The Korean dish of pig’s feet cooked in soy sauce is jokbal. It is made from pig’s trotters, which are usually braised with soy sauce, ginger, garlic, rice wine, and spices.
The long cooking process makes the meat tender while concentrating the seasoning in the skin and connective tissue. Jokbal is commonly served sliced and shared among several diners. Because it is considered anju, food eaten with alcohol, it is often paired with soju. Diners may wrap pieces in lettuce with sauces and vegetables, in a style similar to other Korean ssam dishes.
Modern jokbal is strongly associated with Jangchung-dong in Seoul. The neighborhood’s jokbal restaurants became prominent in the 1960s and 1970s, partly because visitors to the nearby Jangchung Gymnasium helped spread the dish’s reputation. The food is also linked historically to pork-leg preparations from Hwanghae Province.
Jokbal should not be confused with bossam, which is usually boiled or steamed pork wrapped in leaves, or with galbi, a term generally associated with ribs. Spicy versions are often called buljokbal.