Gochujang-samgyeopsal (Red Chili Pork Belly)

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Wide 12-inch cast-iron, carbon-steel, or heavy skillet
• •Tongs or long cooking chopsticks
• •Small mixing bowl

Instructions

1. 1

   Cut the pork

   Cut the pork belly crosswise into pieces about 2 inches long. Keep the slices close to 1/4 inch thick: thinner slices dry before they brown, and thick slabs leave too much fat unrendered in a home pan. Pat the pork dry. Wet pork steams first, and this dish needs the fat to catch at the edges.

2. 2

   Mix the sauce

   In a bowl, stir together the gochujang, gochugaru, soy sauce, mirin, maesil-cheong or sugar, rice syrup, garlic, ginger, sesame oil, and black pepper. The sauce should be thick enough to drag a spoon through. Do not add extra gochujang just because the color looks modest. In the pan it darkens, and too much paste turns the pork muddy and salty.

   Maesil-cheong gives a clean sweet-tart edge. If you use sugar instead, use only 2 teaspoons. Pork belly already carries richness, and sugar should sit quietly behind it.
3. 3

   Render the belly

   Set a wide skillet over medium-high heat. Add the oil only if your pork belly is unusually lean. Lay the pork in a single layer and cook 4 to 5 minutes, turning once or twice, until the fat begins to run clear and the edges take color. Work in two batches if the pan is crowded. Crowding makes liquid, and liquid gives you boiled pork in red sauce.

4. 4

   Add onion

   Pour off all but 2 tablespoons of the rendered fat, then return all the pork to the pan. Add the onion and cook 2 minutes, tossing often, until the onion softens at the edges but still has bite. The onion goes in before the sauce because it needs direct heat to sweeten.

5. 5

   Glaze with gochujang

   Lower the heat to medium. Add the sauce and toss hard for 2 to 3 minutes, scraping the pan so the paste coats the pork instead of sticking in one place. The sauce should turn glossy and cling to each piece. If it tightens too fast, add 1 tablespoon water, no more. You are glazing pork, not making stew.

6. 6

   Finish with scallions

   Add the scallions and cook 30 to 45 seconds, just until they bend and brighten. Taste one piece. If it needs salt, add 1/2 teaspoon soy sauce around the edge of the pan and toss once. Finish with toasted sesame seeds. Serve at once with lettuce or perilla leaves, rice, sliced garlic, green chili, and ssamjang.

Chef Tips

• •Buy pork belly with clear layers of meat and fat, not a block that is almost all white fat. Too lean is dry, too fatty leaves the pan greasy before the sauce can cling.
• •A cast-iron or carbon-steel pan is best because it holds heat when the pork goes in. A nonstick pan works, but give the pork more space and do not chase deep browning with high heat once the gochujang is added.
• •This is a good lettuce-wrap dish. Put one piece of pork, a little rice, a sliver of garlic, and one dab of ssamjang in the leaf. If every wrap tastes only of paste, you used too much paste.
• •The safe shortcut is mixing the sauce a day ahead. The unsafe shortcut is cooking the pork and sauce together from the beginning over high heat. The sugar burns before the pork fat renders.

Advance Preparation

• •The sauce can be mixed up to 3 days ahead and refrigerated. Let it sit at room temperature for 10 minutes before cooking so it loosens enough to coat the pork evenly.
• •The pork can be sliced up to 1 day ahead and kept covered in the refrigerator. Do not marinate it overnight in this sauce; the salt pulls out moisture and the sugars scorch more easily.
• •Leftovers keep 3 days refrigerated. Reheat in a skillet over medium heat with 1 tablespoon water to loosen the glaze, then cook until the edges gloss again.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 410g)