March 3rd is Three Layered Pork Day in South Korea

I know it sounds weird, doesn’t it?

I’m not sure which company or store started it. But it seems like a savvy marketer it cooked up (Get it?…Yeah, sorry, I had to!) to boost sales. And this marketer must’ve figured that the third day of the third month would be perfect for three layered pork. I can’t argue with that logic!

Such tactics are not uncommon, seeing as how there’s a Pepero Day as well. Pepero are delicious cookie sticks and November 11th is Pepero Day. So it seems that each industry make up some special day to entice people to buy their products.

And it totally works! Sales of pork boom every March 3rd.

Three layered pork in Korean is samgyeopsal

“Sam-” means three, “gyeop-” means layered, and “sal” means flesh or skin. And it has three layers because it’s from the belly of the pig. The cut shows a layer of fat, lean meat, and the transition between the two.

And yes, it’s incredibly fatty! But people usually eat it with lots of veggies and wrapped in a big lettuce or perilla leaf, known as “ssamjang.” Ssamjang is the most popular way to eat three layered pork, non-seasoned and grilled.

However, samgyeopsal can be boiled instead of grilled. Also, it can be seasoned, which is gaining in popularity.

Regardless of how it’s prepared, the most important thing is to have it with soju or beer! 😉

If you’ve watched any Korean drama series, you’ve likely seen this combination of grilled pork belly and soju (the green bottles) consumed by someone trying to eat and drink away their sorrows!

So if you get your hands on some samgyeopsal, don’t forget the beer and remember that sharing is caring!

So have you ever had samgyeopsal? What did you think? Share in the comments!