Korean Beef Bugolgi

KOREAN BEEF BULGOGI

Bryce's mom used to rave about this recipe. Through out Bryce's childhood, she used to make it as a special dinner and they would reminisce about the sweet and savory flavors. I have never tried anything Korean style that I can remember.

Recently, I have been determined to find new, fun, easy and tasty beef inspired recipes and I thought about that Bugolgi dish. Bryce's mom got her recipe from her sister-in-law who is from South Korea and moved to the United States as a young adult.

I reached out to Bryce's cousin (who is like a sister or cousin to me as well) to see if she would share her mom's recipe with me. I added a few twists and turns to the recipe to make it something of my own. Turned out AMAZING! I am so grateful for this new recipe to add into my go-to dinner collection. 

Traditionally, Bugolgi is made with marinated cross-cut "Flanken Ribs." This is the same as short ribs and spare ribs. The difference is how it is cut. This cut is also known as "Korean Short Ribs." I have also made this dish with skirt steak and it turned out amazing and was much easier to cut. However, if you have short ribs in your freezer and you have no idea what to do with them, this is a great recipe to try out.

Ingredients:

2 lbs Flaken Ribs (authentic Korean style) or Skirt Steak

1/2 cup soy sauce (I really enjoy this brand!)

1 whole garlic

1 onion white/yellow

1 tbsp zested ginger

1/4 cup sugar

1/4 tsp toasted sesame oil (this is what we love using!)

1 tsp pepper

1 tsp salt

1 pear skinned/cored chopped into cubes

Rinse meat in cold water and marinade 2hrs-2days

Vegetables: 6 scallions, one peeled carrot, 1 cup mushrooms

Served with white jasmine rice 

Directions:

1.) if slicing meat at home, wrap up in a large zip lock bag and freeze for an hour to firm it up. Then, slice the beef against the grain about 1/8 inch slices

2.)In a food processor (this little guy works great, inexpensive and easy to store), add in pear, onion and garlic and puree until smooth. Transfer to a bowl

3.) Add the beef into the mixture and marinade about 10 mins. 

4.) In another bowl, mix together the soy sauce, sugar sesame oil salt & pepper. 

5.) Add the soy sauce mixture with the beef coated in the pear puree and marinade in the refrigerator for 1-4 hours.

6.) cook the beef in either a cast iron skillet (We love using Lodge) or grill like Traeger grills and cook through and remove from heat.

7.) In a pan, add in the mushrooms to quickly cook. I have also used some thinly sliced carrots with the mushrooms too! Tasty. 

8.) In bowls, add the white rice first and top with the bulgogi beef topped with the carrots, mushrooms & scallions.