Sunjin, a livestock food company, has shared tips for getting the most out of pork during the summer grilling season. The advice comes from the Grilling Meister program, a private certification course run by the company's Meat and Food Culture Research Institute.
The key to grilling pork well is cooking the fat evenly without burning it. Pork has a clear boundary between fat and lean meat, and cuts like samgyeopsal and neck shoulder tend to have a high fat content. Undercooking the fat can leave behind an unpleasant odor, while excessively high heat causes the fat to char, dulling both flavor and texture. The collagen between the intramuscular fat layers converts to gelatin during cooking, adding the tenderness and savory richness that pork is known for.
When refrigerated pork first touches the grill, the contact-surface temperature should be around 150 to 180 degrees Celsius. The grill surface itself is best preheated to no more than 200 to 220 degrees before placing the meat. Too much heat causes rapid protein denaturation, making the meat tough and risking burnt fat. Too little heat makes it difficult to achieve the Maillard reaction — the browning process that develops a rich, savory crust on the surface.
A standard method calls for grilling each side for about two minutes, then cutting the meat into bite-sized pieces and rotating each cut side for one minute at a time, four times over. Total cooking time should stay within roughly 14 to 15 minutes. For thicker cuts, resting the meat for five to 10 minutes after the initial sear helps the juices settle more evenly.
Cha Ho-myeong, head of the meat and food solutions team at Sunjin's technology research institute, said the company aims "to develop the art of grilling meat — long reliant on experience and intuition — into a discipline grounded in systematic knowledge and technique, and to spread a grilling culture that lets people enjoy Korean pork at its best."
Sunjin's Meat and Food Culture Research Institute was established in 2021 to advance Korea's distinctive grilling culture and deepen consumer understanding of meat quality. The Grilling Meister program it operates is a private certification course registered with the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, assessing both knowledge of meat and practical cooking skills. Initially aimed at professionals in the meat and food service industries, the program expanded in 2025 to include general participants. About 300 people have completed the curriculum to date.
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