Bulgogi
Thinly sliced beef marinated in a sweet-savoury soy-pear-garlic mix, then grilled or stir-fried fast. The Korean barbecue staple; the pear (or apple) is structural, tenderising the meat with natural enzymes.
Overview
Rib-eye or sirloin sliced paper-thin sits in a marinade of soy, brown sugar, sesame oil, garlic, ginger and grated Asian pear (or apple), then sears hard in a screaming-hot pan or on a BBQ. Served wrapped in lettuce leaves with rice and ssamjang.
Ingredients
Marinade
- 600 g rib-eye (or sirloin, paper-thin, butcher-sliced or freezer-sliced)
- 1 ripe Asian pear (or 1 small apple), grated
- 4 tablespoons soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons brown sugar
- 2 tablespoons toasted sesame oil
- 4 garlic cloves (crushed)
- 1 tablespoon grated ginger
- 1 onion (small, grated)
- 4 spring onions (chopped)
- 1 tablespoon toasted sesame seeds
- 1 tablespoon mirin (or rice wine)
To serve
- Cooked short-grain rice
- 1 head butter lettuce (or red-leaf lettuce, separated into whole leaves)
- 1 cucumber (sliced)
- Kimchi (Cabbage)
- Ssamjang (Korean dipping sauce; shop-bought is fine)
Method
Stage 1 - Marinate
- Combine all marinade ingredients in a bowl.
- Toss the sliced beef through; cover and refrigerate at least 1 hour, ideally 4.
Stage 2 - Cook
- Heat a heavy frying pan or BBQ over very high heat.
- Cook the beef in batches for 1-2 minutes a side; don't crowd the pan or you'll steam it.
- Each batch caramelises quickly because of the sugar in the marinade.
Stage 3 - Serve
- Pile the cooked beef on a platter.
- Set out lettuce leaves, rice, cucumber, kimchi and ssamjang.
- Diners build their own: lettuce leaf, rice, beef, kimchi, ssamjang, fold and eat.
Notes
- Asian pear is the tenderiser: The fruit's enzymes break down meat fibres; substitute with kiwi (less than half the amount; it works fast and can over-tenderise) or apple in a pinch.
- Slice thin or freeze and slice: Butcher-sliced ideal; if doing yourself, freeze the steak 30 minutes for clean cuts.
- High heat: Bulgogi is meant to char at the edges. Lukewarm pan = grey beef.
Storage
- Cooked keeps 2 days refrigerated.
- Marinated raw beef keeps 1 day; freeze for longer.
More like this
Buldak
Boneless chicken thighs cube small; marinate for 1 hour in gochujang, gochugaru, soy, garlic, ginger, sugar and sesame oil. Pan-grill in a wide cast-iron skillet over medium-high until the sauce caramelises and the chicken is just cooked. Off heat, generous mozzarella scatters across the top; cover briefly or finish under a grill to melt. Top with sesame seeds and spring onions.
Dak Galbi
Boneless chicken thighs cube up and marinate in a gochujang-soy-garlic-ginger paste with mirin and sugar. They stir-fry hard with onion, sweet potato chunks, cabbage and Korean rice cakes (tteok). Often finished with cheese melted over for the modern variant; classic version skips it.
Samgyeopsal
Samgyeopsal, literally "three-layered flesh" after the visible stripes of meat and fat, is the most beloved grill-at-the-table meal in South Korea. It is not a marinade-heavy preparation: the entire point is the quality of the pork belly itself, sliced thick and grilled fresh over charcoal or a hot griddle while everyone sits around the table with side dishes, garlic, and a pile of lettuce leaves. The eating ritual is as important as the cooking. You take a leaf of lettuce or sesame perilla, lay on a piece of grilled belly fresh off the heat, add a smear of ssamjang (a thick, savoury paste of doenjang fermented soybean paste and gochujang chilli paste), a sliver of raw garlic grilled briefly in the pork fat, maybe a strand of spring onion salad, then wrap the whole thing tight, pop it into your mouth in one bite, and chase it with a shot of soju. Korean restaurants do not slice the belly for you at the table on purpose: the host or eldest cuts it with kitchen scissors as it cooks, in messy diagonals, which is part of the relaxed, social character of the meal. Difficulty is low; the cook is essentially supervision and a pair of tongs. The skill is in the side dishes (banchan) and the pacing. Sourcing matters: ask for skin-off pork belly cut between 1 ½ and 2 cm thick. Thin belly burns; thicker belly stays juicy.
Beef and Broccoli
Sliced beef velvets briefly in cornflour and soy, broccoli florets blanch to bright green, and the lot stir-fries hard with garlic and ginger in a soy-oyster-rice-wine sauce. Served over steamed rice.