Galbi (Korean Grilled Beef Short Ribs)

Score.  I found a great deal on short ribs at H-Mart, and excitedly scooped up a pack.  Actually, I scooped up TWO packs, but a little voice in my head told me not to be greedy, so I summoned all the willpower I had and put one back.

It was my first time getting my hands on cross-cut short ribs, so I was super excited.  I had been wanting to do this for two whole years now, and finally had everything:  the recipe (from a real Korean person!), the ingredients, and the all-important properly cut short ribs.  It didn’t matter that I didn’t have a grill…..I had our trusty cast iron pan + broiler <3 

As nicely as the cast iron pan + broiler worked, I would LOVE grilling this for real some day, for that awesome barbecued flavor.

Galbi (Grilled Beef Short Ribs)
Recipe from Angela Pau

Ingredients:
1.  4 lbs. cross-cut beef short ribs
2.  1 large bottle of cold soda (I like to use seltzer because while it’s still acidic, it doesn’t contain extra sugar and other strange ingredients.)
3.  Marinade:

• 1 small Asian pear, grated (The original recipe calls for a Korean pear;  If it’s soft enough, I just mash it with a fork.)
• 1/2 small onion, grated
• 1 tsp grated ginger (Not a huge fan of ginger, so I may cut back next time)
• 2 Tbsp garlic, finely chopped
• Green Scallion (I didn’t have this, so I left it out)
• 4 Tbsp brown sugar
• 2 Tbsp honey
• 2 Tbps toasted sesame seeds
• 2 Tbsp toasted sesame oil
• 1/2 cup Soy Sauce (not low sodium)

Directions:

Prepare the meat

1.  Rinse the short ribs to get rid of lingering bone dust.
2.  Combine the short ribs and seltzer in a large bowl.  Sit for a few hours.  This does two things:  1) The acid from the carbonation helps tenderize the meat;  and 2) the cold soda helps drain the blood from the meat.

When you add the soda, all this stuff – fat and other things? – float up with the bubbles.  I found it kind of fascinating…

3.  Discard the soda, and do a quick rinse of the meat.  Set aside.

Prepare the marinade

In a bowl, combine the marinade ingredients and mix thoroughly.

Combine the meat + marinade
Place the meat and the marinade in a large ziploc bag, flipping several times to ensure the meat is fully coated.  Marinate over night.

Cook
Barbecue the meat on a grill, or broil in an oven.  If broiling like I did:
1.  Place meat in a cast iron pan.
2.  Place pan on a rack positioned near the broiler at the top of the oven.
3.  Broil for several minutes until meat is browned/sizzling.  I like it barely charred on the outside, and still a little pink inside (I would have liked positioning the oven rack one level higher, to get slightly more charring, and caramelization of the fruit/sugar without cooking the inside more, but my mom was convinced I would set the house on fire).

Oof, look at that lustrous layer of fat.

Enjoy!