants bred pigs for a layered belly and punned the name on sam, ginseng.

For most of history Koreans boiled pork, and belly went into sliced boiled pork, braises and steamed dishes; even a 1988 cookbook recommended it for mince and braising and suggested leg meat for grilling. Restaurants moved first. The folk encyclopedia cites a 1978 newspaper list of unlicensed eateries that included a pork-belly grill house in Seoul's Samseon-dong, and the Encyclopedia of Korean Culture quotes a 1983 article naming Samgak-dong as Seoul's samgyeopsal alley and a 1980 novel describing belly sizzling on a foil-lined iron plate over a coal-briquette stove. Packaged pork sold in three cuts, one of them belly, reached shops in August 1983, and portable gas burners, common from the mid-1980s, made grilling easy in restaurants, homes and picnics alike.

Hard times made it a national dish. During the 1997 financial crisis, cheap belly earned the nickname "IMF samgyeopsal," and belly with soju became a cultural shorthand. After a foot-and-mouth outbreak in 2000, the city of Paju and its livestock cooperative declared March 3 "Samgyeopsal Day" to support pig farmers, and the 2003 mad-cow scare pushed more diners from beef to pork. The 2000s brought chilled, branded belly and trendier "samgyeopsal bars." A 2017 Rural Development Administration survey cited by the folk encyclopedia found 61.3 percent of Koreans named belly their favorite pork cut, about twice the share for neck. See Korean BBQ culture, ssam culture and anju and drinking culture.

• Thiamin and protein: pork is one of the richest common sources of thiamin, and a serving provides a good deal of protein.
• Wrapped in greens: lettuce and perilla wraps add vitamin A, vitamin K and crunch to every bite. See making ssam and wraps.
• No marinade needed: plain grilled belly carries little sugar; most of the salt comes from the dips.

• Classic table grill: unmarinated belly grilled on a hot plate, cut with scissors, and wrapped in lettuce with grilled garlic, green chili and ssamjang; kimchi is often grilled in the rendered fat.
• Pot-lid samgyeopsal (sotttukkeong): a late-1990s fashion for grilling on an upturned cauldron lid so the fat runs off down the slope, giving crisper meat.
• Briquette and foil: the early restaurant style of the late 1970s and 80s, with an iron plate set over a coal-briquette stove.
• Chilled and branded belly: thicker, fresh (not frozen) cuts and branded pork that became common in the 2000s.