Grill and Marinade
Korean Cookery
Chapter 6 · Grill and Marinade
Shopping list for this chapter
The basics
The course so far has made the parts of a meal that sit around the middle of the table. Grilled meat is the dish at the centre. The galbi and samgyeopsal articles describe diners cooking the meat themselves on a tabletop grill and cutting it with scissors; at home most people will use a heavy frying pan or griddle pan, as the bulgogi article says home cooks do.
| Dish | What the article says | Marinated? |
|---|---|---|
| Bulgogi | "Thin, marinated slices of meat, most commonly beef, grilled on a barbecue or on a stove-top griddle"; home cooks often stir-fry it in a pan | Yes; usually under an hour, some chefs say overnight |
| Galbi | Grilled beef short ribs (or pork ribs when named so); beef usually scored first | Yes (soy-based; pork may be gochujang-based); unmarinated versions exist (saeng-galbi) |
| Samgyeopsal | Thick pork belly slices, "three-layer meat", grilled at the table | "Usually neither marinated nor seasoned" |
| Dak-galbi | Stir-fried marinated diced chicken in a gochujang sauce, from Chuncheon | Yes, but the article does not say with what |
The bulgogi marinade
The bulgogi article gives the base as soy sauce, sugar, sesame oil, garlic and ground black pepper. Cooks "often" add scallion, ginger, onion, chilli or mushrooms, and pureed pear, pineapple, kiwi or onion are used as tenderisers and flavour enhancers. Corn syrup or honey can replace or add to the sugar, and the article says recipes vary by chef and by family. Sirloin is a common cut, with other prime cuts acceptable and ribeye valued for tenderness; chicken and pork versions are common. It lists grilled garlic, sliced onion and green pepper cooked alongside. It carries a "needs more citations" banner, and its history ("believed to have originated" in the Goguryeo era, when it was called maekjeok) is hedged.
The galbi marinade
For beef, the galbi article lists soy sauce, sugar, garlic, scallions, ginger juice, black pepper, sesame and sesame oil, with Korean pear juice sometimes brushed on, and cheongju (rice wine) usually added to both beef and pork marinades "to reduce porky smell" for pork. Pork marinades are soy-based or gochujang-based, the latter spicy. Pork shoulder slices are "around 2.5 centimetres (1 inch) in width". The meat cooks "for a short time" over medium-high heat and leftover marinade is brushed on as a glaze. The article offers several competing theories for how "LA galbi" began and settles none.
Samgyeopsal
The samgyeopsal article says thick fatty slices are grilled on a slanted griddle or gridiron, the meat is "neither marinated nor seasoned" in the usual case, and garlic, onions, chillies, mushrooms and kimchi are grilled in the pork fat. It is eaten as ssam: meat on lettuce or pickled leaves with ssamjang, rolled and "eaten in one mouthful", with raw garlic (sliced garlic the most popular), kimchi, perilla leaves, pickled radish and a dip of sesame oil, salt and black pepper. It calls the belief that samgyeopsal protects against air pollution a myth, and I make no health claims about any dish here. It tags one survey result as possibly unreliable, so I leave out the percentage.
Dak-galbi
The dak-galbi article describes marinated diced chicken cooked in a gochujang-based sauce with sweet potatoes, cabbage, perilla, spring onion and rice cake (tteok), on a hot plate built into the table in restaurants, with lettuce and perilla leaves as wraps. The "galbi" in the name is because chicken replaced pork ribs when pork ran out; there are no ribs in it. It gives no marinade ingredients, so the recipe below is my own.
Raw marinade: do not brush leftover marinade onto cooked meat or serve it as a sauce unless you boil it for a few minutes first (general advice, mine). The galbi article describes glazing with leftover marinade, and I follow it only with that boiling step.
Keep raw meat separate: use a separate board and wash your hands after handling raw meat; marinate in the fridge, not on the worktop.
Fruit tenderisers: pear, kiwi and pineapple all soften meat; if the marinade has kiwi or pineapple, I would keep it short, because I have read that long marinating can make meat mushy. That is my belief and unverified.
Hot oil and smoke: a very hot pan spits fat and makes smoke; open a window and use a lid or splash guard.
Allergens: soy, sesame, wheat in some soy sauces, and (for dak-galbi) the gochujang.
Try it
Bulgogi, pan-cooked
The marinade follows the article's base and optional additions; the amounts are mine. Ask the butcher for thinly sliced sirloin or ribeye, or freeze the steak for about an hour first so it is easy to slice thinly (my tip).
Ingredients (2 portions)
- 300 g beef sirloin or ribeye, sliced very thinly
- 3 tbsp soy sauce
- 1 tbsp sugar or honey
- 1 tbsp toasted sesame oil
- 2 cloves garlic, grated
- 3 tbsp grated pear (or grated onion)
- 1 pinch black pepper
- 2 spring onions, sliced
- 1 tbsp cooking oil for the pan
- 1/2 onion, sliced
- Mix the soy sauce, sugar, sesame oil, garlic, pear and pepper. Add the beef and spring onions and mix well. Cover and marinate in the fridge for about 30 minutes (the article says usually under an hour).
- Heat a large heavy pan until very hot and add the oil. Fry the onion for 1 to 2 minutes.
- Add the beef in small batches so the pan stays hot, and fry 1 to 2 minutes per batch, until browned and cooked through. Do not crowd the pan.
- Serve straight away, with rice and the Chapter 1 ssamjang, lettuce and kimchi on the side.
Samgyeopsal-style pork belly and lettuce wraps
The article describes the meat as neither marinated nor seasoned, grilled at the table and eaten in ssam. In a pan at home I use pork belly slices about 5 mm thick, thinner than a restaurant would, so they cook through (mine).
Ingredients (2 portions)
- 300 g pork belly, sliced about 5 mm thick, skin off
- 6-8 large lettuce leaves
- 4 cloves garlic, sliced thinly
- 1 small onion, cut into wedges
- 2 tbsp ssamjang (Chapter 1)
- 1 tbsp sesame oil, 1 pinch salt and 1 pinch black pepper, mixed, for dipping
- 100 g kimchi
- Heat a heavy frying pan over medium-high heat with no oil. Add the pork in a single layer.
- Cook 2 to 3 minutes a side, until browned and the fat is rendered. Cook through; no pink.
- Fry the garlic, onion and a few pieces of kimchi in the fat for the last few minutes.
- Cut the pork into bite-size pieces with kitchen scissors. Put a piece on a lettuce leaf with ssamjang and garlic, fold and eat in one bite. Dip some in the sesame oil and salt.
Dak-galbi: spicy chicken stir-fry (my version)
The article gives no marinade or method. This is a plausible home version from the ingredients it names. Treat it as an experiment, not the traditional dish.
Ingredients (2 portions)
- 300 g chicken thigh, diced
- 2 tbsp gochujang
- 1 tbsp soy sauce
- 1 tbsp sugar or honey
- 2 cloves garlic, grated
- 200 g cabbage, in chunks
- 1 small sweet potato, thinly sliced
- 2 spring onions, cut in 3 cm pieces
- 1 tbsp cooking oil
- Mix the gochujang, soy sauce, sugar and garlic. Coat the chicken and leave in the fridge for 30 minutes.
- Heat the oil in a wide pan. Add the sweet potato and a splash of water, lid on, 5 minutes.
- Add the chicken and cabbage and stir-fry over medium heat 8 to 10 minutes, until the chicken is cooked through with no pink. Add a spoon of water if it catches.
- Add the spring onions for the last minute. Serve with rice and lettuce leaves for wrapping.
Experiments
Challenges
Compare bulgogi, galbi and samgyeopsal: cut, marinated or not, and how each is cooked and eaten according to the articles.
Cook the bulgogi and the pork, and write a tasting note for each. State which marinade ingredient you could taste and which you could not.
Plan a Korean barbecue night for two using the dishes from Chapters 1 to 6. Say what goes in the middle, what each person gets, and the order of cooking.
Quick Reference
- Bulgogi marinade (article): soy sauce, sugar, sesame oil, garlic, black pepper; often scallion, ginger, onion, pear
- Marinating time: usually under an hour; some say overnight
- Samgyeopsal: usually neither marinated nor seasoned; eaten as ssam
- Ssam: lettuce, ssamjang, garlic, kimchi, in one mouthful
- Mine, untested: all amounts and times, and the dak-galbi recipe
- Always: cook pork and chicken through; boil leftover marinade before using it as a sauce
Next chapter: Bowls and Noodles.