caramelized kimchi samgyeopsal

Ingredients · tap to check

• 300 g thick-cut pork belly (samgyeopsal), 1.5 cm slabs
• 1 cup well-aged kimchi, in big pieces
• 4 garlic cloves, halved
• green lettuce leaves, washed and cold
• ssamjang (or mix doenjang + gochujang + sesame oil)
• a splash of sesame oil

The Way

1. Lay the pork belly slabs on a hot cast-iron grill. Don't move them — let the contact side turn pale, then deep golden-tan.
2. Flip once. As the fat renders, tilt the pan so a clear golden pool gathers.
3. Lay the kimchi right into the rendered pork fat. Let the edges caramelize from red to deep amber-brown while the centers stay vivid red. Roll the garlic cloves in the fat until glossy and golden.
4. Snip the pork belly crosswise with kitchen scissors — you want a golden-tan crust ring, translucent fat, and juicy pale-cooked meat in every cube.
5. Build the ssam: a lettuce leaf, a cube of pork, a fold of caramelized kimchi, a dot of ssamjang. Fold it closed.
6. Eat it in one bite. Then do it again.

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