Kalbi Beef - Korean BBQ


 
jeffsipes

jeffsipes

TVWBB Member
I went to Korea on business late last year. Tonight, I attempted to replicate the Korean BBQ that I had while there.

I bought approximately five pounds of Beef Short Ribs and trimmed off the bone and fat cap.

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I sliced the ribs on a bias into 1/2" to 3/4" slices and then pounded them down to 1/4" ish with a hammer. The ribs were marinated in a mixture of soy sauce, sesame oil, rice vinegar, sugar, garlic, green onions and a whole medium apple (all blended in the food processor).

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I fired up the WSM in grill mode. I started a chimney full of lump charcoal and dumped it on one side of the grill when it was good and ready. I cooked the first half of the rib meat and moved it over to the cold side while I cooked the second half.

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After taking the meat off the grill, I served it just as I had seen it in Korea - lettuce, kimchi, steamed rice and kalbi beef ribs.

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I tried something new (always an adventure). I was pretty pleased with the final product.

GOOD: 1. The marinade had a nice balance of sweet and salty and a four hour soak left a nice amount of marinade flavor in the meat after grilling. 2. It was a quick cook. It took me longer to fire up the coals than it did to sear the meat. 3. The combination with the kimchi gave it a nice spice.

NOT SO GOOD: 1. I thought the kids would like it more but I think the lettuce wrap with rice freaked them out. My normally voracious eaters weren't impressed. 2. I would have liked more spice - the recipe I used recommended adding red pepper flakes to the marinade for more spice. That would have been a nice add.

Overall, I'm pleased. I would do this again for friends or for a quick meal during the week.
 
Correct me if I am wrong... "kalbi" is Korean grilled short ribs but the the short ribs are cut "franken style" or short ribs that are butterflied.

Using the same marinade but on boneless beef is called "bul gogi."

joe
 
You have now exceeded my very limited knowledge of Korean but I'm sure you are right. I couldn't find franken style ribs at my local grocer and would have probably stuck with the english cut anyway just because they are easy to work with.

I got the marinade recipe from Cook's Illustrated. The recipe was for 'Kalbi Beef' and was based on the use of vertical english cut ribs. The writeup acknowledges that they are typically made from franken cut ribs in Korea but didn't offer another name. Thanks for the clarification.
 
Hi Jeff - You can actually use your recipe very successfully on some flank steak cut on the diagonal. For Kalbi, a popular sauce with your lettuce etc. ensemble is a hot pepper sauce called "Gochujang". Use only the red (hot) sauce and you vary it's heat by the amount of the sauce that you put on each serving. That sauce is pretty readily available at most Asian markets.
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Bob
 
looks great!

sometimes I find the kalbi cut ribs here at a local supermarket. And there's a korean grocery that sells them cut that way but they are priced really high (easily double anyplace else).

here I tried grilling whole ribs and slicing them afterwords. I recall it not working out to well. I like your method better.
 
If you cannot find "franken cut" ribs take a regular cut short rib and butterfy them. Since the kalbi sauce is tasty, just use slices of beef.

joe
 
there is a great recipe for this in Steve Raichlens Raichlen on ribs cookbook. I've made it several times. Really great flavor!!

Our Sams club has the Flanken style short ribs and I've gone out and talked to the meat manager and he will cut them to the 1/2 inch thick which is ideal for this recipe. The trick I've found with Raichlens recipe is not having too hot a fire because you do get alot of flareups.


http://primalgrill.org/season2...pes/201_recipes.html
 
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