Sangchu Ssam

The heart of the Korean table: cool lettuce leaves wrapped around grilled pork belly, a dab of the fermented paste ssamjang, a sliver of raw garlic, and a little rice, folded and eaten whole in a single generous mouthful

Origin: Korea

From the journey of Lettuce.

Ssam, meaning simply 'wrapped', is less a recipe than a way of eating that lies at the very centre of Korean food culture, and the lettuce leaf is its essential vessel. A washed leaf of soft sangchu lettuce is held in the palm and built into a single perfect bite: a piece of hot grilled pork belly fresh from the tabletop grill, a smear of ssamjang (the thick, pungent dipping paste of fermented soybean doenjang and chilli gochujang), a sliver of raw garlic, perhaps a ring of green chilli and a little steamed rice, the whole folded into a parcel and eaten in one mouthful so that nothing spills. The pleasure is in the assembly and in the balance, the cool crisp leaf against the rich pork, the deep ferment of the ssamjang against the bite of raw garlic. No Korean barbecue is set without a heaped plate of lettuce and perilla leaves at its centre, and the building of one's own ssam is part of the conviviality of the meal. So central is the lettuce wrap that a Yuan-dynasty Chinese record praised the lettuce grown by Korean palace women and called it the 'thousand-gold vegetable' for the high price of its seed. The dish can be made with thin pork belly (samgyeopsal) grilled plain, or with the marinated grilled beef bulgogi, but the architecture of the wrap stays the same.

Ingredients

The Wrap

  • 2 heads soft red- and green-leaf lettuce, leaves separated, washed and dried
  • 20 perilla leaves (kkaennip), optional but traditional

The Pork

  • 600 g pork belly, sliced about 1cm thick
  • 1 pinch salt and freshly ground black pepper

Ssamjang

  • 2 tbsp doenjang (Korean fermented soybean paste)
  • 1 tbsp gochujang (Korean red chilli paste)
  • 1 tsp toasted sesame oil
  • 1 tsp toasted sesame seeds
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced, for the ssamjang
  • 1 spring onion, finely chopped
  • 1 tsp caster sugar

To Serve

  • 6 cloves garlic, thinly sliced, to serve
  • 2 green chillies, thinly sliced, to serve
  • 400 g steamed short-grain rice, to serve

Method

  1. Make the ssamjang: stir together the doenjang, gochujang, sesame oil, sesame seeds, minced garlic, chopped spring onion, and sugar to a thick paste. Set aside in a small bowl.
  2. Arrange the washed lettuce and perilla leaves on a platter, and set out small dishes of sliced raw garlic, sliced chilli, the ssamjang, and the steamed rice.
  3. Season the pork belly with salt and pepper. Grill on a hot tabletop grill, griddle, or heavy frying pan over medium-high heat for 3 to 4 minutes a side, until deeply browned, crisp at the edges, and cooked through. Snip into bite-sized pieces with scissors.
  4. To eat, lay a lettuce leaf (and a perilla leaf, if using) in the palm. Add a little rice, a piece of pork, a dab of ssamjang, and a slice of garlic and chilli to taste.
  5. Fold the leaf around the filling into a closed parcel and eat the whole ssam in one mouthful. Build each wrap fresh as you go.

Notes

Marinated bulgogi beef can replace the pork belly, and grilled mushrooms make a fine vegetarian version with the same ssamjang and leaves. Thinly sliced raw garlic is traditional, but the cloves can be grilled alongside the pork for a sweeter, milder bite. A bowl of plain pickled radish or kimchi rounds out the table. The lettuce is non-negotiable: it is the plate, the wrapper, and the cool heart of the dish all at once.

The Gastrographer

The Gastrographer

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Ingredient originTrade or transit route
Became a culinary stapleColonial / trade control
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