Holiday pork galbijjim simmered in a pot: Morakmorak, Ansan butcher

Ahead of Chuseok, I went to Morakmorak Home & Cook in Seongpo-dong, Ansan, to pick up some meat to cook at home.

It's located in the basement of Star Plaza, so you go into the building and head downstairs to find it. They sell a wide range of meats — beef, pork, chicken — along with plenty of marinated options and ready-to-cook menu items.

If you're usually on the hunt for an Ansan butcher shop, I think this is a place worth checking out.

Where is Morakmorak Home & Cook, and what are the hours?

Morakmorak Home & Cook is located in the basement of Star Plaza at 513 Hwarang-ro, Sangnok-gu, Ansan-si, Gyeonggi-do, South Korea. Hours are 09:30–20:30.

Inside, the range was pretty wide, from beef to pork to chicken. There was beef for anyone looking for Ansan hanwoo (Korean beef), plus pork cuts that are good for grilling at home.

If you're specifically after Seongpo-dong samgyeopsal (pork belly) or Seongpo-dong mokssal (pork neck), the grilling cuts are worth a look too.

Unlike a typical butcher shop with a limited selection, this place lets you browse a lot of different options at once, which made it feel convenient for stocking up on home-cooked meal ingredients.

Browsing the marinated meat counter at Morakmorak Home & Cook

Morakmorak Home & Cook sells not just raw meat but a good variety of marinated meats as well.

From jeyuk bokkeum (spicy stir-fried pork), which works great as a side dish with rice, to dakgalbi (spicy stir-fried chicken) and galbijjim (braised short ribs) — easy-to-cook menu items caught my eye.

Chicken lovers can check out Ansan dakgalbi or dakbal (chicken feet), and for special occasions there's Ansan LA galbi (cross-cut short ribs) or Ansan tteokgalbi (grilled patty ribs) too.

These days, more people are looking for convenient ready-to-cook options instead of prepping and seasoning every ingredient themselves. On that front, this also seemed like a good spot for anyone searching for an Ansan meal kit.

The marinated pork galbijjim packed to go for the holiday

This time I picked up marinated pork galbijjim from Morakmorak Home & Cook to eat over Chuseok.

Galbijjim tastes great when made from scratch at home, but it's a dish that takes a lot of hands-on work — trimming the meat, soaking out the blood, prepping the marinade. This time, I went with pre-marinated pork galbijjim packed to go and cooked it at home instead. All I had to do was bring it home, put it in a pot, and simmer it thoroughly — the prep was so simple, and I liked that a lot.

During the holidays, when you're juggling several dishes at once, having even one item that's easy to prepare gives you a lot more breathing room. So I decided to make the galbijjim the easy way this time, and overall I was satisfied with the result.

Cooking the galbijjim in a pot at home: tender meat, deep seasoning

After simmering it thoroughly and plating it, I ended up with a really appetizing pork galbijjim. The meat cooked up tender, and the seasoning had soaked in well, making it great to eat with warm rice.

The seasoning paired especially well with rice, so eating it with rice made for a filling meal. It was so much easier than making galbijjim from scratch with a bunch of separate ingredients, and since the taste was good too, I'd like to try more of their marinated meats next time.

Soups and ready-made dishes at this Ansan butcher shop

Browsing the shop, I noticed there were plenty of menu items beyond meat that are easy to enjoy at home. From soup dishes you can just heat up, like Ansan seolleongtang (ox bone soup) or Ansan galbitang (short rib soup), to heartier options like kkorigomtang (oxtail soup) and dogani-tang (beef knee cartilage soup) — worth checking out for a full meal.

It also felt convenient that I could stop by to buy meat and end up picking out a full meal at the same time.

Is Morakmorak Home & Cook worth it for holiday meat?

This time I went with pork galbijjim for the holiday meal, but with so many options in the shop, I'd like to try other menu items next time. For everyday meals I'd go for grilling cuts like Seongpo-dong samgyeopsal or Seongpo-dong mokssal, and for special occasions, something a bit more special like Ansan hanwoo or Ansan LA galbi.

And on days when I want a simple meal, marinated meats like Ansan dakgalbi, Ansan tteokgalbi, or jeyuk bokkeum could cut down on cooking time. The pork galbijjim I packed to go this time was easy to cook at home and tasted great, so I was really satisfied.

If you're looking for an Ansan butcher shop, or a place in Seongpo-dong where you can browse both meat and convenience meal options at once, Morakmorak Home & Cook in the Star Plaza basement is worth a visit. I'm planning to go back and slowly browse to see what to pick next time :)