 Busan Yang Gopchang / Korea Times Photo by Lee Hyo-won |
Staff Reporter
It's juicy and fatty and just melts on the tip of your tongue. ``Daechang gui,'' or grilled beef tripe (the largest of the cow's four stomachs), is, even for many locals, an exotic Korean delicacy that is considered an acquired taste. But for those who relish the savory stuff, it's the chou cream of the meat world.
This reporter admittedly has never been a big fan of beef tripe, or even beef for that matter, but she decided to brave something new, and was pleasantly surprised at Busan Yang Gopchang in Yeoksam-dong, southern Seoul.
This family restaurant as typical of such Korean eateries is a large hall lined with tables you enter, shoes off, and sit down in the traditional style. There are a few regular tables in a tent outside as well. The venue is crowded around the clock, with a varied clientele ranging from the necktie-clad corporate types to sunglasses-sporting celebrities that all come for one thing: garlic-smothered charcoal-grilled intestines.
In traditional agricultural Korean society, the cow was man's best friend. After a long life of servitude it gave itself as meat, and Koreans paid their respects by sparing no anatomical part, including the guts.
Beef tripe is categorized into four parts: ``yang'' or tripe-scaled; ``beoljip'' or honeycomb; ``cheonyeop'' or omasum , which are bloody red chunks that can be devoured raw like beef liver; and ``makchang'' or abomasum.
What you usually order at a yang grill restaurant are yang, ``gopchang,'' the small bowel, and daechang, the large bowel. Gopchang is chewy and healthy ― ``Dongeui Bogam,'' the Joseon (1392-1910)-era medical annals compiled in the 17th-century, claims that it boosts physical stamina and energy and healthy bowel movement.
We opted for yang, wide strips of meat that look like chicken, and daechang, which resemble plump, fat-stuffed sausages. You can taste the cheonyeop and liver, too, which they offer for free. The unique thing about Busan Yang Gopchang is that they smother the meats in freshly mashed garlic before cooking them. The staff does all the work for you, cutting the intestines into more edible bits and placing them on the grill, and all you have to do is wait patiently.
The yang cooked faster, and you get three types of sauces: the very basic salt and sesame oil mix you get for ``samgyeopsal'' or grilled Korean pork; a diluted soy sauce with chopped fermented pepper; and a red, piquant concoction. The waitress advised us to mix the second with the third. Yang has a very particular aroma that some newcomers may find unusual, sort of like lamb, and the sauces do a good job of suppressing it.
We needed much patience to stop ourselves from digging into the daechang, but still watched in awe as the greasy insides oozed over while the outside turned into a golden honey color. Daechang is definitely not for those thinking about cholesterol levels. It felt like eating chou cream for dinner ― a fluffy, delicate ― and fattening ― flavor that invites a divine guilt trip.
Yang gopchang is, as already mentioned, a delicacy, despite the low-key ambiance of the restaurants that serve it, and costs more than 20,000 won per serving. Meals, such as gopchang kimchi fried rice and ``naengmyeon'' or buckwheat noodles, cost less than 6,000 won.
If you are planning a trip for a taste of daechang or other flavorful part of cow stomach, it is strongly advised to dress low-key. Even so, be sure to grab an apron, or ask for one ― the sizzling grill will constantly attack you with spurts of crackling oil, and afterward, you will inevitably smell like what you ate.
Located across the street from the Renaissance Hotel between Yeoksam and Seolleung Stations on subway line 2. Open from 5 p.m. to 6:30 a.m. everyday. Call (02) 554-7780.
hyowlee@koreatimes.co.kr
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