I’ve made Bulgogi plenty of times and have had a bunch of success with a recipe mash up I’d created from recipes online, but my friend (actually Korean) sent me another recipe to try from KIMCHIMARI. For this recipe, I changed a few items based on how I like my bulgogi.
I know, I’m totally changing it up with this one, but what can I say, I had a craving for Korean BBQ, and I didn’t feel like driving 40 minutes to eat it/smell like smoke by the end of it.
For those of you not familiar with Bulgogi (pronounced bull-go-ghee), it is marinated thin slices of beef sirloin (or another fat-marbley cut of meat) that is cooked on a grill.
Fun Fact: Bulgogi literally means “fire meat” in Korean, referring to the marinated meat cooked over a flame, not spiciness.
What You’ll Need:
- 1.5 lb Sirloin
- ¼ cup Low Sodium Soy Sauce
- 3 TBSP Light Brown Sugar
- 2 TBSP Honey
- 3 TBSP Mirin (or any rice cooking wine)
- 2 TBSP Sesame Oil
- 3 TBSP Garlic, minced
- 1 TSP Salt
- 1 TSP Ground Black Pepper
- 3-4 Green Onions
- ¼ cup Pear Puree
- Toasted Sesame Seeds
- Sides: Lettuce (I use Butter Lettuce), Seaweed, Carrots, Zucchini, Rice
Step 1: Cut the Beef
They sell the meat pre-cut into thin slices at most Asian Grocery Stores. If you can’t find it cut like this, you might be able to ask your local butcher to cut it for you, but this is how I do it.
Take the meat out of the freezer. I usually let it sit in the sink for 20 minutes so it’s still frozen enough to slice thin slices, but soft enough that my knife can slide through. If you just bought your meat at the store or its defrosted, just put it in the freezer for 20 minutes or so to firm it up enough for you to cut. You’re going to cut very thin slices of meat for this dish.
WARNING: DO NOT try to use a dull knife and be careful NOT to cut yourself. Also, make sure you’re NOT using a wooden cutting board so you don’t contaminate the board with bacteria from the meat.
Once all of the meat is cut, gently mix the brown sugar and honey with the meat. You’ll let this marinate with just the sugar while you make the marinade. From my experience, I feel the sugar melts into the meat better separately than when you put it directly into the liquid marinade, making it brown better. It doesn’t take long for the sugar to melt into the meat.
Step 2: Making the marinade.
Mix the soy sauce, mirin, sesame oil, garlic, black pepper, salt, pear puree, and green onions in a bowl. The pear acts as a tenderizer, but the blog I referenced earlier prefers to use kiwi. Mix with the meat. I like to line the meat up so its easier to pick it out to cook later. For the green onions, I like them chopped two different ways: sliced thinly and 1-2 in lengths to grill later on. If you don’t like green onions that much, just slice 1-2 green onions thinly. They’ll char up when you cook them and won’t even notice them.
Let the meat marinate overnight in the fridge if possible. I was a little impatient and wanted it that night, so I marinated it for an hour at room temperature, and it tasted yummy. I can only imagine if I had waited until the next day! NOTE: According to FDA guidelines, don’t leave meat at room temperature for longer than 2 hours.
Step 3: Cook the Bulgogi
Once you have marinated the meat for your desired time, heat up a grill pan or a nonstick skillet. I have this handy dandy little cast iron stovetop grill I got from an Asian Market, but a grill pan or nonstick skillet would work just fine. Cook the meat until brown on both sides, it doesn’t take that long, depending on how thick you cut the meat. The meat should sizzle when it hits the pan (med, med-high depending on your stove). You want to have good caramelization on both sides of the pieces meat.
When you have finished cooking all of the meat, sprinkle with the toasted sesame seeds. Enjoy with one of your favorite sides and/or kimchi! In the opening photo, I made zucchini and carrots stir-fried in sesame oil, butter lettuce, seaweed, and rice. Sometimes, I like to put some toasted sesame oil in a bowl, put in some hot rice, layer in the veggies, meat, and sunny-side up egg and voila! faux-Bibimbap!
For some easy stir fried veggies see below (^_^).
Stir-fried Veggies
Julienne the carrots and zucchini (kind of like matchsticks). Heat up sesame oil in a nonstick skillet, and stir-fry the veggies until slightly brown and to your level of done-ness.
- 1.5 lb Sirloin, thinly sliced
- ¼ cup Low Sodium Soy Sauce
- 3 TBSP Light Brown Sugar
- 2 TBSP Honey
- 3 TBSP Mirin (or any rice cooking wine)
- 2 TBSP Sesame Oil
- 3 TBSP Garlic, minced
- 1 TSP Salt
- 1 TSP Ground Black Pepper
- 3-4 Green Onions, half sliced thinly/half sliced into inch pieces
- ¼ cup Pear Puree
- Toasted Sesame Seeds
- Sides: Lettuce, Seaweed, Carrots, Zucchini, Rice
- Mix the thinly sliced meat with the brown sugar and honey.
- Mix the soy sauce, mirin, sesame oil, garlic, black pepper, salt, pear puree, and green onions in a bowl.
- Mix the liquid marinade with the meat. Let marinate either on the counter for an hour or in the fridge overnight.
- Cook the meat on a grill pan or nonstick skillet until caramelized on both sides.
- Sprinkle with toasted sesame seeds.
- Serve with lettuce, seaweed, stir-fried veggies, and/or rice.
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