Korean Food: Broiled or Grilled Foods

Most grilled dishes can be identifed by the suffix gui at the end of the name. However, these days most restaurants omit the suffix and just write the parts of meat on the menu (such as kalbi instead of kalbi-gui, deungshim instead of deungshim-gui, etc.).

A common Korean saying states, "Koreans eat everything from the ox." Beef has always been expensive in Korea, so families make use of every single part so that nothing goes to waste. Eating beef was usually reserved for special days, holidays, and celebrations.

Traditionally grilled food was cooked over charcoal in a brazier. Some of these old braziers can be found in antique shops. Charcoals bricks were placed in a copper-lined well inside a wooden case. These days, people often use portable gas or electric burners at home. Many restaurants specializing in grilled food have a gas burner built right into the table. Many still use the traditional method, as many people like the taste better than when cooked with gas.

Anshim-gui (Grilled Tenderloin)

Tenderloin is sliced according to your order and seasoned with sesame oil and salt. Then you cook the meat on a wire mesh grill over a charcoal or gas range, similar to deungshim-gui.

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Bulgogi (Barbecued Beef) Bulgogi

Pulgogi is one of Korea's most famous grilled dishes. It is made from sirloin or another prime cut of beef (such as top round), cut into thin strips. For an outside barbecue, the meat is marinated for at least four hours to enhance the flavor and to tenderize it in a mixture of sesame oil, soy sauce, black pepper, garlic, sugar, onions, ginger, and wine. The marinated beef is cooked on a metal dish over the burner. Whole cloves of garlic, sliced onions, and chopped green peppers are often grilled at the same time.

To eat, select a pice of cooked beef, and wrap it in lettuce with rice, kimchi, shredded vegetables, or a number of other garnishes on the table. You can also add doenjang (bean paste) for flavor. Dwaeji pulgogi is a pork version of this dish.

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Dak-gui (Grilled Chicken) Dak-gui

A chicken is chopped into medium-sized portions before being marinated and grilled. Koreans cut the chicken without regard to body parts. Be careful when eating the portions as they will contain pieces of bones. Tongdak-gui (tong means "whole") is a whole chicken, oven baked with vegetables and basted with soy sauce.

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Deodeok-gui (Grilled Toduk Root)

Todok is a mountain herb with restorative properties. It is available in Korean markets between March and May. The roots are peeled and pounded to tenderize them, seasoned with a red pepper sauce, sesame oil, and sugar, then grilled over a medium heat.

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Deungshim-gui (Grilled Sirloin)

Deungshim-gui is one of the most expensive grilled dishes available. Sirloin steak is cut on request and seasoned with a mixture of sesame seeds, crushed garlic, and salt. The meat is marinated with sesame oil and cooked on a wire mesh grilled over a gas or chrcoal burner. Similar to deungshim-gui, ansihm-gui is an expensive dish is made with beef tenderloin.

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Galbi-gui (Broiled Short Ribs)

Kalbi is one of Korea's most famous grilled dishes. Beef short ribs are marinated overnight in a mixture of green onions, garlic, sugar, sesame oil, and soy sauce. Rice wine and oriental pear slices can be added for extra flavor. The marinade tenderizes the meat which is grilled over charcoal or gas right at the table. A variation, dwaeji kalbi-gui (broiled pork spareribs), uses pork seasoned with sesame oil, soy sauce, garlic, sesame seeds, and boiled ginger juice before grilling.

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Jangeo-gui (Broiled Eel)

Korea's hot summers are the best time to have a dish of broiled eel. Koreans believe the dish helps increase stamina and eat it to avoid heat exhaustion. Eels are sliced longways and the bones removed before being seasoned with sesame oil, sesame seeds, soy sauce, and sugar. The strips are then broiled.

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Jeyukbokkeum (Spicy stir-fried pork with vegetabl)

Knead the pork with gochujang (soy paste mixed with red pepper) and soy sauce seasoning evenly and them stir-fry. While stir frying the pork add red pepper and green onion and stir-fry again. The most important part of this dish is the taste of seasonings. The taste of seasonings differs according to each family's preferences and the taste of this dish can be quite different according to the seasonings.

<Recipe> Main ingredients: pork 600g, 2 unripe red peppers, 1 red pepper, 1 onion, 1/2 large green onion, 12 sesame leaves, lettuce 50 g, a little bit of crown daisy
Seasonings: gochujang- 2 tablespoons, powdered red pepper, soy sauce- 1 tablespoon, cooking liquor- 1/2 tablespoon, pinch of minced garlic and minced ginger, pinch of ground pepper and sesame and sesame oil

For the pork, prepare meat around backbone or belly, thinly sliced.
Cut unripe red pepper and red pepper diagonally and rinse them in cold water to remove the seeds.
Thinly slice onion and cut large green onion diagonally and rinse in cold water to remove the sticky resin of the green onion.
Make seasoning and put all the ingredients together and knead.
Add oil to frying pan and stir-fry the kneaded ingredients when the pan is hot.
This dish can be enjoyed wrapped with sesame leaves, lettuce, and crown daisy.

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Saengseon-gui (Grilled Fish)

The Korean way of grilling seafood is to use the entire fish (including the head!) with simple seasonings such as salt, soy sauce, or hot pepper sauce. Popular choices of fish for this style of cooking include snapper, herring, mackerel, sole, and flounder. Grilled squid (ojingeo-gui) is also very pupular. Taehap-gui (grilled clams) are opened and seasoned with sesame seeds and salt and served garnished with finely chopped scallions, sesame seeds, and black pepper.

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Samgyeopsal-gui (Grilled Side of Pork)

A side cut of pork is rolled and refrigerated. When ready to be cooked, it is sliced and broiled on an oiled grill. Sesame oil and salt are mixed for a sauce. It is often eaten with lettuce similar to pulgogi.

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Yang Gobchang-gui (Broiled Beef Tripe and Chitterlings)

Beef chitterlings and tripe make good dishes for grilling. Fresh chitterlings and tripes are thoroughly cleaned, cut into 5 cm pieces, and seasoned with a mixture of oil and red pepper sauce. Then they are boiled on a hot oiled grill with garlic and onions.

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