Finding a Korean BBQ recipe is quite easy as there are a number of different variations, but the fun part is testing out which ones you enjoy and which ones you truly love. Many traditional Korean BBQ recipes will involve ingredients that may be hard to find or ones that you need to go to a specialty Asian market to procure. This doesn’t mean you should shy away from trying an Korean BBQ recipe though. The recipe below contains ingredients that can all be found in a regular grocery store and will leave you with a meal you won’t soon forget.
Korean BBQ Recipe
While there are many variations on a Korean BBQ recipe, this basic recipe will give you a start to a meal that has great flavor, yet will still allow you to add nearly anything you wish to the marinade to give it a great depth of flavor. This basic recipe can serve as your go to for a Korean BBQ recipe, or it can serve as a jumping off point to add other flavors that you love.
Korean BBQ Recipe
short ribs, flank steak, or other thin cuts of meat
2 cups water
2 cups soy sauce (low sodium or not, whichever you prefer)
2 cups sugar
6 garlic cloves, minced
4 tablespoons corn oil
3 tablespoons black pepper
1 onion, grated
Grate the onion into a bowl and combine with all other ingredients. This will serve as the marinade for the Korean BBQ recipe. The meat should marinate for at least 3 hours and up to overnight, turning the meat periodically will make the flavor soak in evenly and create a great BBQ flavor.
The Korean BBQ recipe calls for either sauteing the flank steak for several minutes on either side to create a nice rare middle or baking the short ribs for 2 hours, constantly brushing and basting with the marinade.
The Korean BBQ recipe I have posted above is a simple one that can be added to depending on the depth of flavor you want and how experimental you want to get with the marinade. Fresh grated ginger would also be a great addition to the marinade and would give it tons of flavor. Many Korean BBQ recipes call for sesame seeds and chopped scallions to finish off the dish and give it more flavor and plate appeal. That would also be a great addition to this recipe.
The time it takes to make a Korean barbecue can also vary wildly on the type of meat you choose. A flank steak soaks up the marinade quite quickly since there is no bone to impede the flow of the marinade through the meat. It will also cook quite quickly for the same reason. Spare ribs and racks of pork or beef ribs make take significantly longer to soak up the marinade because of the amount of bone. Marinating them overnight would probably be a good idea to make sure the full flavor is soaked into the meat. Cooking ribs also takes longer since the meat closer to the bone takes longer to cook. Braising or roasting them for several hours while basting them periodically will help them stay moist and flavorful while they cook. For other cuts of meat like chicken, pork, and others; you should look at the bone content and make sure that the meat will be completely cooked. You can always keep the meat moist while cooking by basting with additional marinade.
The marinade will also serve as a great way to caramelize the outside of the meat giving it a great flavor. The sugar in the marinade will begin to brown as it roasts and with continued basting, will caramelize the outside of the meat giving it not only a great color, but a great, sweet barbecue flavor as well. This crust of sugar and additional flavors is what makes barbecue so popular and it’s a great way to add additional flavor to the meat. The sugar creates a glaze over the meat that keeps it moist and flavorful inside while giving it a burst of barbecue flavor on the outside.
When it comes to making an Asian BBQ recipe, once you know the basic ingredients, the sky is the limit as far as adding other ingredients to make it how you like it. There are endless possibilities of things you could change or add to the recipe including items that can be found at your local grocery store or even items that you’ve found at a local Asian market. You can be as tame or as adventurous as you like, but one thing is for sure. Everything that you add to the original barbecue recipe will help enhance the Koran barbecue flavor and will create a meal you won’t soon forget. With so many great flavors, the sky is the limit as far as finding new ways to enhance the basic recipe.
Korean BBQ Recipe – The Conclusion
As in American cooking, barbecue is not only a flavor but it also how the meat is cooked. Just like we barbecue meat here in the United States, Korean’s have the same word for the process of cooking the meat as they do for the flavor that it creates. A Korean BBQ recipe generally calls for cooking the meat over a dome grilled that sits over a heat source like a brazier, but pan cooking has also become a popular way of creating Korean BBQ. With so many variations in flavor and in cooking, Barbecue is more of a general term of flavor and cooking method than it is following one specific recipe. That’s why the recipe I have included is just a basic one that allows the cook to mix and match flavors with things that they like and what they have on hand. A Korean BBQ recipe is more of a guideline of things you could use in the recipe as opposed to a tried and true method. Just pick the flavors that you love and you associate with Korean BBQ and you will create a meal you won’t soon forget.
