> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://onesandwich.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Ssam (쌈) — Lettuce Wrap - URL: https://onesandwich.com/ssam-lettuce-wrap/ - Published: 2026-05-18T02:15:37.000Z - Updated: 2026-05-26T15:42:10.000Z - Description: Korea's original 'sandwich': grilled meat (pork belly or beef) wrapped in lettuce or perilla with rice, garlic, chili, ssamjang. Predates... - Author: Andrew Lekashman - Tags: South Korea, Wraps and Burritos, Ssam, #auto-imported **🇰🇷 South Korea** · Family: [Ssam](https://onesandwich.com/tag/ssam/) · Heat: Grilled · Bread: lettuce · Proteins: pork, beef --- Ingredients lettuce · pork belly · beef · rice · garlic · chili · ssamjang · perilla leaf *Ssam* (쌈) is Korea's leaf-wrapped parcel: grilled meat, usually pork belly or beef, enclosed in a lettuce or perilla leaf with rice, raw garlic, chili, and *ssamjang*, assembled by the eater one bite at a time. The angle is composition under tension, and this is the form the whole idea descends from, a sandwich whose wrapper is a vegetable and whose balance is settled at the table rather than in a kitchen. It carries a deliberately large number of competing elements in a single closed bite, fatty grilled meat, sharp raw garlic, fermented funk, fresh leaf, plain rice, and it works only when those are proportioned so the parcel can be closed and eaten whole. Overload it and it fails both literally and in flavor. The build is a stack inside a leaf, assembled by hand. A washed, dried leaf is the wrapper: crisp *sangchu* lettuce, or a more assertive *kkaennip* (perilla) with its grassy anise edge, sometimes both layered together. Into it goes a piece of meat hot off the grill, *samgyeopsal* pork belly or marinated beef, a small mound of rice to soak fat and carry the load, a smear of *ssamjang* (the salty-sweet fermented soybean and chili paste), a sliver of raw garlic, a slice of green chili, and often a pinch of scallion salad or a dab of *gochujang*. The eater folds it into a closed parcel and eats it in one go. Good execution is a leaf that folds without cracking, meat hot against the cool greens, rice and *ssamjang* proportioned so no single element scorches or smothers the rest, the whole thing sealing into one bite. Sloppy execution is an overloaded leaf that will not close and floods the hand, too much *ssamjang* burying the meat in salt, or a dry leaf that tears apart on the fold. The skill is entirely in restraint at assembly, and it belongs to whoever is building the wrap. It varies by leaf, by meat, and by what condiments join the core. Lettuce keeps it light and crisp; perilla pushes a herbal, almost medicinal edge; a steamed cabbage or pickled leaf changes the texture and acidity. The meat can be plain grilled belly, marinated *galbi*, or beyond pork and beef entirely. The boiled-pork *bossam ssam* set around simmered belly and napa cabbage, and the premium steak readings that swap grilled belly for *hanwoo*, are distinct preparations with their own balance problems and each deserves its own article rather than being crowded in here. --- ## More from this family Other [Ssam](https://onesandwich.com/tag/ssam/) sandwiches in South Korea: - [Bossam Ssam (보쌈 쌈)](https://onesandwich.com/bossam-ssam/) - [Galbi Ssam (갈비 쌈)](https://onesandwich.com/galbi-ssam/) - [Perilla Leaf Sandwich (깻잎 샌드위치)](https://onesandwich.com/perilla-leaf-sandwich/) - [Ssamjang Steak Sandwich](https://onesandwich.com/ssamjang-steak-sandwich/)