Chinatown Classic · Sweet and Sour Pork
Tangsuyuk
Photo: 최광모 / Wikimedia Commons · CC0
Diners debate how to eat it — pour the sauce over everything ('bu-meok') or dip each piece one at a time ('jjik-meok') — an argument common enough to have its own slang.
Battered pork or beef is deep-fried until craggy and crisp, then served alongside — or drenched in — a glossy, tangy-sweet sauce thickened with vinegar, sugar, and chunks of pineapple, carrot, and cucumber. It's a fixture of the Chinese-Korean restaurants lining Incheon's Chinatown, usually ordered alongside jjajangmyeon.
Why it's made this way: Like jjajangmyeon, tangsuyuk was adapted by Chinese immigrant cooks working around Incheon's port in the early 20th century, reworking a Shandong-style sweet-and-sour dish into the crunchier, sauce-on-the-side version that later spread across Korea.
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Part of World of Street Food — 3443 dishes from 118 countries.
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