My family and I recently were in South Korea and ate at one of the BBQ restaurants where you cook the meat on the table in front of you. It was all you could eat for around $9. They had different cuts of pork, the only one I recognized was sliced pork belly, but the others were just as fatty. The difference about this place was they had a flat griddle attached to the grill portion that all the grease drained into. It was on this flat part where you grilled the kimchi, rice cakes, sprouts, and garlic cloves in the pork fat. The pork was only seasoned with salt and for a dipping sauce we had a bowl of sesame oil with salt added. Man it was good. I've never been a fan of kimchi, but this was one way to make it not taste like feet. It was all wrapped in a leaf of lettuce. The grill was small allowing for a long meal and even better conversation with some local friends.
When I got home I knew I wanted to replicate the meal. I bought a 28" Bayou Classic cast iron skillet on amazon to use on my charcoal grill. I cooked a breakfast of bacon, hash browns, eggs and toast on it to season the griddle. I took note of the drainage of the bacon grease so I knew where to put the non-pork ingredients. I built a fire on one half of my Hasty Bake and put the pork belly slices on the hot side. I got the sliced pork belly from Sams.
Seasoned the pork belly slices with roasted salt I got from the local Asian market.
After some grease built up I added the kimchi, rice cakes, and garlic.
I cut up the strips into pieces to really crisp up all the edges. I found the more I chared the pieces, the better they tasted. I was afraid of drying them out, but I'm not sure its possible with all the fat in the pork belly. I also added some tofu, but there is not enough pork fat in the world that will make tofu taste good.
Platted with sesame oil and salt dipping sauce in a lettuce wrap.
It was really good for a first attempt. We had been marinating pork belly strips in a spicy marinade from the Asian market and just grilling them over charcoal. This was a nice change from our usual. It will be a hot one to cook this summer, it was 75 out and once the grill got going with the hot skillet and all the pork fat popping everywhere, my shirt was sweated through. Well worth it though.
When I got home I knew I wanted to replicate the meal. I bought a 28" Bayou Classic cast iron skillet on amazon to use on my charcoal grill. I cooked a breakfast of bacon, hash browns, eggs and toast on it to season the griddle. I took note of the drainage of the bacon grease so I knew where to put the non-pork ingredients. I built a fire on one half of my Hasty Bake and put the pork belly slices on the hot side. I got the sliced pork belly from Sams.
Seasoned the pork belly slices with roasted salt I got from the local Asian market.
After some grease built up I added the kimchi, rice cakes, and garlic.
I cut up the strips into pieces to really crisp up all the edges. I found the more I chared the pieces, the better they tasted. I was afraid of drying them out, but I'm not sure its possible with all the fat in the pork belly. I also added some tofu, but there is not enough pork fat in the world that will make tofu taste good.
Platted with sesame oil and salt dipping sauce in a lettuce wrap.
It was really good for a first attempt. We had been marinating pork belly strips in a spicy marinade from the Asian market and just grilling them over charcoal. This was a nice change from our usual. It will be a hot one to cook this summer, it was 75 out and once the grill got going with the hot skillet and all the pork fat popping everywhere, my shirt was sweated through. Well worth it though.
