Kalbi and bulgogi

I was born in Hawaii (which is much sadder than it sounds when your mom moves you up to Michigan when you're 5 and you just have occasional visits to Dad down there to tease you with before you head back to the dismal wintery nightmare that is the mainland), so I grew up eating a much more varied and seafood heavy diet than most of my Midwestern friends and loved ones. There is nothing I love more than changing someone's mind about seafood when they think they hate it because they've only experienced poorly prepared bullshit.

Anyhoo, as a result, I find any day in which I don't eat something rice, ginger, garlic, chile, or soy based to be a depressingly wasted sham of a day. I am more partial to Korean, Vietnamese, Japanese and Thai cooking than French, new American, or even my beloved Italian. My family holiday meals often feature things like jook, fried rice, various kinds of kimchi, or like last years delicious kalbi (or galbi) and cuke kimchi.

Kalbi/galbi guide 

marinade:
1/3 cup soy sauce
1 TB water
1 1/2 TB sesame oil
1-2 TB brown sugar (I like things less sweet, which is very un-American of me)
2 TB garlic, minced
2 TB ginger, minced

meats:
for 1-2 lbs korean style short ribs
or you can make bulgogi with pretty much any cut of beef that would get thinly sliced

finish:
garnish: green onions and sesame seeds
serve with rice and bibb lettuce to wrap (or kimchi and tortillas to make the best fucking fusion tacos ever!



Whisk together soy sauce, water, sesame oil, and brown sugar until well combined. Add garlic and ginger and marinate in a large freezer bag, or some sort of large bowl for 4 hours-overnight.

It's more traditional to grill this, but as I lack an indoor grill, I usually just broil/bake it. I tend to cook by look and feel, but it usually takes about 30-40 minutes in the 350 oven, and often I will broil for the last 5 minutes. 

You can pan sear it in a cast iron, but this is kind of a pain if you have a lot of meat to cook, so I think oven is the best way to go, but if you are doing thinly sliced beef bulgogi, you might want to cast iron it on med-high heat until cooked through, about 5-15 minutes, depending on the thickness of your beef.

Scatter plenty of green onions and sesame seeds on top and serve with rice and lettuce to wrap with if desired.

Kal bi and BBQ sauce recipes

It's that magical time of year again, when the park renovation across the street from your yard-less house continues to ruin your fall (as it had your summer) and you finally say fuck it and have an indoor BBQ/potluck while gazing jealously at the sun streaming though the vibrantly colored autumn foliage.

Ahhhh fall, paving the way for the boring, lifelessness of winter. Soon it'll be time for hearty, root veggie based comfort foods, but for now we still have a few fresh, seasonal vegetation to choose from at the Farmer's Market.

In honor of my lack of park grilling this season, I'm making some kal bi style ribs, and some BBQ sauces, ya know, just to have lying around. Hurray!

Hopefully Spicy Kal Bi:

1/2 c brown sugar
1/2 c soy sauce
maybe try 2 TB Sprite
2 TB sweet white wine, like a moscato or riesling
1/2 small onion, finely grated
2 TB garlic, minced
2 TB ginger, minced
2 TB sesame oil
3 green onions (optional)
1 TB sriracha or chili sauce

Mix all this together and use to marinate 2 lbs of ribs (quality counts here, but I'm being lazy, and making some boneless country pork ribs, oh well) at least and hour, preferably overnight. Grill, or boil and bake.


BBQ sauces! Whoops, left those downstairs. Soon to come.