Brilliant Recipes Spice Up Father's Day
Menu:
Bulgogi (Korean Barbecue)
Cauliflower Rice
Korean Cucumber Salad
Kimchi (storebought) - a fermented relish, basically a somewhat spicy Korean sauerkraut
Mango Tiramisu-style dessert
My husband has spent months in Korea in shipyards, eating daily with the locals in massive cafeterias that feed 5000 men in an hour. There are four of those cafeterias within just one of the many shipyards. Astonishing.
Bulgogi, however, is not served there. It's a bit higher end than standard lunch-break fare, but would be served in most restaurants, as opposed to noodle houses. Korean food, in my experience, has much cleaner flavours than Chinese, where so much is fried, and brighter flavours than Japanese, which is much less spicy and tart in general. Koreans also use much more garlic, as I understand it, than the other two nationalities.
I searched allrecipes.com for bulgogi recipes and chose the one that sounded best to me. It did not disappoint. My guys raved over it, we consumed 2 pounds of meat, and the last slice I had to cut in thirds and pass around the table so we could all have one last morsel to finish the meal off. Talk about tender...
To be honest, there's a very good Korean BBQ dry mix in a packet that you can get in Bainbridge, Georgia, believe it or not, so I assume everywhere else in the States. I wish I could remember the brand name, but I haven't seen it here in Canada. You could try whatever brand your store carries. But this marinade recipe is quick and easy, and when you make it yourself you can be certain there's no MSG or other evils lurking in it. You may not have sesame oil in your pantry now, but after you try this meat you'll want to keep it and the other Asian ingredients on hand. Most of them are used in all of these menu items (other than the dessert), so you won't feel like you're spending a lot of money for an ingredient you'll use a teaspoon of then finally throw out ten years from now when your kids are grown and you move to a condo!
I found the cucumber dish too spicy, but that's easy to fix. I had included it in the menu thinking it would be cooling, but I got fooled - it was by far the spiciest menu item.
By the way, do you have a mandoline? I didn't purchase one for years because, of course, my food processor has slicing blades, and my husband sliced and diced for me when expecting a crowd, so I thought it would be redundant and extravagant. But much of my kitchen is still packed up (renovating) and so I broke down and bought an inexpensive mandoline to get me through until we eventually move into the new kitchen. Well, let me tell you, it was one of those "where have you been all my life?" experiences. So quick and easy, and made perfect cucumber slices. Perfect. And did I mention quick? And easy? Bonus: it takes up a lot less space on the top rack of the dishwasher than all those food processor parts. Absolutely positively follow the instructions, though, or you'll be missing slices of flesh.
Check out these affiliate links: this handheld mandoline, which is similar to the one I bought, with handy dandy one-click adjustable thickness, or this freestanding one for more stability and blade variety. I've had good experience with OXO products, and feel they're good "entry level" utensils.
So, on to the Bulgogi recipe. The others from that delicious evening I'll post separately, so they're easy to find using the labels, the search function, or clicking on the links at the top of this page. Enjoy!
Beef Bulgogi
from allrecipes.com
For each pound of thinly sliced flank steak: (I had the meat dept slice mine)
5 T soy sauce
2 1/2 T white sugar
1/4 c chopped green onions
2 T minced garlic
2 T sesame seeds
2 T sesame oil
1/2 t ground black pepper
Place beef in a shallow dish. Combine remaining ingredients in a small bowl, mix and pour over beef. Cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour or overnight.
Preheat an outdoor grill for high heat and lightly oil the grate. Quickly grill beef on hot grill until slightly charred and cooked through, 1-2min/side.
