Recipe: Galbi (Korean Short Ribs) with Ssamjang Sauce

This is the Galbi (Korean Short Ribs) prep we used for our Galbi vs Bulgogi Taste Test. Serve it with ssamjang sauce (recipe below) and lettuce leaves for wrapping plus rice and your favorite banchan and you’ve got a luxury item that would cost you $30 or more in a good Korean restaurant. Serves 4.

Ingredients
2 lbs or so beef flanken ribs*
1/3 c soy sauce
1/3 c water
¼ c honey
1 t ground black pepper
2 c Korean pear, cored and peeled
8 cloves garlic
1 small onion
1 t chopped ginger
2 T toasted sesame oil
1 green onion chopped
2 T walnuts
Red lettuce leaves for serving

Method: mix all seasonings in a mini-chop; the result will be a spreadable thick paste. Rub into meat on all sides and edges and marinate at least 6 hours and ideally overnight. Prepare the ssamjang. Grill quickly (grilling is essential for this dish; if it’s too cold to fire up the BBQ put off making Galbi until you have warmer weather) until the meat is medium rare, taking care not to let it burn. Serve hot with lettuce leaves for wrapping and a pair of scissors to cut the meat off the bone.

Ssamjang Sauce ingredients:
5 T doenjang (Korean soybean paste)
3 ½ T gochujang
3 garlic cloves
1 green onion, coarsely chopped including some of the green part
1 T sesame oil
1 T toasted sesame seeds
2 T walnuts
Water or cooking wine as needed

Method: blend all ingredients in a mini-chop, adding as much water or wine as needed to make a spreadable paste.

*Flanken ribs are short ribs that are cut across the bone into strips interspersed with a little ring of crosscut rib bone. This is “LA Style”; in Korea the ribs are cut along the bone and then butterflied to produce a strip of meat with a bone at the end. We prefer the LA Galbi because it’s fun to gnaw on the bone.