By Korea.net Honorary Reporter Cintia Mancilla
While I was watching TV, I realized that Koreans enjoy grilled meat as much as Argentines do, but the grilling meat process is a bit different. I can say that in Argentina, eating barbecue or asado is more than a tradition. It's a way of life. Being Argentine, I like Sundays because we gather together as a family and my father cooks asado. This is the busiest place to be because he's always running to one place or another grilling the meat and serving it to others, with no time for himself to eat. However, the saying, “Un aplauso para el asador,” or, "A big hand for the asador," makes them all smile and forget about the high temperatures suffered in front of the grill.
An Argentine asado consists of a wide variety of cuts of meat. They can be from beef, chicken or pork. They're cooked on a grill, called a parrilla, or an open fire, frequently outdoors.
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| Add caption Argentine barbecue is called asado. (Cintia Mancilla) |
Korean barbecue is called gogi gui (고기구이). It's related to a Korean technique of roasting beef, pork, chicken and other meats. Gogi means meat, and gui means grilled.
1. Meat types
At Korean barbecues, you'll find meat such as pork belly, short ribs, beef tongue, brisket, squid and traditional Korean bulgogi marinated beef (불고기).
Korean meat is often thinly sliced for quick cooking. Instead, in Argentine barbecue, the meat is cooked slower and thicker, with a good amount of grease.
Bulgogi is made up of thin slices of sirloin or others prime cuts of beef marinated in soy sauce, sugar, sesame oil, garlic, pepper and scallions. Another popular form of it is galbi (갈비) made from marinated beef short ribs.
In Argentine barbeques, after appetizers, costillas or asado de tira (ribs) can be served. Next, comes the vacío flank steak, the matambre, the chicken or chivito (baby goat), the achuras (offals), the chinchulines (cow intestines), the morcillas blood sausages, the mollejas sweetbread and then a variety of other organ meats.
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| In Argentina, many kinds of meat are cooked together for barbeque dishes. (Cintia Mancilla) |
2. Side dishes
Typically, Argentine dishes that accompany grilled meat are rice with mayonnaise, la ensalada rusa, a mixed salad of tomatoes, lettuces and eggs. To hold back hunger before the asado, grilled tortilla made of flour, water, beef grease and salt is commonly eaten.
In Korean restaurants, side dishes could be a kind of kimchi, a green onion salad, pickled sliced onions or a radish pickle. Even if that makes you full, ordering a bowl of rice, a cold noodle dish in a broth, like naengmyeon (냉면), or doenjangjjigae soybean paste stew (된장찌개), is a must.
If you want to make a traditional Korean barbecue at home, sides dishes or banchan (반찬) can be anything you want, like pickled or fermented vegetables, such as radishes, cabbage, green beans, or cucumbers, grilled mushrooms, tofu and eggplant.
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| A variety of delicious side dishes come together with Korean barbecue. (Korea.net DB) |
3. Who's the cook?
All Argentine families have their own “grill master,” usually male, and someone who can accompany him but who's rarely that involved in the cooking with him. The entire procedure is outdoors.
In many Korean restaurants, the server will begin the grilling process, but the rest is up to you. You have to turn it and serve it. At home, however, everyone usually takes part in cooking the meat, unless there's someone who takes charge.
4. Cooking utensils
In Korean homes, tabletop butane gas burners with a grill plate on the table is the most common way to do barbecue, but some people use an electric grill.
In Argentina, cooking can be done al asador or a la parrilla. In the first case, a fire is made on the ground or in a fire pit and is surrounded by metal crosses, asadores, that hold the entire carcass of an animal splayed open to receive the heat from the fire. In the second case, a fire is made and after the charcoals have formed, a grill with the meat is placed over top.
Using kitchen shears to cut the meat is frequently used in Korea. I was surprised by it at first, but now I realized it's connected with the nature of Korean cooking. Other popular utensils are chopsticks and tongs.
5. Grilling technique
In Argentina, the meat for an asado is not marinated. The only preparation is adding salt before or during the cooking process. Also, the heat and distance from the coals are controlled to provide a slow cooking process. Don’t let the flames touch the meat, but try to make good contact with the grill so it creates a thin brown crust. It's useful to have a wheel crank that raises or lowers the grill.
To make the fire, charcoal or firewood is needed. Using gas is infrequent because it's believed that it would affect the flavor of the meat.
To begin the Korean grilling process, it's essential to place sliced onion or garlic onto the grill plate and let the flavors spread. Soon after, vegetables are added on one side of the plate grill. Lastly, it's time for the meat. Grill near to the center for a few minutes on each side, and then it's all set to eat.
6. Time to eat
When an asado is ready, the grill master will bring a tray with different types of meats. After you serve yourself your side dishes, he will ask what you would like to eat, and puts it on your plate. French bread is popular to accompany meat, especially chorizo grilled sausage.
In Korea, along with your meat, you’ll get a big bowl of greens, usually romaine lettuce, which is used to make little wraps with your barbecued beef. This is the traditional Korean ssam (쌈) style.
Sliced sirloin (불고기) and galbi sliced short ribs (갈비구) pair perfectly with lettuce. You can add whatever you like, like garlic, sesame oil, kimchi and rice, and pop the whole little delicious wrap into your mouth.
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| In Korea, barbeque is commonly eaten with layers of vegetables. (Korea.net DB) |
7. Condiment options
The traditional sauce in Argentina is very simple but also savory. This is called chimichurri. It's made of parsley, garlic, oregano, red pepper, vinegar and olive oil, and is used on top. Another popular cold sauce is salsa criolla prepared with onion, red bell peppers, tomato, vinegar and oil. Some also have green bell peppers, parsley and garlic. I personally love this sauce on matambre flank steak.
Korean barbecue in general comes with garlic and kimchi, sesame oil, fermented vegetables, and ssamjang paste (쌈장), a sauce made from a mixture of fermented bean paste and chili pepper paste, perfect for beef wraps.
8. Where to eat Korean barbeque in Buenos Aires
As the author writes this article, we're looking forward to trying some delicious Korean barbecue. In Buenos Aires, the best place to eat traditional Korean food is Una canción coreana, run by a local Korean woman named An Ra Chung. Her mother in law, Mrs. Joo, cooks the best Korean cuisine in Latin America. It's located at Av. Carabobo No. 1549 in Bajo Flores.
9. Where to eat Argentine barbeque in Seoul
If you want to try some Argentine barbecue, there's a restaurant in Hongdae at No. 220-5 Donggyo-ro in Mapo-gu District called Caminito, where you can also enjoy other Argentine dishes, like empanadas.
Another option is Buenos Aires Wine & Steak at No. 8-2 Jamwon-Dong in Seocho-Gu District. It not only offers great typical Argentine foods, but also good quality Argentine wines and tango shows. This is a good opportunity to experience a true Argentine dining experience.
wisdom117@korea.kr
