Gochujang-samgyeopsal (Red Chili Pork Belly)

Gochujang-samgyeopsal lives or dies by heat control. People blame the paste when this dish burns, but the paste only did what sugar and chili do in a hot pan. Render the pork first. Add the red sauce after the fat has started to clear and the edges have color. That is the difference between lacquer and soot.

This is weeknight food, not a ceremony. A pan on the stove, a plate of lettuce, sliced garlic, ssamjang if you want it, rice close by. Pork belly brings enough richness of its own, so the gochujang should season it, not bury it. Let it taste like itself: pork first, then chili, garlic, sesame, and only a little sweetness behind them.

Notebook 41 says 700 grams of pork belly needs 3 tablespoons of gochujang, not five. I wrote that after a student made a pan so red nobody could taste the meat. 손맛 is real. I still measure it, so it can be handed on. Tonight this dish asks you for two things: cut evenly, and do not walk away from the pan.