Galbi
aka Korean BBQ Ribs
from ivanlee@
from JJ Johns
This recipe has been passed down for generations. Ok, one generation. Well...half of one? Ok, my cousin gave me his recipe about 10 years ago.
2 lbs flanken cut ribs (probably ¼ “ thickness. ½ “ is too big)
5T Soy Sauce
3T Brown Sugar
5T Minced Green Onion
3t Minced Garlic
1t Minced Fresh Ginger
1T Gochujang Hot Bean Paste
3T Sesame Oil
2T Sul (Rice Wine) or Sherry or Bourbon or Whiskey
Dash of black pepper.
Note: this results in a relatively small amount of sauce given the amount of ribs, so I’d recommend bumping it up by maybe 50% or even more.
I created a spreadsheet to easily multiply these numbers, because that’s totally normal.
- Mix all the sauce ingredients together in a large bowl. Mix well as the oil likes to separate, and keep mixing as you apply the sauce later.
- Tenderize the ribs using your old fashioned meat tenderizer. This gets a bit messy, so make sure you’re not wearing nice clothes and watch out for whatever you’re tenderizing it on. (JJ: I suggest covering the meat with a layer of saran wrap - aka the meat packaging - to prevent splatter.)
- In a 13”x9” dish (or aluminum tin with a lid works even better), place the ribs and lather on some sauce between each layer.
- Cover and put in the fridge for 24-48 hours. The tastiest ribs are the ones that get to sit in the marinade, so either make more sauce or try mix up the sauce periodically.
- Grill it up! Since the meat is so thin, it really only takes a couple minutes on each side. (JJ: I found a grill temp of around 400-425 to be pretty functional. Hotter than that and you get more flare ups and more burnt pieces. Lower and you don't get much for char lines on the ribs. But it’s hard to maintain with the grill open and flipping the meat after a few minutes.)
- As you take pieces of the grill, cover with aluminum foil or else the meat gets cold quickly.
- Serve it up with rice, lettuce (to wrap it up), gochujang paste, fresh garlic, dried seaweed, or whatever else you might think would be tasty.