Wednesday Gourmet (Wednesday Food Talk / 수요미식회)

Welcome to the 218th episode of Wednesday Food Talk.

Welcome. - Welcome.

Before I introduce today's guests,

I have to share today's theme first.

We all used to gather around in front of this barbecue grill.

It's the nostalgic taste of the old days.

It's the newtro food, frozen pork belly.

Here are today's guests. He's very good at grilling pork belly.

Please welcome On Ju Wan.

She is from this girl group that is becoming a huge star.

Please welcome Lena from GWSN.

She is still a newbie and good-hearted.

They would usually bow their heads as they are seated.

But she got halfway up.

It's very rare to see this. - He is an old fossil.

Please pronounce it properly.

Use proper language. - All right.

Today's theme is frozen pork belly.

I'm sure you all have good memories of pork belly.

I heard you are a meat-eater.

I consume meat for about three to four times a week.

It doesn't sound like you. - I have beef and pork.

You don't like the salad, do you?

No, I don't like to have it.

You remember having frozen pork belly when you were a kid, right?

Yes. I had it at home.

We did not really eat out.

So we had a pork belly barbecue at home.

My mom used to spread newspaper on one-third of the living room.

Goodness. That's right. - "Bring yesterday's newspaper."

It had to be yesterday's.

When I bring it for her,

she spreads it on one-third of the living room floor.

I remember grilling pork belly on a portable burner and eating it.

When I was young, my neighbors from downstairs would grill it.

The smell travels upward. - Yes, it does.

My mom would ask, "Son, should we have some meat?"

And we'd grill it at home.

You know what? Your family was well-off.

"Let's eat pork belly since our neighbors are having it."

If your family had the means... - We didn't eat meat often.

Usually, other families would just swallow their saliva.

Lena. I heard...

you were born in 2002. Right? - Yes, that's right.

Then you're in 11th grade now. - Yes, I'm 18.

It was the year of the World Cup. - You didn't watch the match.

No, I didn't.

It's obvious that she couldn't. - Right.

You missed a great match. - She was born in 2002.

That means you might not have had the chance to eat...

frozen pork belly while growing up.

Yes, this was my first time having frozen pork belly.

So when I tried it this time, it was really good.

By the way, I heard this from our staff.

Gosh, she is in 11th grade,

but from what I've heard, she has her own standards.

You said that you had to have pork belly with rice.

Yes, whatever the dish is, I have to eat it with rice.

That's why when I eat fried chicken, I eat it with rice.

Fried chicken with rice? - With rice?

Yes. - Fried chicken and rice.

Add fried chicken on the rice. - I have to eat it with rice.

That's how much I love rice.

So when I eat meat,

I need to eat it with rice, kimchi, and soup.

Do you need doenjang stew? - Yes, doenjang stew.

Without them, I can't eat meat.

You don't like naengmyeon?

I don't like the sour flavor from naengmyeon.

You go for rice then. - Yes, I like rice.

She sounds like a 52-year-old, not an 18-year-old.

Okay. - She sounds like my mom's friend.

Right? She has a palate of an old woman.

"I need some rice and some stew."

Some people are insistent on having rice with their meals.

They say that only with rice, their meals feel complete.

As for frozen pork belly,

I bet Seok Jin had thin pork belly slices when he was in college.

We had a lot of such restaurants in front of our school.

1 serving was about 2.90 dollars. - Right.

It made me wonder why it was cheap, but when I had it, it was good.

Back then, it was good. - It's good.

But when you go there, you can't stop at one serving.

You would only feel full...

after eating 3 to 4 servings. - Right.

Thin pork belly was the most deceiving dish of all.

Right. - Once you grill them, they shrink.

That's right.

You can't just eat one slice. - You eat it like mung bean sprouts.

Like mung bean sprouts. - Right.

But when I told my friends that I'd be going for frozen pork belly,

everyone liked the theme.

Usually, I go to a restaurant with two to three friends.

This time, I went with about 7 to 8 friends.

It was pretty expensive. And I had to pay for the meal.

Compare it with the salad special.

I almost had to eat the salad by myself.

I almost had the salad and the waffle by myself.

Since the late 1990s, thin pork belly started to get popular.

Frozen pork belly might seem similar to thin pork belly.

But the meat quality is completely different.

Recently, frozen pork belly...

became a high-quality meal because of the equipment.

As for the term, flash freezing,

some people use this term when they put food in a freezer.

There are separate deep freezers. - Right?

They are very expensive. - They freeze food rapidly.

It's this big, but it costs several tens of thousands of dollars.

Really? - So the food freezes right away.

My gosh. - It's very expensive.

You need this freezer...

to have high-quality frozen pork belly.

That's right. If we use the fridge freezer at home...

and put pork belly inside there, - It won't taste the same.

it doesn't taste the same.

After going to the restaurant,

I noticed that the meat loses less juice compared to the past.

It's because the meat was frozen rapidly.

It all has to do with the deep freezer.

My gosh. You know what? There were...

several popular restaurants that served frozen pork belly.

There were always lines...

at those restaurants. Right? - Right.

Ju Wan, you said that you were willing...

to wait in line for 20 to 30 minutes to have frozen pork belly.

Frozen pork belly restaurants are...

retro-themed which is popular now. - That's right.

But as for the restaurant that starts with N,

it's not retro-themed. It's just an old restaurant.

Right.

They don't even play music there. - Right.

You might even slip from the chairs.

It's slippery. - It's slippery.

The whole place is slippery. - Yes, everything is slippery.

It's a frozen road. - Starting from the floor.

Right. The floor is slippery.

I thought I was Kim Yu Na.

You have to be careful there when you drink a lot.

And I think when you wait in line,

the waiting maximizes your hunger.

For me, waiting in line is a given.

And I believe...

famous restaurants shouldn't expand.

You want it to be small? - Yes. And their second branches...

aren't consistent with the first branch.

Why do you make your life difficult?

They taste about the same.

And if I know that I'm having a barbecue today,

I wear clothes that I don't care about getting ruined.

I put on those clothes before going to the restaurant.

He sounds like he lives to eat frozen pork belly.

I like meat.

I used to wear white pants when I went out to have makgeolli.

Because you spill it? - It'd be okay if I spill it.

When you drink, you spill some. - Yes.

Does it come out of your mouth?

No. I might knock over the drink...

or spill it while clinking the bowls.

I'm sorry. - Come on, what's wrong with you?

When I was young, I grew up eating frozen pork belly.

Once I became an adult, I often ate fresh pork belly. The thick one.

Some people prefer frozen pork belly,

and some, fresh pork belly.

What do you all prefer?

What about you, Ju Wan?

I like both of them.

You like meat in general? - We also like both of them.

But if you had to choose. - But you have to choose one.

I like both. - Just pick one.

Just one? - Yes.

I don't think I'll be able to give up one.

I can't give up either one of them.

We're not asking him to pick which restaurant serves...

Right. - better jjajangmyeon.

It's like choosing between...

jjajangmyeon and jjamppong. - They are different dishes.

You can't give up on both dishes. - What about you, Lena?

I'd choose frozen pork belly.

She had it for the first time.

I bet she really liked it. - Right.

It's because fresh pork belly is thick.