A Visit to Seoul

This week saw me on a work trip to Seoul, S. Korea.  The work part was very productive, but the highlight was the hospitality, including dining on Korean barbeque.  Above is a long table of various IBM colleagues.  The silver tubes are chimneys that take away the smoke of the barbeque.

Here’s a close-up look.  What’s grilling here is pork cheeks.  The fire is actual charcoal that when brought to your table is bright cherry-red with heat.  When the morsels get to the desired level of crispiness, you grab 1 or 2 with chopsticks, dab with salt, wrap in a lettuce leaf or a perilla leaf, maybe add some spicy bean paste, then munch away.  Other accompaniments: braised sweet potato, similar to this recipe; gyeran jjim, a steamed egg custard kind of like Japanese chawanmushi; and of course several kinds of kimchii.

And lest I forget, all is washed down with liberal amounts of beer and soju, the rice wine of Korea.

So as much as I’m enjoying the cuisine of my adopted home, India, this trip was much welcomed by my carnivorous side.  I’m hopeful I’ll be back before too many months go by.