I didn’t know that “meat jun” (jeon) wasn’t really a thing outside of Hawaii until I moved away. It’s super common here; almost every restaurant has it. Basically it’s marinated beef with fry powder and egg that’s pan fried on a flat top. It’s usually served with a soy sauce, sugar, vinegar with gochugaru or gochujang mixed in. We got this for lunch today at a Hawai’i/Korean restaurant named Kimchee Restaurant #7. There used to be more, but only 4 of them remain. It’s an interesting fusion of Hawaii / Korean foods that exists before the recent wave of Korean food and people have come to Hawaii.
by thebadhedgehog5
3 Comments
Meat jeon made out of beef is a very popular traditional Korean dish, especially popular in both Jeolla + Gyungsang provinces (latter calls them “Jjijimi”). There’s even a pork version in North Korea.
육전(Yuk-jeon) refers to the meat jeon in general; 쇠고기전(Soegogi-jeon) refers to those made with beef. Jeon in general is a type of flat fried food with egg coating.
So funny I have a lot of friends from Hawaii that always ask me if I like Meat Jun and I always tell them it’s more of a Hawaii thing than a Korean thing. I do like it though I try to get it at least once when I’m visiting.