Bulgogi

Beef part-frozen so it can be sliced almost transparent, marinated with grated pear and cooked in a pan hot enough to colour it in seconds.

Beef. Not vegetarian — contains beef.

Ingredients

• 700 g beef sirloin or rib-eye, in one piece
• half an Asian pear, grated, or 1 ripe conference pear
• 4 tablespoons soy sauce
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 2 tablespoons sesame oil
• 4 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1 small onion, grated
• 1 tablespoon toasted sesame seeds
• 2 spring onions, sliced
• black pepper
• 1 tablespoon oil, for the pan

Method

1. THE BEEF IS PART-FROZEN BEFORE SLICING, and this is the only practical way to get it thin enough at home. Ninety minutes in the freezer until it is firm at the edges and still yielding in the middle, then sliced across the grain as thin as the knife will go -- two millimetres, nearly translucent. At room temperature the meat squashes and rolls under the blade and the best you will manage is five millimetres, which cooks to a chew rather than melting.
2. THERE IS GRATED PEAR IN THE MARINADE AND IT IS NOT FOR SWEETNESS. Asian pear carries an enzyme that breaks down muscle protein, which is what makes bulgogi tender rather than merely thin. Which is also why the marinade is a matter of hours, not overnight: left too long the enzyme keeps going and the meat turns mushy and strangely soft.
3. SO THIRTY MINUTES TO FOUR HOURS, AND NOT MORE. Thirty is enough to season it; four is the outside limit before the texture starts to go.
4. THE PAN IS AS HOT AS IT WILL GET AND THE MEAT GOES IN IN SMALL BATCHES. The marinade has sugar in it, so it caramelises almost immediately -- that is the point, and it cannot happen in a crowded pan, where the meat releases liquid and boils in it instead. A handful at a time, spread flat, 30 seconds a side.
5. AND THE MARINADE LEFT IN THE BOWL IS NOT POURED IN. It floods the pan and steams the meat. Lift the beef out with tongs, letting it drip.
6. Beef wrapped and put in the freezer 90 MINUTES, until firm outside and soft at the centre.
7. Sliced ACROSS THE GRAIN as thin as possible, 2 mm, with the sharpest knife in the kitchen.
8. Pear, onion and garlic grated into a bowl. Soy sauce, sugar, sesame oil, sesame seeds and plenty of pepper stirred in.
9. The beef folded through so every slice is coated, and left 30 MINUTES to 4 hours in the fridge.
10. A heavy pan or griddle heated until it smokes. The oil in.
11. The beef lifted from the marinade with tongs, allowed to drip, and laid in the pan in a single layer -- a handful at a time.
12. 30 seconds a side, until the edges catch and darken. Lifted out and the next batch started.
13. The spring onions thrown into the last batch for 10 seconds.
14. Served at once with steamed rice as on its own page, lettuce leaves and ssamjang as on its own page.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under South Korea · All recipes