Korean BBQ Short Ribs

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Prep Time 15

Cook Time 10

Rest Time 30

Total Time 55

Course Main Dish

Cuisine Korean

Servings 4

Calories 753.79 kcal

Ingredients

2.83 to 3 lbs beef short rib trim
2 tbs sugar
water

The Marinade

1 Asian pear, peeled, cored, and roughly chopped (457g); to yield 1 ¼ cup pear juice
1/2 fuji apple, peeled, cored, and roughly chopped (115g); to yield ¼ cup apple juice
1/2 yellow onion, peeled and roughly chopped (141g); to yield ¼ cup onion juice
1/4 cup pineapple juice
5 tbs soy sauce
1/2 tbs fish sauce
4 tbs mirin
2 tbs toasted sesame oil
2 tbs minced garlic (36g)
1 tsp minced ginger (8g)
2 green onion, finely chopped (25g)
3 tbs sugar
1 tsp black pepper

Instructions

1. Submerge ribs in water with 2 Tbsp sugar. Mix around meat so that the sugar is dissovled and set aside for 30 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, process Asian pear in a blender until very smooth. Run the pear juice through a cheesecloth, allowing the liquid to collect in a measuring cup. Squeeze the cheesecloth to extract as much liquid. Discard the pulp in the cheesecloth. Reserve exactly 1¼ cup pear juice. Transfer to a large bowl. Repeat the same process for fuji apple and reserve ¼ cup apple juice. Add to large bowl. Repeat process for yellow onion and reserve ¼ onion juice. Add to large bowl.
3. To same large bowl, add the remaining ingredients to create marinade. Mix thoroughly to dissolve sugar.
4. Once 30 minutes have passed, drain the ribs and rinse, rinsing one rib at a time. Make sure to rinse the bones to remove bone powder. Transfer to strainer. Repeat process to rinse twice total. Lay the rinsed ribs on a strainer and let it drain for 30 minutes (tip: tilt the strainer to make sure the meat doesn’t sit in the drained liquid). Discard drained liquid.
5. Mix marinade once more to dissolve remaining sugar at bottom of bowl. Working with one rib at a time, dunk rib into marinade to coat with marinade and chopped vegetables. Transfer rib to airtight container. Repeat with remaining ribs, making sure to layer the ribs so that the bones aren’t all aligned on one side. Pour remaining marinade over ribs and cover with lid. Refrigerate for at least one day, rotating the strips from bottom to top the next day. Enjoy on second or third day.
6. Heat a nonstick pan over medium-high heat until just shimmering. Add 1 Tbsp of marinade per galbi strip. Cook for one minute, then flip, making sure to cook other side of strips over the marinade. Continue to cook until marinade is reduced by half, about 2 minutes, then cut the strips by sections of the bone. Continue to cook, flipping occasionally, until marinade is absorbed and ribs are slightly caramelized and charred, about 4-5 minutes. Garnish with green onion. Enjoy with rice and other banchan.

Notes

Optional: Top galbi on a bed of cooking onions. Here's how - When you begin step 6, preheat cast iron over medium heat. When the marinade is reduced by half in step 6, add yellow onions to cover entire cast iron and pour 2 tsp of marinade over onions. Let it slowly cook as galbi cooks. Top with cooked galbi and enjoy.

Buy short ribs and Asian pear from the Korean grocery store if you can. The meat at the Korean grocery store has a much better marble and the Asian pears are big and juicy.

Run pear, apple, and onion juice through a cheesecloth to obtain smooth juices to avoid a gritty texture on the meat.

Minimum 1 day wait. Tastes good on the second day. It tastes best on the third day (2 day marination).