Beef Kalbi Recipe
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This is Korean barbecue at its best: thin slices of beef short rib marinated and grilled.
What to buy: Korean-style beef short ribs are much thinner than the more common English version. They should only be about 1/4 inch thick, with three rib bones attached. If you can’t find them, other cuts of beef or ribs can be used (cooking times may vary).
Korean malt syrup or mool yut is a very thick and sticky syrup made from ground corn or sprouted barley (or sometimes both) and is used to give sweetness and shine to meat dishes. It can be found in Korean markets or online, but if you can’t find it you can substitute half the amount of barley malt syrup, light corn syrup, honey, or sugar.
Soju is a distilled liquor made from grain or sweet potato and can be found in Asian markets or specialty liquor stores.
Game plan: These ribs are fairly fatty and can cause flare-ups on the grill. Space them at least 1 inch apart (grill in batches if necessary) to prevent grease fires.
This recipe was featured as part of our Korean barbecue menu.
- 1/2 cup pineapple juice
- 1/2 cup soy sauce
- 1/3 cup Korean malt syrup
- 4 scallions, trimmed and minced
- 4 medium garlic cloves, finely chopped
- 2 tablespoons toasted sesame oil
- 2 tablespoons packed light brown sugar
- 2 tablespoons soju
- 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 3 pounds Korean-style (flanken cut) beef short ribs (cut 1/4 inch thick across the ribs)
- 1 tablespoon toasted sesame seeds, for garnish
- Combine juice, soy sauce, malt syrup, scallions, garlic, sesame oil, brown sugar, soju, and pepper in a medium nonreactive bowl. Whisk until completely incorporated.
- Place ribs in a large resealable plastic bag or a nonreactive dish and cover with marinade. Toss the meat in the marinade until well coated. Seal and refrigerate 12 hours or overnight.
- Heat a gas or charcoal grill to high (about 400°F) and rub the grill with a towel dipped in oil. Remove ribs from the refrigerator and let sit at room temperature while the grill is heating, at least 20 minutes.
- Remove ribs from marinade and let excess drip off. Grill, spaced 1 inch apart, until well done and crispy on the edges, about 5 minutes per side (look out for flare-ups). Remove to a platter, sprinkle with sesame seeds, and serve.
I lived in Korea for 2 years, the folks I knew used pear juice or rather nectar. Delicious! I miss the open air carts that sold these and so many other tasty bits - having this for dinner tomorrow!!!
Coke IS a great addition, although much more often I find myself using Dr. Pepper for this style recipe. Not only does it act as an effective tenderizer, it also has quite a bit more of that plum-umamai wang to it. Love these ribs!!!
I made this yesterday after having gathered up the required ingredients. We loved it. Because we like our food to have some zip, I added hot pepper flakes to the marinade. I looked at the recipe from the Food Network and it seems to me that 1 cup of brown sugar is a lot of sugar. I guess that would be okay if you really wanted it to be sweet.
Is molasses a reasonable substitute for mool yut? Or a combo of molasses and light corn syrup or honey? I have these ingredients in the pantry.
yup, there is no single kalbi recipe and it will vary from family to family. i always use fruit, either asian pear, pineapple, or kiwi. and sometimes i add a cup of coke. and i use a lot of sliced onion. all of these ingredients basically help tenderize the meat because of their high sugar content. therefore you do not need to add too much sugar.
Interesting. Agreed with Wilhemina that there are huge variations on this recipe from family to family. And David is correct, a lot of families will use fruit - like Asian pear, apple or kiwi or some use fruit juice. I think the acids from the fruit are supposed to help tenderize the meat. And, I do like ginger in mine too!
This is the one I use - I could not be happier with it - I highly recommend.... (from Grill IT w/ bobby flay)
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ka...
interesting.... my korean family would probably NEVER put something like pineapple juice in a marinade for kalbi.... and we would probably add some ginger in there - but other than that, this recipe doesn't sound that bad.
DavidPD88 - korean pears? never heard of that either, but maybe.... usually we just "pound" the meat with the back side of a kitchen knife to tenderize.
This certainly looks delicious. I wasn't sure what it was at first as I've never heard of kalbi before. Worth trying!
Nisrine
I think this is missing grated Asian Pears. A Korean cook said they are the secret ingredient in Kalbi, he also said they act as a tenderizer.
Fruit juices are very often used in Korean BBQ marinades. Once I grilled pork chops which had been brined with a solution that contained apple juice. My Korean housemate walked in the door and immediately asked, "Why does it smell like Korean bbq in here?"
Personally, I think they add a dimension of flavor not found in straight sugar. Historically, it would also make sense. I don't think sugar cane grows well in Korea, but Asian pears certainly do. Also for the poster above that mentioned this is close to a teriyaki marinade, real teriyaki contains mirin.
thanks Wilhemina for taking the time to share this nice story. I just heard about using kiwi,I have not tried it.makes sense though.
My mother was from Seoul, Korea and my Korean grandmother from my father's side was from Pusan, Korea. I bring this up, because there is no uniform way to make KALBI.
One of my cousins pours beer on her short ribs before massaging marinade on them, and I mean, rub and gently squeeze the meat. She also uses a mashed up kiwi for a sweet sour taste and she swears that you cannot tell it is a kiwi. Another cousin adds a splash of white vinegar to her marinade.
My preference is LOTS of green onions, the addition of ground black pepper, NOT freshly ground,but the kind you get in the supermarket all ground up in a jar. I also like RIB-EYE beef, bone- in or boneless once in a while for a change, but you cannot marinate for more than a couple of hours and the dilution of soy sauce to water or juice has to be adjusted by tasting.
Another auntie of mine, due to marrying into another Korean family had to adjust her recipe to make it sweeter: 1 cup soy sauce to 1 cup WHITE sugar, this would be for 10 lbs. of short ribs, the thick 4"x4" scored meat, (an art in itself) with of course the garlic, green onions, roasted sesame oil, roasted crushed sesame seeds, this recipe is not to my liking, but that is what they like.
There is even differences about how the garlic should be prepared, chopped finely, or even finely grated on one of those japanese tiny grates that brings out the juice . The same goes for the green onions, finely chopped, or roughly chopped or a little of both.
So the point is, that you can use the above recipe and then adjust or you can use soy sauce, add some water, roasted sesame oil, roasted/crushed sesame seeds, chopped green onions, finely chopped garlic, small amount of white sugar or brown sugar, even substitute honey, ground black pepper, mix, dip and rub meat, marinate and cook up on a HOT grill or even pan fry on med. hi heat.
great an I sent this to a Korean friend of mine lol
Oh and sesame oil :)
The ingredients listed is closer to a teriyaki sauce - not Korean BBQ. Being Korean-American and fortunate enough to learn how to make Korean BBQ, we do not use pineapple juice, malt syrup (mul yeot) or brown sugar.
The actual marinade for Korean BBQ consists of onion, garlic, soy sauce, sugar and water/stock.
This sounds delicious, even early in the morning! I have even tried to make a version of the beef kalbi tacos similar to the Kogi trucks in LA. http://tastyeatsathome.wordpress.com/...