If you live in Korea you have probably gone to what we call Korean BBQ in English. But I think the name is quite deceptive, because when we think of barbecue we think of barbecue sauce… I actually didn’t really know what Korean barbecue was until I came to Korea.
If you live in the USA, Korean barbecue seems so expensive it’s something you could only do a few times a year, and not a couple of times a month like in Korea.
After looking at a couple restaurants in Chicago that do Korean Barbecue, it seems like the price is double or triple the price in korea, from about 30 to 50 USD a person. Please, it’s just not worth it to eat out in the US, especially when you include the awful tipping culture………..
Of course, eating barbecue in Korea can also get a little bit expensive, at least for Korean standards. The barbecue across from my house is all you can eat, though alcohol is separate, and it’s about 20,000 won per person or about 13 USD. But considering it’s all you can eat for a few hours, I think it’s a pretty good deal.
So, if you want to enjoy Korean barbecue, whether you are in the USA or Korea, I will show you how you can eat for about 5 dollars a person at home (minus some small startup costs).
Cooking Gear
The first thing you need is some kind of gas stove that you can put on your table, and a pan. Make sure you get a kind of pan that is slanted a little bit and has a hole to drain the oil. Otherwise, it will burn the oil and make a bunch of smoke. On 쿠팡, the most popular online shopping site in Korea, it costs about 15-30 dollars.
However, it looks like in America it can be about 50-100 dollars. But considering the price you would already have to pay for eating out just once, I think it’s worth it. You can use it for camping as well.
Besides this and the pan, the only other kind of gear you might have to buy is cooking scissors. It’s hard to cut the meat with a knife, so don’t even try.
Ingredients
There are many kinds of meat that Koreans eat for a barbecue, but the most popular is 삼겹살 (Samgyeopsal or pork belly).
I’m not sure where this is sold in the United States, so you might have to go to a butcher or an Asian grocery store to find it. About 300 grams per person is good, and probably a little more than you would get at a restaurant. But I think the type of cut will be very important, so you can’t just throw on any kind of pork and have it taste authentic…
This cost me 12000 won (about 8 dollars) for 600 grams, which I think is a little more than you would pay in the United States. Because Korea is small and landlocked, it’s more expensive to get these kinds of products that require a lot of land.
The next thing you need is vegetables for ssam. I got three kinds and usually you don’t really go more than that. These are pickled daikon (쌈무), perilla leaves (깻잎), and red leaf lettuce (적상추).
They each costed about 1000 won or less (70 cents), and it was more than enough for two people.
Usually we eat a side dish called 파채 which is I think just green onions cut a certain way, with a vinegary sauce. You will have to go to an asian grocery store for this in the USA, but I recommend it. It just costed me 1000 won.
I think alcohol is the most important part of the KBBQ.
Usually just soju goes well with it, because it isn’t very high in calories like beer. But this weekend an acquaintance of mine showed me a picture of a Korean restaurant in America that he had gone to and was drinking maekgolli, so I wanted to drink maekgolli.
So I tried mixing together maekgolli, sprite, and soju to make a mixed drink called 막소사 (maksosa). Named so because its just maekgolli, soju, and saida (cider/sprite).
Lastly, you must get 쌈장 or ssamjang. This one isn’t really optional, it’s an essential part of it. You should dip your samgyeopsal in it before you eat.
Also, make sure to prepare some white rice and kimchi. I have an endless supply from my girlfriend’s mother, so I didn’t include it in the price.
Finally, let’s start…
Laying down the samgyeopsal on the hot pan… Make sure to open the windows, because it should make a lot of smoke. And make sure to put a paper cup or something below the hole where the oil is drained.
Then, when the oil starts to come off, you should fry the kimchi. It tastes delicious because of the oil. You should also cut the samgyeopsal with scissors into smaller pieces.
Then, you should put everything you like into a ssam, such as the perilla leaves, picked radish or the lettuce. I like everything, so I put in the kimchi, meat, ssamjang, and rice.
And make sure to eat the ssam in one bite! Not like a taco.
Overall this probably costed about 7000 won per person, or about $4.50, minus the start up costs, so I recommend it if you want to try!
Lincoln Peterson 