One of the things that I found very interesting when I came to Korea was how much Koreans love grilled intestines. I mean, it's considered to be high cuisine. The chewy intestines of cattle are made made into stews, soups, stir-fried and grilled as barbecue. There are many famous restaurants for barbecued gopchang, stir-fried gopchang and even gopchang jeongol, a soup dish.

So what does beef intestine taste like? Well...it tastes very chewy and it has a rich, savory taste like butter. I mean intestines have a lot of oil in it so I guess it makes sense that it would taste like butter. Also the process in cleaning it is very labor intensive. Famous places for intestines clean the intestines multiple times and then soak it in a mixture of onion juices and other ingredients overnight to get rid of the strong smells and taste. What is left the chewy meat that has a taste like beefy cheerios when they are grilled in a hot pan. To be honest, if you didn't know it was intestines, I think most people would think it was just delicious meat.

So the meat is referred to as either so-gopchang which is the small intestine of the cow or yang-gopchang which is the first stomach. Keep in mind, both of these are different from makchang which is made from pork.

The best places for barbecue gopchang will cook the intestines over high heat in a cast iron pan. This is necessary because beef intestines have a lot of oil. Over by Seoul National University of Education or known by Koreans as Gyodae, there are several famous gopchang restaurants that cook the intestines this way. It is important to get a strong sear on the intestines so when they finish, they have a crispy exterior and chewy interior. It's very oily so the servers will constantly use paper towels to sop up the oil that collects on the bottom the pan. If you were to do this over a grill plate, I think there would be a risk of grease fires. At some places, after you eat all the delicious meat, the restaurants will make a delicious fried rice from the leftover bits in the pan, roasted seaweed and kimchi. The rice is heavenly and the entire meal goes with a cool and refreshing glass of soju.

Another version of this gopchang is spicy gopchang. The intestines are tossed and marinated in spicy chili. You can usually find this in tent restaurants called pocha machas.

Finally, the royal version of this dish is called Gopchang Jeongol. This is a spicy hot pot that has mushrooms, onions and other veggies. It is believed that the casserole broth is very good for digestion and for the stomach.