There is an "Asian Style BBQ!" TD going on right now, and it seems that a few of us have the same hankering when it comes to Asian styles of BBQ: Korean BBQ! There used to be a very famous AYCE Korean BBQ joint here in Northern California that I went to regularly (Palace BBQ Buffet in Santa Clara), and I never felt the need to recreate the experience at home. But recently the restaurant closed down, so this TD gives me the perfect opportunity to finally make some homemade KBBQ.
The majority of KBBQ joints these days serve LA kalbi, which are the thin 1/4" cross-cut "flanken-style" short ribs, like this:
And it's no wonder because shortribs are a pretty pricey cut of meat these days, and flanken-cut short ribs are relatively easy to prep. No need to add more labor cost to this already pricey cut.
But the more traditional cut is called "wang-kalbi", which translates literally to "king rib" because it was unthinkable that Korean royalty would be forced to eat meat right off a bone. LOL. The wang-kalbi cut involves cutting the shortrib meat off the bone and into one long ribbon for cooking, usually keeping the rib bone attached...and then rolled back up for tenderizing/marinating. Here is my first attempt at making wang-kalbi:
In the background, you can see the "English-cut" chuck short ribs that I started with...
In this pic, I've ribboned out all the short ribs and wrapped the meat back around each bone...
The marinade includes soy sauce, garlic, white onion, ginger, sesame oil, sesame seeds, sugar, rice wine, green onion, and the secret ingredient: Korean pear, which not only adds sweetness, but also helps to tenderize the beef. The grated pear puree has been spread over each ribbon of meat before rolling back up and set in the marinade...
After a day of marinating, these wang-kalbi are ready to be grilled...
Each rib is unrolled on the charcoal grill and cooked only long enough to caramelize/sear the meat on both sides. This is where the most common Korean kitchen tool comes into use...kitchen shears! Since I had the grill real estate, I just cut off the bone and left the long strips whole (easier to flip), but in a KBBQ restaurant it would not be unusual to cut the strips further into smaller squares as they are unrolled onto the grill for cooking.
Here's the big platter full of the finished wang-kalbi. I would just add that in a normal KBBQ meal, the cooking is very interactive at the table and you would be snatching up pieces of the meat and eating it as it comes off the grill. Put another way, cooking and eating happen continuously and at the same time and by everyone around the table....and with lots of beer or rice wine. There would never be this much cooked meat sitting around waiting to be eaten lol. Oh, and those bones...those are considered a delicacy or a cook's treat...I've seen people eschew the meat and prefer instead to gnaw at the bones for hours while they drink beer/wine!
The traditional way of eating kalbi is to make a little lettuce wrap (ssam) or rice paper wrap with pieces of meat accompanied by ssamjang (spicy fermented soy bean paste), raw garlic, perilla leaves (sesame/shiso leaves), and rice. I did not have any perilla leaves on hand so I subbed in green onion, and I left out the rice to stay on my low-carb kick.
This is a flavor explosion from beginning to end. Very satisfying. It is said that it is bad luck if you don't stuff the entire wrap in your mouth and eat it in one bite. I did not want to test this theory out, so I was happy to oblige and stuff one delicious wrap after another into my pie-hole. It's always nice to have tradition on your side when it comes to stuffing your face!
Just for kicks, I also made some dwaejibulgogi, which is spicy marinated pork (butt)...also one of my faves. Sweet and spicy and charred on the grill. Really, really yummy! If I had to do this over (which I will!), I would mix in some thinly sliced pork belly as well to make it that much more unctuous and decadent.
All in all, a very satisfying cook. Korean BBQ is pretty labor intensive in the prep, but the cooking is the fun, social, around the table activity that makes you forget about the prepwork. I've never met a KBBQ meal that I didn't like and didn't need a forklift to pick me up from the table afterwards. Good, good stuff.
The majority of KBBQ joints these days serve LA kalbi, which are the thin 1/4" cross-cut "flanken-style" short ribs, like this:
And it's no wonder because shortribs are a pretty pricey cut of meat these days, and flanken-cut short ribs are relatively easy to prep. No need to add more labor cost to this already pricey cut.
But the more traditional cut is called "wang-kalbi", which translates literally to "king rib" because it was unthinkable that Korean royalty would be forced to eat meat right off a bone. LOL. The wang-kalbi cut involves cutting the shortrib meat off the bone and into one long ribbon for cooking, usually keeping the rib bone attached...and then rolled back up for tenderizing/marinating. Here is my first attempt at making wang-kalbi:
In the background, you can see the "English-cut" chuck short ribs that I started with...
In this pic, I've ribboned out all the short ribs and wrapped the meat back around each bone...
The marinade includes soy sauce, garlic, white onion, ginger, sesame oil, sesame seeds, sugar, rice wine, green onion, and the secret ingredient: Korean pear, which not only adds sweetness, but also helps to tenderize the beef. The grated pear puree has been spread over each ribbon of meat before rolling back up and set in the marinade...
After a day of marinating, these wang-kalbi are ready to be grilled...
Each rib is unrolled on the charcoal grill and cooked only long enough to caramelize/sear the meat on both sides. This is where the most common Korean kitchen tool comes into use...kitchen shears! Since I had the grill real estate, I just cut off the bone and left the long strips whole (easier to flip), but in a KBBQ restaurant it would not be unusual to cut the strips further into smaller squares as they are unrolled onto the grill for cooking.
Here's the big platter full of the finished wang-kalbi. I would just add that in a normal KBBQ meal, the cooking is very interactive at the table and you would be snatching up pieces of the meat and eating it as it comes off the grill. Put another way, cooking and eating happen continuously and at the same time and by everyone around the table....and with lots of beer or rice wine. There would never be this much cooked meat sitting around waiting to be eaten lol. Oh, and those bones...those are considered a delicacy or a cook's treat...I've seen people eschew the meat and prefer instead to gnaw at the bones for hours while they drink beer/wine!
The traditional way of eating kalbi is to make a little lettuce wrap (ssam) or rice paper wrap with pieces of meat accompanied by ssamjang (spicy fermented soy bean paste), raw garlic, perilla leaves (sesame/shiso leaves), and rice. I did not have any perilla leaves on hand so I subbed in green onion, and I left out the rice to stay on my low-carb kick.
This is a flavor explosion from beginning to end. Very satisfying. It is said that it is bad luck if you don't stuff the entire wrap in your mouth and eat it in one bite. I did not want to test this theory out, so I was happy to oblige and stuff one delicious wrap after another into my pie-hole. It's always nice to have tradition on your side when it comes to stuffing your face!
Just for kicks, I also made some dwaejibulgogi, which is spicy marinated pork (butt)...also one of my faves. Sweet and spicy and charred on the grill. Really, really yummy! If I had to do this over (which I will!), I would mix in some thinly sliced pork belly as well to make it that much more unctuous and decadent.
All in all, a very satisfying cook. Korean BBQ is pretty labor intensive in the prep, but the cooking is the fun, social, around the table activity that makes you forget about the prepwork. I've never met a KBBQ meal that I didn't like and didn't need a forklift to pick me up from the table afterwards. Good, good stuff.
