Mugeunji Pork Neck Salad

Name: Mugeunji Pork Neck Salad
Yield: 4
Cuisine: Korean-American
Ingredients: 1 1/2 lb pork neck or shoulder, sliced thin; 1 cup well-aged (mugeunji) kimchi, chopped, plus 2 tablespoons of its brine; 2 tablespoons gochujang; 1 tablespoon rice vinegar; 1 tablespoon sesame oil; 1 tablespoon honey; 2 cloves garlic, minced; 2 scallions, sliced; 1 tablespoon toasted sesame seeds

Serve when

Serve the moment the pork is sliced warm and tossed with the sharp, aged-kimchi dressing.

In the series

Season 1

S1E3 · ~00:25:00 White Spoon Edward Lee cooks a dish built around braised pork neck and mugeunji (well-aged kimchi) for his Round 2 one-on-one match, folding a Korean-American perspective into a Korean pantry staple

In the series

Edward Lee builds his one-on-one dish around a Korean pantry staple most home cooks would treat as a side, using well-aged kimchi as the backbone of a full plate rather than a garnish — a Korean-American chef making the case, mid-match, for how far a single fermented ingredient can carry a dish.

Ingredients

1 1/2 lb pork neck or shoulder, sliced thin
1 cup well-aged (mugeunji) kimchi, chopped, plus 2 tablespoons of its brine
2 tablespoons gochujang
1 tablespoon rice vinegar
1 tablespoon sesame oil
1 tablespoon honey
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 scallions, sliced
1 tablespoon toasted sesame seeds

Method

Sear the pork slices in a hot, lightly oiled pan until just cooked through and lightly caramelized at the edges.
Whisk the kimchi brine, gochujang, rice vinegar, sesame oil, honey, and garlic together into a dressing.
Toss the warm pork and chopped kimchi with the dressing while the pork is still hot, so it absorbs the sauce.
Finish with scallions and sesame seeds and serve immediately, either on its own or over rice.

Substitutions

Mugeunji (aged kimchi): regular fresh kimchi works, though it's sharper and less funky than the fully fermented version this dish is built around — leave it out of the fridge a day or two if you want to push it closer.

Beyond the recipe

Go deeper

Wikipedia: Culinary Class Wars