Baek Jong-won Reveals Vol-Katsu Recipe on YouTube
[Asia Economy Reporter Na Ye-eun] Baek Jong-won, CEO of The Born Korea, revealed the reason for partnering with the Jeju pork cutlet restaurant 'Yeondon,' which gained attention after appearing on SBS's 'Baek Jong-won's Alley Restaurant,' to create the franchise 'Yeondon Bolkatsu.'
On the 19th, Baek uploaded a video titled 'Yeondon Bolkatsu? Let's Make It at Home' on his YouTube channel 'Baek Jong-won's Cooking Secrets.' In the video, Baek introduced a simple recipe to make bolkatsu, also known as 'menchi-katsu,' at home and explained why he created the 'Yeondon Bolkatsu' brand.
He continued, "Pork cutlets made with loin require a lot of effort. You have to carefully trim the loin, remove the fascia, slice it one by one, and make incisions. Then you have to pound it again to make the cutlet, which is not easy." He added, "Honestly, I want to let people taste Yeondon's pork cutlet, but it's not easy."
He then said, "First, the Korean Pork Producers Association requested a lot of help, and since I am a model for Korean pork, I thought about it. Although we can't make Yeondon pork cutlets, we wanted to capture the feeling of Yeondon and promote the consumption of pork hind legs. That's how we decided to make bolkatsu."
Baek said, "I developed the recipe together with the Yeondon owner through weekly consultations." He added, "If the stores do well and prosper, other similar brands will emerge. Although franchise companies like ours are not very happy about that, from a broader perspective, if many brands that use hind legs to make bolkatsu emerge, it will help the farmers."
Afterward, netizens' reactions to the video were mixed. Some criticized, saying, "It's bittersweet that the price of hind legs keeps rising despite the good intention to consume less preferred parts," "Pork belly and neck meat sell well on their own, so promoting cheaper parts like shoulder and hind legs only raised their prices," and "Didn't they say they wouldn't franchise Yeondon?"
On the other hand, some responded, "How much would consumption increase because of bolkatsu to raise prices?" "People complain about everything," and "Isn't it good for consumers if the recipe is shared?"
Meanwhile, Yeondon Bolkatsu, which opened its first and second stores in Jeju and Gangnam, Seoul, respectively, is a takeout specialty store selling ball-shaped mini pork cutlets made from pork hind leg meat. The price is 3,000 KRW per single item. The Born Korea stated, "To expand the consumption of less preferred Korean pork parts, we conducted a test sale at the Jeju store for about four months and completed product verification." They added, "We plan to operate stores mainly in key metropolitan areas in the future."
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