Here's the plan: samgyupsal and kimchi pancake. Here's the trouble: lots of ingredients are hard to find.
We tried Mustard Seed Market first and struck out. They had kimchi, but it was like an American version of the stuff, and I didn't really want to use it. Also, they didn't have the right cut of pork.
We had better luck at the Cleveland Asian market. We found pork belly meat, cut into strips, and home-made kimchi. The home=made kimchi was cheaper than the other stuff, so we went with that. Also, I bought a huge handful of green onion for $.40.
Making the food was frustrating because I didn't have a lot of the right ingredients or kitchen tools to do it how I liked.
Here's how it all shook down:
I had to make the pork belly in a skillet, so I just made it all at once and drained off most of the grease. Samgyupsal is best when it's crispy right off the grill, but it was still pretty decent this way. The meat itself was a bit different from Korean pork. It was more thinly sliced, and the skin was thick and tough. Next time, if I was using American pork, I would just cut off that skin. It didn't add anything to the dish.
To eat the meat we had lettuce (the pieces were too big, but still delicious), raw garlic and chives, onions in soy sauce with green onion (I wanted to make my seasoned soy sauce like i do back in Korea, but i didn't have the ingredients), and red pepper paste (gochujang). The gochujang was an import but wasn't as good as our favorite stuff back home.
The kimchi pancake was very simple: flour, kimchi, kimchi juice, green onions. I omit the sugar and salt because I think those types of ingredients often take away from the dish as a whole.
The makgeoli was super expensive! It was like $8! Zomg.
Reception: my family was a little suspicious at first, but warmed up to the food quickly. I apologized many times for the quality, since I didn't have the right tools, didn't have the right ingredients, and didn't have the right set up. But they liked it a lot and were grateful for the experience.
We found a Korean restaurant downtown Cleveland that is run by Korea people and sells kimbap, kimchi jigae, boodae jigae, samgyupsal, galbisal, bibimbap, and so on. Next time, I'll just take my family there!
