Finally! In this 6th episode of SeoulGlow, Susan treats us to her second installment of "Seoul Food," in which she eats jokbal naked. Ahem. Er, umm, perhaps it's better to say she eats naked jokbal, that being without the sauce and, erm...condiments.
Umm, I think I'm digging a hole here. Help? Anyway, we warn our viewers, however -- if you watch this video without reasonable access to large amounts of freshly cut pork, you may end up hurting someone close to you. Do NOT watch on an empty stomach. Unless you want to start knawing on the flesh of other sentient beings, of course, since pigs and humans are such genetically close cousins.
I apologize for the spotty releases of our SeoulGlow video podcasts, but I am beholden to being "lost in translation" when it comes to the subtitling stage, especially when going from English to Korean. We need interns! And we're paying!
If you have any Korean friends who are looking for something, just send them over to this link (I put together a Korean description as well) and let them get in touch.
Also, for the Korean speakers out there who might want to practice their English and listening comprehension, we've provided the transcript (thanks, Dylan!) for their use, available after the jump.
And don't forget to let your Seooooooooul glow!
Susan:
Welcome everyone. We have another edition of Seoul Food. That’s the food segment for Seoul Glow, and today, we’re going to talk about 족발. 족발 is the Korean word for pig’s trotters, which I think is just a euphemism for pig’s feet. You know, nobody wants to eat feet. I don’t know, feet has bad connotations. Feet are smelly, feet are weird looking, but I guarantee you-today’s 족발, pig’s feet are absolutely delicious. And when you mention 족발 in Seoul, everybody thinks of this neighborhood where I am standing right now. We’re in 장충동, which is right near the 신라 hotel, also by 장충 gymnasium. I am standing right outside of exit number 3 of 동대입구. That’s 동국 university station on the orange line, so its very easy to find. Yeah, why don’t you follow me as I walk along?
Michael: Ok. It’s straight on ahead, right?
Susan: Right, it’s straight on ahead. You walk with the flow of traffic. And, once you start walking-its about a 30 second walk-you’ll start smelling the aromas from the restaurants. So, we walked about 30 seconds, and already we have hit one of the more famous restaurants. This is 원조평남할머니 집. And, 원조, it means “original.” So, for some reason all these restaurants have “원조 so and so’s place.” So this one is 원조평남 grandma’s place. And, all of them claim to be the original-the first one here, but….
Michael: Are any of them actually the original here?
Susan: I’m sure one of them actually has to be the original, but all of them claim that they are the original. And a lot of these places have some grandmas faces on it. It makes it sound real friendly and homely.
Michael: Right behind your head there.
Susan: Right, so you get a shot of grannie over there. And, let’s keep walking because there are a whole bunch of these places, and there all quite famous.
Michael: There’s a famous one up here.
Susan: Yeah, this one’s quite famous. This one is 원조-there’s the “original” again. This one’s 원조1호장충동할머니집.
Michael: Let’s take a quick look at it.
Susan: And, you can tell it’s already packed. If we go there, I think we’ll have to wait a while for a seat. And right next to it is another famous place. I always love the name of this one: 뚱뚱이할머니집-so, fatty grandma’s place.
Michael: She’s not that big!
Susan: I know! Leave her alone! She looks fine for a woman her age! You know, another famous place there, so of the two we can choose wherever we can get seated.
Michael: Yeah.
Susan: Well, all of these have been around for ages; since the 50’s some of them claim. So you know they’re doing something right.
Susan: Alrighty, so we’re inside the restaurant, and the first thing you have to do is use one these wet clothes to wipe your hands, because you’re going to be using your hands to wrap lettuce. Let’s get our utensils here. Oh, we need some spoons. Here’s a set of chopsticks for you.
Michael: Thank you. Although, I’m a little bit sick, so I may be keeping it light.
Susan: Oh, sorry to hear that; more for me, ha! Let’s get some ghetto napkins here-one ply tissue. Alright, so here is the 족발. This is the small size, which costs 2만원, which is about 20 dollars, US. Oh this is good, cause you can see the skin layer. So, I always like to eat it naked first just to get the full flavor without any condiments. So, here’s the meaty part; this part right here. And you’ve got a layer of fat. And then you have the skin layer, which for me is the real joy; you get that chewy bit mixed with the creamy fattiness that kind of melts in your mouth, and then more chewy from the meat. And…
Michael: Are you just enjoying torturing the viewers on purpose?
Susan: Yeah, I know, and I can’t resist anymore; I just got to eat this.
Michael: Ok. So, how is it?
Susan: Good. Every restaurant, they cook it their own way. But at its basis, you have a big hunk of the pig’s trotter. And you steam it in a broth. And the broth usually has scallions, ginger, garlic, soy sauce. But every restaurant has their own secret ingredient, which they’ll never tell you what they use. Sometimes I taste a little bit of cinnamon. Sometimes I taste a little bit of ginseng, but they’ve always put something different in there.
Michael: Almost sounds like wine.
Susan: A little bit, yeah, exactly, and its steamed for two to three hours until its cooked till where the meat is falling of the bone and it is very tender.
Michael: It’s totally food pornography there…(inaudible)
Susan: Let’s talk about the side dishes. Usually, you get lettuce because you’re going to wrap it. So, what I do is…
Michael: Are you going to wrap (rap) for us?
Susan: Yeah, I’ll wrap for you.
Michael: I’ll be the human beat box.
Susan: Ha ha!! So you get a piece of meat. You dip it in the 새우젓. That’s just fermented shrimp. You add a piece of raw garlic dipped in…This is 삼장. This is fermented bean paste, which is a condiment used for these types of lettuce wraps.
Michael: And that is a raw piece of garlic.
Susan: Yeah. Raw garlic. And, you always have 부추.
Michael: What is this?
Susan: This is an Asian leek, or Asian chives as they may call it.
Michael: Or as we call it in Ohio…we call it grass.
Susan: Grass, right? But this has been marinated with some spices.
Michael: So you wrap (inaudible)
Susan: Right. Now you just roll it up. And you need a big mouth for this. You’ve got to eat it up all in one bite
Michael: Say something. How is it?
Susan: mmm…so good!
