Jeyuk Bokkeum

Jeyuk bokkeum is the everyday pork dish of Korean canteens: thin slices of shoulder or belly marinated in gochujang, chilli powder, garlic and a little sugar, then seared over high heat with onion, spring onion and sometimes cabbage. The sauce reduces and caramelises at the edges of the meat. In Paris it often appears as a lunch set, served over rice as jeyuk-deopbap.

It is eaten with plain rice, which takes the edge off the chilli — each mouthful alternates meat, rice and a little kimchi. Many wrap it in a lettuce or perilla leaf with rice and a dab of ssamjang, the way you would a barbecue. As a main it is shared from the centre of the table; as deopbap it is a single bowl.