Fool Proof - Korean BBQ Tritip

Having grown up on it, I have a special affinity for Korean food, particularly the spicy dishes.  But as much as I love it, I can also see how the ubiquitous pungency, more than occasional spiciness and bold flavor profiles can be a challenge for some.  If I were to choose just one dish to ensure a Korean food virgin would return for more, Korean barbecue would be it.

Assload of tri-tip.  4-5 pounds.  
Serves 8 at least.

Umami from the soy sauce, savory from garlic and green onion, just a hint of nuttiness from the toasted sesame oil and a touch of sweet - I have yet to come across a carnivore or omnivore who doesn't LOVE this stuff.  

Like every recipe, variations abound on the net, but I personally think a lot of them make this marinade a LOT more complicated than it needs to be, calling for stuff like mirin (not a bad pantry item to have lying around, but not terribly common, either) and/or pureed fruit (intended to be a meat tenderizer, but using the right cut of meat for the marinade obviates the need). And I tend to favor shorter ingredient lists and simpler processes when I know the result will be just as tasty and ultimately more accessible for a home cook.  

BOOLGOHGI (Korean BBQ) MARINADE

This soy-based marinade works best with fattier cuts of meat like ribeye, tri-tip, cross-cut short ribs, flank or skirt steak, or even chicken thighs.  Leaner cuts tend to take on a cured texture if marinated for long periods.  

Should season 3-4 pounds of meat
without too much waste.

- 1 cup lite soy sauce

- ½ cup sugar

- 3 Tablespoons brown sugar

- 3 Tablespoons water

- 2 to 3 Tablespoons minced garlic, to taste

- 2 green onions, chopped

- ½ teaspoon black pepper

- 1 Tablespoon distilled white vinegar or 1/4 cup apple sauce as a tenderizer if needed

- 1 Tablespoon toasted sesame oil
- 1 Tablespoon neutral oil

Combine all ingredients in a bowl and stir or whisk until sugar is dissolved. Some soy sauces are saltier than others. If your marinade's too salty, try adding 1 teaspoonful of water at a time to dilute the saltiness to taste.  Keep in mind as you're tasting, though, that the juices from the meat will also dilute the flavors.


I like to let the meat marinate for at least 30-45 minutes if I'm in a hurry, and 1.5 - 2 hours ideally.  Really fatty cuts can even marinate overnight without suffering too much change in texture.


This is also a great base for a potsticker/dumpling dipping sauce. Just add:


- 1 tablespoon of distilled, red wine, or white wine vinegar (or more if you like your dipping sauce more tangy) and
- 1 teaspoonful (or more) red chili flakes (a GREAT use for the packets you get with your pizza delivery)


If you're going to store this sauce to use for dipping, LEAVE OUT THE CHOPPED GREEN ONIONS until just before serving as they tend to get a bit metallic tasting when they sit in the sauce for hours.

Right off the grill.

Sliced after a 5-10 minute rest.
Nice, juicy, pink medium rare/rare. 

I like to serve this with plain steamed rice and a side of salad or stir fried veggies.  Fried or seasoned rice seems a bit of an overkill with the flavors to me.  I do notice, however, that gringos tend to like to douse their steamed rice with soy sauce, but I think it's in part due to the fact that Westerners have a very compartmentalized way of eating, i.e., they like to keep their courses separated - both on their plates and in their mouths.


We Asians use steamed rice as a palate for other flavors. So plain rice goes in the mouth WITH a bite of some other seasoned component, and the rice becomes a foil for the salty, savory and sweet of the barbecue. Fried rice, with its seasoning and the addition of meat and vegetables, is considered somewhat of an entree unto itself.


And one last pointer for anyone who cares (and y'all know I do): the word is pronounced BOOLgohgee with a stress on the first sylLABle and not buhGOEgee (as I often hear), which aside from being an incorrect pronunciation just sounds like a 10-gallon hat wearin' Texan butchering my father tongue. :)


Hope this is helpful,


shinae

P.S.  The use of tri-tip and the medium rare doneness are NOT traditional.  This marinade is usually used on thinly sliced ribeye to make boolgohgi or on cross-cut shortribs to make kahlbi.