Samyang Foods says it visited 100 jjajangmyeon restaurants to perfect new ramyun

Samyang Foods held a media tasting event for its premium jjajang ramyun "Jjarreur" at its Myeong-dong headquarters in Seoul, drawing about 70 media representatives, the company announced Thursday.

The event was organized to introduce the planning and development story behind Jjarreur, which launched last July, and to let attendees experience the product directly. Chae Hye-young, head of Samyang Foods' product division, and Lee Byung-hoon, director of its research institute, attended to walk guests through the product concept, development process and the company's beef tallow frying technology.

Jjarreur extends the beef tallow frying method that Samyang Foods revived last year through Samyang1963 — its first use of the technique in 36 years — into a jjajang ramyun format. Samyang1963, launched in November last year, had sold a cumulative 20 million units and generated 27.8 billion won ($20.7 million) in sales through August this year. Building on that market response, Samyang Foods released Jjarreur in July, pairing beef tallow-fried noodles with a rich, meat-flavored liquid sauce to expand its beef tallow ramyun lineup.

"To recreate the taste of freshly made jjajangmyeon, we visited more than 100 top jjajangmyeon restaurants across the country and analyzed the distinct cooking characteristics of each — the stir-fry aroma, flavor profile and sauce consistency," a Samyang Foods official said. "We incorporated those findings into the product design and completed the liquid sauce after more than 450 blending experiments over a year and a half." The official added that the noodles were also developed exclusively for Jjarreur after analyzing thickness, chewiness and sauce absorption at top jjajangmyeon restaurants nationwide, with more than 300 blending experiments conducted in the process.

Jjarreur's most distinctive feature is a cooking method that does not require draining the water. As the beef tallow-fried noodles boil, their flavor seeps into the cooking water, which is then mixed directly with the liquid sauce rather than discarded — allowing the nuttiness of the beef tallow and the deep flavor of the jjajang to blend naturally.

Chairman Kim Jung-soo made an unannounced appearance at the event and greeted the press. "Tomorrow marks 100 days since Jjarreur launched," Kim said. "It is a product we developed to recreate the true taste of jjajangmyeon in ramyun form."