Korea and Japan · Volume 56, The Haenyeo, the Black Pig and the Kingdom Before Korea
Heuk-dwaeji geun-gogi
Jeju Island
An illustration of the dish, not a photograph of it cooked.
- Time
- 20 minutes
- Reviewed
- Not yet reviewed from inside the tradition
- Cooked
- Not yet cooked and reported
Thick-cut grilled black pork, dipped in melchoet. The dominant modern way to eat heuk-dwaeji.
Geun-gogi is cut thick, 4 to 5cm, and grilled unseasoned, so the meat itself, not a marinade, carries the dish. Melchoet, fermented anchovy sauce, is the standard dip, sometimes warmed on the grill with chilli and garlic worked through it.
As tradition built it
Serves 4. About 20 minutes.
Ingredients
- 800g black pork belly or collar, cut into thick pieces (4 to 5cm)
- 3 tbsp melchoet (fermented anchovy sauce)
- 1 garlic clove, finely chopped
- 1 chilli, finely sliced
Method
- Cut the black pork belly or collar into thick pieces, 4 to 5cm.
- Grill over hot charcoal, unseasoned, turning until deeply browned on all sides and cooked through, about 12 to 15 minutes depending on thickness.
- While the meat grills, mix the melchoet with the chopped garlic and sliced chilli. Warm briefly at the edge of the grill.
- Rest the meat for 2 minutes, slice, and serve with the warmed melchoet for dipping.
What a modern chef changes
The straw-fire sear reproduced with real two-stage heat control, and a chinois-clarified dip.
Rungs 1 and 4
Method
- Set the Big Green Egg for a genuine two-zone cook: sear the pork hard over direct, high heat for 90 seconds a side to build the same fast, intensely aromatic crust the straw-fire method chases, then move it to the indirect side to finish gently to an internal temperature of 63°C, checked with a probe.
- Strain the warmed melchoet dip through a fine sieve or chinois after the garlic and chilli have infused it, for a clean, grit-free sauce rather than the traditional dip's coarser texture.
- Rest under foil for a full 5 minutes before slicing, letting the two-stage cook's heat even out through the meat.