Tag: #koreanbbq

Seoul Satisfying: Bulgogi-Korean Grilled Beef

Seoul Satisfying: Bulgogi-Korean Grilled Beef

Maybe it’s a way to stay connected to my kid who is living in South Korea and teaching English.  My current obsessions are K-Dramas and Korean food.  I absolutely adore both.  My gateway to K-dramas was Amazon (damn you-Jeff Bezos, just kidding).  Suffice to say the rom-com genre is alive and well in South Korea. My favorite show is about an immortal who has been searching for his “bride”, the only person who can actually put him out of misery-I know, ironic. It’s called Goblin or Guardian.

My other obsession is Korean food.  Korean cuisine is right up my alley-spicy, flavorful tofu soups, pickled vegetables-Kimchi, Korean barbecue, noodles (Japchae), dumplings (mandu), and bap (rice), the cornerstone.  When I was a kid I would always unceremoniously dump my bowl of rice into my soup.  I’d swish the rice around to let it absorb the flavors of the soup before eating.  Now I find myself enjoying Korean Tofu Soups in the same fashion.

Then there is Korean barbecue. Beef, pork, chicken marinated in soy sauce, garlic, sesame, and onions-grilled over charcoal giving the meat that lovely smokiness, so good.

Like Chinese meals, Korean meals are very communal. Dishes are placed in the center of the table to be shared by all. Parents select choice tidbits to place in each child’s bowl.  Teens serve their grandparents.  Everyone feeds the babies. Chopsticks constantly moving food from plates and bowls and finally to mouths.  Eating is such a connection.  For Koreans and Chinese we often greet family and friends not with hello but with “have you eaten yet?”.

Bulgogi is thin strips of beef, marinaded, grilled quickly and wrapped in a lettuce leaf. Nestled in the lettuce along with the beef, is a bite of rice, kimchi, and a dab of ssamjang (bean-chili sauce).  Think tacos.  So delicious.  I adapted a recipe for bulgogi I found in Seoul Food Korean Cookbook (Kindle version for 4.99 right now) by Naomi Imatome-Yun.

The marinade starts with the trifecta of Korean seasonings, soy sauce, garlic, and sesame and builds on this with honey, Asian pear and scallions. So much flavor. Most Asian markets generally have pre-cut thin slices of short rib, pork, or chicken, which makes life easy. If you start with a whole piece of meat, toss it in the freezer for a couple of minutes.  Makes cutting thin slices a walk in the park.

It’s not always easy to find Asian pears.  Use a combination of finely grated apple (Fuji or Honeycrisp are nice) and pineapple juice in place of the Asian pear.  Don’t let it marinate in pineapple juice too long as it will break down the meat.  Add pineapple juice no more than a couple of hours before cooking.

Red leaf, Boston, or Gem lettuce, are the perfect shape, size, and texture for a bulgogi wrap.  Winner winner, bulgogi dinner-sweet, salty, garlicky, and smokey wraps and you can use your hands, just like tacos!  Broke da mouth good.

Don’t forget the kimchi!

Bulgogi

Bulgogi, beef thinly and marinated in soy, garlic, and onions. Served with rice and saamjang, wrapped in lettuce. This classic Korean dish is a sure fire hit with its bold flavors.
Course Main Course, Meat
Cuisine Asian, Korean
Keyword beef, Bulgogi, Grilled
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 5 minutes
Marinade time 3 hours
Total Time 20 minutes
Servings 4

Ingredients

  • 3 tablespoons chopped garlic CHOPPED, not minced, which would be too much
  • 3 tablespoons soy sauce
  • 2 tablespoons sugar
  • 1 tablespoon honey
  • 3 tablespoons grated Asian pear include juice substitute any apple, fuji or honerycrisp, grated 1/2 and 1/2 pineapple juice
  • 1 tablespoon mirin substitute sake which is not sweet
  • 1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil
  • 3 scallions finely chopped
  • 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
  • 1 pound sirloin steak ribeye or short rib, thinly sliced

Instructions

  • In a large bowl, mix together the garlic, soy sauce, sugar, honey, pear juice, mirin, sesame oil, scallions, and pepper and stir until the sugar and honey are dissolved.
  • Add the meat and toss to coat thoroughly with the sauce. Cover and refrigerate for at least 3 hours or overnight. For tougher cuts of meat, marinate the meat longer.
  • Grill the beef until well done and caramelized on the outside, about 3 minutes per side. You can also fry the beef in a cast iron pan.
  • Serve with rice, ssamjang and lettuce leaf. Garnish with sliced green onions and toasted sesame seeds. Serve hot

Notes

TIP: Top sirloin or tenderloin work best, but almost any steak cut will do. The best quality meat will be more tender and will taste the best. Trader Joe's has thinly sliced ribeye that works well.
Adapted from Imatome-Yun, Naomi. Seoul Food Korean Cookbook: Korean Cooking from Kimchi and Bibimbap to Fried Chicken and Bingsoo
Korean BBQ Flavor Shortcut

Korean BBQ Flavor Shortcut

Korean bbq comes to mind when summer rolls around and barbecue gets top billing. I love Korean barbecue especially Kalbi and Bulgogi. Kalbicross-cut or flanken-style beef ribs, are marinated in a garlicky soy sauce mixture flavored with sesame oil, green onions, sugar to sweeten and fresh ground pepper. The ribs are marinated for at least a couple of hours before they’re thrown on the grill. Cut crosswise (genius), they cook in minutes, a good thing since the aroma the sizzling meat and marinade as it caramelizes makes me hungry. Bulgogi, thin strips of meat, marinaded in a similar manner, is cooked on the grill, wrapped in lettuce along with a bite of rice, a bit of kimchi and dollop of gochujang and then quickly STUFFED in your mouth…hot, sweet, salty, crunchy..so good.  Party in my mouth.

I came across a recipe for Bulgogi Meatballs, the perfect answer to when you are craving Korean bbq but don’t have the time to marinade the meat.  A combination of ground beef and pork seasoned like Bulgogi, then formed into meatballs and fried or baked is a spot-on stand-in for Korean bbq.  The Bulgogi meatballs can be served by themselves with various dipping sauces, wrapped in lettuce, served with rice or made into a slider topped with cheese and kimchi.  It’s simple, quick and delicious.

Bulgogi Meatball sliders

The recipe comes from Everyday Korean, yes, another cookbook I picked up recently.  Gorgeous photos and a fusion twist caught my eye.  A flatbread topped with a Gochujang Sour Cream and mozzarella will be my next foray in this book.  Intriguing, different. I’ll keep you posted.

bulgogi meatballs from Everyday korean

Beef Bulgogi Meatballs

This recipe, from Everyday Korean by Kim Sunée and Seung Hee Lee, is a tasty spin on a familiar dish. Shape these into meatballs and serve with the dipping sauces along with lettuce leaves or steamed rice. Or make them into sliders to serve on toasted mini buns with grated Cheddar cheese, mayonnaise and mustard.
Author Everyday Korean

Ingredients

  • ¼ cup low-sodium soy sauce
  • 3 Tbsp dark brown sugar
  • 3 Tbsp minced green onion
  • 2 Tbsp minced garlic
  • 2 Tbsp toasted sesame oil
  • 2 tsp fish sauce
  • ¾ tsp freshly ground black pepper
  • ¼ Asian pear or Bosc or Bartlett pear, grated
  • 1 ⁄3 cup panko breadcrumbs
  • 1 lb ground beef preferably chuck and short rib
  • 1 lb ground pork or veal
  • 1 large egg lightly beaten
  • Toasted sesame seeds for garnish (optional)

Ssamjang

  • ½ cup doenjang fermented soybean paste or miso
  • ¼ cup gochujang Korean fermented chile paste
  • 2 Tbsp sesame oil
  • 1 Tbsp sugar
  • 1 Tbsp rice vinegar or cider vinegar
  • 1 Tbsp minced garlic
  • 1 Tbsp minced green onion white parts only
  • 1 Tbsp minced jalapeño serrano chile stems and seeds removed (optional)

Soy Vinegar Dipping Sauce

  • ¼ cup low-sodium soy sauce
  • ¼ cup rice vinegar or cider vinegar
  • 1 Tbsp sugar
  • 1 Tbsp finely chopped green onion
  • 1 tsp gochugaru Korean red pepper flakes, optional
  • 1 tsp toasted sesame oil optional
  • Toasted sesame seeds for garnish (optional)

Instructions

To make meatballs::

  • In a large bowl, mix together first 8 ingredients. Add panko, ground meats and egg; mix just until combined (do not overmix). Cover; refrigerate 30 minutes and up to 2 hours.
  • Preheat oven to 425°F.
  • Form meat mixture into 40-50 mini meatballs or about 18 slider patties; place on a foil-lined baking sheet. Bake 18-20 minutes or until golden and cooked through but still tender and moist, turning the pan halfway through cooking time.
  • OR
  • Heat 1 tablespoon vegetable oil in a large pan over medium-high heat. Add meatballs or patties to pan, leaving space. Cook, shaking pan occasionally until meat begins to brown on one side (~3 minutes). Gently flip over and cook for another 3-4 minutes. Until just cooked thru.
  • Garnish with sesame seeds, if desired. Serve with Ssamjang and Soy-Vinegar Dipping Sauce.

To make Ssamjang::

  • In a small bowl, combine all ingredients. Refrigerate in an airtight container up to 2 weeks. Makes about 1 cup.

To make Soy-Vinegar Dipping Sauce:

  • In a medium bowl, combine soy sauce, vinegar, sugar, onion, and gochugaru and sesame oil, if desired. Sprinkle with toasted sesame seeds just before serving, if desired. Refrigerate in an airtight container in the refrigerator up to 3 days. Makes about ½ cup.