‹ The Fire 50 › Cook it at home

The Fire 50 · cook it at home

Galbi: Korean grilled beef short rib

40 min plus 2 hr to overnight marinating · 4 people

Thick-cut short rib, a quick sweet-salty marinade and very hot coals: the Seoul barbecue experience at home, in a cast-iron pan or on a charcoal grill. Mongtan smokes theirs over straw; a handful of soaked wood chips on the coals gives you a hint of it.

Save it and it opens in Chef Amazing with a timeline, mise en place, what you already have and a shopping list.

The real one

You need

• 1 kg (2 lb) English-cut or boneless beef short rib, about 2.5 cm (1 in) thick (or 1 kg flanken-cut ribs)
• For the marinade: 80 ml (1/3 cup) soy sauce
• 2 tbsp sugar
• 1 tbsp honey
• 1/2 Asian pear or 1 small apple, grated
• 4 garlic cloves, grated
• 1 tbsp grated ginger
• 1 tbsp toasted sesame oil
• 1/4 tsp black pepper
• 2 scallions, thinly sliced
• To serve: lettuce leaves, ssamjang, sliced garlic, kimchi, steamed rice

How to make it

1. Score and marinate (10 min, plus 2 hr to overnight): If using thick boneless short rib, score crosshatch cuts 3 mm deep on both sides so the marinade gets in and it cooks evenly. Whisk the marinade, add the beef and coat well. Refrigerate at least 2 hours, up to overnight.
2. Heat (15 min): Light a full chimney of charcoal and spread it in an even, very hot bed (hand over the grate for 2 seconds). Or heat a cast-iron pan or grill pan over high heat for 5 minutes.
3. Grill (6 to 8 min): Shake off excess marinade (it has sugar and burns). Grill 2 to 3 minutes a side until deeply caramelized at the edges and just pink inside, turning once or twice.
4. Cut and serve (5 min): Cut into bite-size pieces with kitchen scissors, the way Korean barbecue restaurants do. Wrap in lettuce with ssamjang, a slice of garlic and kimchi, and eat with rice.

Tips

• Partly freeze boneless short rib for 30 minutes to make scoring easier.
• For a straw-smoke hint, put a handful of soaked hay or wood chips directly on the coals and close the lid for the first minute.
• Don't crowd the pan, or it steams instead of browning.

Chef Amazing's own home version of korean grilled short rib, in our words; not any restaurant's recipe.