I went to Korea to find HANWOO, is WAGYU old news?

As it is a traditional Korean cow, (Han Woo comes from Han: Korean, Woo: Cow) Korea does not allow this particular beef to be exported outside of the country. The beef is strictly regulated in Korea to keep its quality and is exported to only a few countries (I believe one) Hong Kong.

Thank you very much for visiting my offline store and introducing HANWOO. This video provides me a sense of accomplishment at water-aging HANWOO for the last decade. I will continue to support Guga Food in Seoul. Hope to see you again some day :) What’s your next ETA?! 😄🫶✈

Korean food is by far one of my favourite cuisines. I'm a sucker for all asian cuisines, but korean just hits a spot like no other

this has the trappings of a new series. "Guga worldwide" where he toures the world and tries to cook traditional dishes of other countries. I would watch that

As a Korean, I highly recommend you to visit a quality Korean style BBQ places. Majang market is maybe a good place for shopping Hanwoo at cheaper price and definitely the best place to feel the atmosphere of old Seoul Korea(not many Koreans go to traditional market these days), but not the best place to enjoy it because they don't serve good quality charcoal and side dishes and so on which leads to less satisfaction. In addition, wet aging is not popular in Korea at all(I doubt I've seen it before?). Korean style bbq restaurants usually serve fresh (or short-term aged in some places) Hanwoo beef. Dry-aged Hanwoo is typically served at western style steak houses which you can find easily in Seoul. IMO, maybe not the Hanwoo itself but the way Koreans enjoy it- Korean style bbq : charcoal grilled thin cut fresh beef - can give you a better understaning of Hanwoo. You can find lots of vides enjoying Korean style bbq on Youtube and I recommend you to visit one of those places with good quality. I personally enjoy both prime U.S. beef and Hanwoo. I find Hanwoo is more suited for Korean style bbq(due to its marveling - Hanwoo tends to have more intramuscluar fat than U.S. beef and sometimes strong beefy flavor) and U.S. beef is more suited for steak(due to its soft texture and mild flavor) and eventually it comes down to personal preference. In terms of Hanwoo' taste, it is grain-fed beef like U.S. beef(traditionally Hanwoo has been raised grass-fed for hundreds of years). so its beefy flavor is quite different from grass-fed beef. Sometimes I can't stand the flavor of grass-fed beef and I guess many Koreans do. Maybe that's why Koreans love Hanwoo. Here I don't want to claim that Hanwoo has superior quality than wagyu, U.S. beef or beef from another country. Maybe it's just suited for Korean's taste and the way they enjoy it.

So happy to see this video. My wife is Korean and each time we visit there, her family take us out to eat HANWOO bbq. I always tried to explain to my friends back in Europe just how amazing it is, and was met with a visible degree of skepticism. Now i will forward all of them this video, which contains the verdict from the OG Himself! Thank you Guga!

I truly enjoyed this! Love seeing you explore ❤ More travel videooooos please

Fantastic. Way to go Guga!!!! I livedin Asia for 3 years and Korean food is amazing !!!

As a beef loving Korean, I love both hanwoo and wagyu. Wagyu, you go for the fat. The taste of the fat is amazing and the cooking methods can only be between charcoal or teppan yaki. Hanwoo, on the other hand, is for the red meat. The beefiness of the meat really comes through even if the meat is 1++(9) which has the highest fat content. Also hanwoo is cut entirely differently from American way - for expample chuck is much shorter in Korea than in America. There is no piccanha for hanwoo as well, since we cut it stripped of its fat cap and sell it mostly for yook-hwoe, a chopped raw beef marinated with sweet salty sauce. I really like to buy a chunk of hanwoo and cut it up to portions so I can use it for broth. Boiling hanwoo gives such an amazing beefy broth.

It is not illegal to export per se but there is a law against freezing hanwoo for export. Only just recently have they allowed refrigerated exporting. That's why you don't see it anywhere else. As a person who lived in Korea and ate hanwoo mainly, I would say that Wagyu is definitely more tender and buttery but hanwoo has the best beef taste/ flavor by far. It is not too rich or heavy but more umami. Definitely not as tender or melt in your mouth as Wagyu. The taste probably has more to do with the specific grass the cow is fed. Korean soil is red and I am sure it has something to do with the type of grass. Also, the hanwoo market has grown exponentially as with the quality of beef. Even ten years ago, I had to find specific butchers to get the best cuts and quality. Now it's everywhere.

I’m so glad Guga visited my country, the food there is outta this world and happy that he got to experience it!

I loooove this! She's so amazing at explain relevant details. Delicious!

I will visit Korea and Japan in December. Those videos are absolutely a blessing. Thank you!

As a person that tried both Hanwoo and Wagyu, it really depends on the mood. I personally like Hanwoo better because it's super tender but you still get the beef flavor. With A5 Wagyu, it tastes amazing but it's super rich but you're mainly eating fat. A5 Wagyu is probably 40/60 Meat to fat ratio and Hanwoo is like 70/30 Meat to fat ratio.

Exelent amazing video Guga! Keep up the exelent work man!

What a cool experience man - thanks for sharing Guga !!!

Love all your work and dedication!😊😊😊❤❤❤❤❤

As your Korean follower for a few years, I'm extremely happy that you came to Korea and tried lots of Korean food. As far as I googled, the main reason why Hanwoo beef is not exported is its high price. It is already quite expensive domestically due to high demand and low supply and the price would only get worse if exported. Moreover, as you already spotted, it is not as special as Wagyu and far less known, which makes it almost impossible to justify the price. By the way, the first market you've been is 광장시장 rather than 관장시장. 시장 means a market in Korean and somewhat funnily 관장 just means enema(!) whereas 광장 is a public square. Anyway, I really hope you enjoy the visit!

Guga, I am so happy you were able to go to Korea. We lived there for.4 years and like you found out, the Hanwoo beef is exceptional. Excellent pork and chicken too. I miss the food and Korean people so much. If you get to go again, I'm in!

Great video!! Your book is awesome and a must have!!!!!