This meal is the reason people say I eat fast. Growing up in Korea with 3 sisters, we were kind of a big family and going out for bulgogi wasn’t an inexpensive evening for our parents at the time. They always under-ordered, hoping that us kids would fill up on the 47 or so side items that traditionally are served with bulgogi. I never touched any of that stuff. As a kid, I was totally carnivorous. So as soon as the raw meat hit the bbq in the middle of the table, my sisters and I would immediately declare it “done” and have a chopstick fight to grab every morsel we could of the tasty meat before it was all gobbled up. You had to bring your A game if you were gonna hang with me and my sisters on bulgogi night!
This is a super easy recipe where the marinade can be made 1 hour or up to a day ahead so all you have to do is cook the meat before serving. But the best way to have it is to cook it right on the table with guests. If you have a butane burner and a traditional Korean barbecue pan this is really easy to do. It gets everyone involved in the cooking process and can bring out some pretty entertaining arguments when two people claim to have been working on the same piece of meat!
If you’re looking for a barbecue pan, there are a lot of options that you can find at your local Asian market and there’s a big difference in how each gets the job done. I prefer one that has a round shape that’s like an upside down bowl with a trough on the outer ring (see picture below). The trough will capture the juices as the beef cooks so you can spoon over your rice if you like. My next favorite would be a cast iron one like in the photo above, but it drains to the middle and therefore doesn’t do a good job of rendering the juice from the cooking meat.
Bulgogi goes great with rice or as a lettuce wrap, but if you’re entertaining the more traditional way is to serve it with every other Korean dish and condiment you can think of to totally overwhelm your guests. If you do it right, your cupboards will be completely empty and you’ll be doing dishes the rest of the night. We like to serve with rice, cucumber salad or a kimchi, chapchae noodles, and stir-fried green beans.
Bulgogi Recipe
Serves 6, Prep Time 30 min, Cook Time 15 min
INGREDIENTS
- 3 lb beef (Your choice. It should be fairly lean but a little fat will add flavor.)
- 6 garlic cloves, minced
- 2 tsp minced ginger
- 2 tbsp sugar (honey also works well)
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp crushed black pepper
- 6 green onions, finely chopped
- 3/4 cup soy sauce
- 2 tbsp sesame oil
- 3/4 cup water
- 1 tbsp sesame seeds
- 2 green onions, chopped (optional, as a topping)
- a few whole cloves of garlic to cook with the bulgogi (optional)
RECIPE
Cut the beef into thin strips, trimming off any excess fat. Mix the next 10 ingredients to make the marinade and pour over the beef in a ziplock bag or marinading container. Make sure each individual piece of beef is coated in the marinade rather than just pouring the marinade over the beef. Let the beef marinade for at least one hour, or up to 24 hours.
Stir fry the beef over medium high heat until done, adding garlic cloves if you’re into whole cooked cloves of garlic (my wife loves it, much to the dismay of her coworkers the next morning). Depending on your pan or wok size you will probably have to cook the beef in batches so as not to crowd the pan. If you do, the beef will boil and won’t really brown right.
Serve with rice and top with green onions and sesame seeds. Enjoy!
