mary eats

Somehow I managed to get out of Korea with out ever trying Jok bal, or pig’s feet braised in soy sauce, on purpose.

The mosaic of lean meat, congealed fat, skin and dark meat, sliced thin on the bias led my stomach into a repetitious flip-flop, each time Kevin passed the strip of trotter restaurants near the Shilla on our way back from Dongdaemoon Market. Looking more like a deformed animal fetus doomed to a formaldehyde filled mason jar on a high school Biology teacher’s shelf, I never regretted not trying it, until, of course, now.

“I wanna eat something crazy,” my friend remarked as we looked over the menu at HoSoonYi in Edmonds. Soondubu, delicious, yes but crazy? No. Dwachigalbi, delicious yes, but again, crazy? No. Jok bal. Delicious? Couldn’t tell you, but crazy. Indeed, feet people. Feet.

I would like to add that the jok bal was listed on the menu under the header, “Sides for Hard Drinkers.” Such am I, drinking soju at 2 in the afternoon on a Thursday.

When the word passed my lips, our server, a petite middle-aged woman looked up in surprise, eyebrows arched near up to her hairline.
“Really?” “You want jokbal,”
“Yeah,” I replied sheepishly, “Soju too.”
“I like you” she snickered as she pointed her pen at me. At least, I thought, if I didn’t like it, I had earned some street cred with the Edmonds ajumas.

As it always does, it food began to arrive in a flood. First the banchan: baechu kimchi, then a more fresh cabbage kimchi, bean sprouts, one with the gochu-maru treatment one without, soy braised hotdog of the sea (odang), pickled mu, acorn jelly and roasted potatoes.

Then jok bal presented itself with the kimchi soondubu jjigae (not the best I’ve tried- that accolade still goes to Blue Ginger in Bellevue). My friend and I looked at each other, the jok bal, and the pink, fermented shrimp dipping sauce and dug in.

Sadly I have to report, the jok bal was cold. And the flavors I expected, soy, ginger, anise, but instead the gelatinous slices tasted pleasantly gamey with a slight commercially produced air. While we didn’t wolf it down (the same went for the dwachi galib which was under seasoned and bland) I snagged up the leftovers and am hoping to produce charcuterie greatness in the from of a jok bal sandwich for lunch today. What a little mayo can’t do.

I’m interested in trying jok bal again. If anyone has any NW suggestions for such please pass them on. If you want to see jok bal culture in Seoul, check out this video by Soul Glow.