Korean BBQ Etiquette

[offTopic]

My GF and I went to Korean BBQ last night, and ordered gal-bi. I'd never been, and she'd only been a couple of times.

Is it acceptable to throw the bones on the grill and then gnaw the meat off of them? Or, are you supposed to cut the meat off the bones as close as possible and leave them?

[7ontheline]

Yeah, gnaw away. You should understand that Asian etiquette is very different - it's usually OK to eat the most convenient way, unlike you Western devils.

[BOTW]

You are supposed to bury the bones in the backyard--or maybe I have that backwards...

Anyway, if it is a grill for my party only, I'd treat it like my own. If there are others sharing it, I wouldn't do it without asking. If you are just talking about gnawing on bones: it is a freaking BBQ, lick your fingers, smack your lips, and wipe your hands on her shirt.

[felson]

Go ahead and gnaw.

[sfer]

[ QUOTE ]
Is it acceptable to throw the bones on the grill and then gnaw the meat off of them?

[/ QUOTE ]

Actually, it's expected.

[Duke]

I'll completely disagree with it being expected. Either way is OK. They'll probably be surprised if you're not a 40+ year old Korean couple and do anything but ignore the bones, though.

I'm absolutely shocked that they didn't handle the cutting of the meat for you with those meat scissors and dispose of the bones themselves.

~D

[sfer]

Disagree at your leisure. I just know that when mom made it that's what we did.

[rusellmj]

Always remove the skin and head of the dog before BBQing.

Russ

[Duke]

[ QUOTE ]
Disagree at your leisure. I just know that when mom made it that's what we did.

[/ QUOTE ]

Eating at home is quite different than an apparently non-Korean guy eating in a restaurant in someplace other than Korea. I'm not saying that you're wrong about what people do, I'm saying that unless they've never had a foreign patron in the restaurant, they'll likely expect them to ignore the bones.

~D

[Duke]

[ QUOTE ]
Always remove the skin and head of the dog before BBQing.

[/ QUOTE ]

kae go gi? (sfer can correct me if I phoneticized it incorrectly)

Come on man, they know that Americans see a distinction between house pets and dinner. They also know that they disagree as to which parts of an animal are actually edible.

~D

[sfer]

Fair point. We also did it in restaurants. As did our parents.

[sfer]

[ QUOTE ]
kae go gi?

[/ QUOTE ]

gae, the rest is good. /images/graemlins/grin.gif

[VBM]

[ QUOTE ]
Always remove the skin and head of the dog before BBQing.

[/ QUOTE ]

silly round-eye...dog is best prepared in hot, spicy soup...

[offTopic]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Is it acceptable to throw the bones on the grill and then gnaw the meat off of them?

[/ QUOTE ]

Actually, it's expected.

[/ QUOTE ]

I just picked on post to respond to - thanks for all the replies. We did gnaw, though the reason the question came up is because we didn't notice anyone else doing it (though not everyone was eating gal-bi). Also, we're both Asian, but neither of us is Korean, thus the limited exposure to Korean BBQ.