Stewed Korean Short Ribs, Kalbi Jjim (갈비찜)

Succulent Stewed Ribs Reminiscent of French Bourguignon

Whenever recent inductees to Korean cuisine describe fond memories of Korean food, the frequently mentioned universally palette-pleasing dish is kalbi, Korean barbeque short ribs. Typically marinated overnight and then fired over a tabletop or backyard grill, kalbi is the Korean equivalent of American barbeque. What people are less familiar with, however, is the kalbi jim*. Kalbi jim essentially uses the same cut of rib meat and similar seasonings as barbeque short ribs, only the bone is longer and meat scored or butterflied. But, the similarities end there. This tasty dish has more in common with the flavorful French bourguignon than its brother barbeque.

Bourguignon is beef braised in red wine and seasoned with garlic, onions, carrots and bouquet of assorted herbs like thyme, sage, tarragon and parsley. Like the French bourguignon, kalbi jim is also slow-cooked with liquor and spices, simmered till it reaches a fall-off-the-bone, melt-in-your-mouth tenderness. The reduction, when cooled, congeals and resembles aspic, a savory meat gelatin. The richness of kalbi jim derives from the bone marrow of the ribs, which steadily seeps into the sauce, thickening it as it simmers.

Although many traditional Korean recipes call for par-boiling the ribs, soaking the meat, or adding chicken broth, I have found that the simplest and most efficient way to cook kalbi jim is to just group the ingredients together according to cooking time and throw each of them in at the right time in a heavy-bottomed, copper-coated pot. What is most important in this dish is the cooking time and quality of ingredients. I love simmering raw chestnuts in kalbi jim, but since chestnuts are out of season, I used small Korean sweet potatoes with similar success.

^* Kalbi is also spelt galbi, kalbee or galbee. Jim is also spelt jjim or chim.

Kalbi Jim, Korean Stewed Short Ribs Recipe

~ Serves 3-4 people

Preparing the beef short ribs
3 lbs short beef ribs (English, thick-cut 3”-5” pieces)

1. Rinse the ribs in cold water to clean away any remaining bone bits.
2. Trim and discard excess fat.
3. Score or butterfly the meat (I will post separately for how to properly butterfly short ribs).

Cooking the beef short ribs
The alcohol and fruit juices in this kalbi jim tenderize and naturally sweeten the meat. With enough meat tenderizers, overnight marinating and sugar or honey rendered unnecessary.

6 cloves garlic, sliced
1 small onion, coarsely chopped
6 tbs soy sauce
1 ½ cups pineapple juice
1 cup vermouth or rice wine
¼ cup maesil ju, green plum wine, or Grand Marnier
½ cup water
1 tbs fresh ginger, peeled and chopped
1 tbs roasted sesame seeds
8 raw chestnuts, peeled or 2 Korean sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed
10 ginkgo nuts, shelled
2 tbs red pepper threads (sil kochu), cut into 1” pieces
1 tsp black pepper, ground

1. Throw all ingredients, including meat but except the chestnuts and ginkgo nuts into heavy-bottomed or thick clay pot and cover with a tight-fitting lid.
2. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a low simmer.
3. Simmer for 1 hour, stirring occasionally to ensure the bottom does not burn.
4. Add in chestnuts and simmer for another 20 minutes.
5. Add in ginkgo nuts and simmer for another 20 minutes.
6. Remove the lid and turn up heat to medium high.
7. Stirring frequently and scraping the bottom with a wooden paddle, cook for another 20-30 minutes, until the meat becomes shiny and liquids reduce.
8. Optional step: Wait till the whole pot cools, then put it in the freezer for 20 minutes. Scrape away the fat, then reheat and serve with ogokbap, mixed rice.

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Mixed Rice2, Dolsot Bibimbap (돌솥 비빔밥)

Sizzling Stone Pot Rice, A Multi-Grain Mix of Rice Mixed with Seasoned Vegetables & Meat

This Sizzling Stone Pot Mixed Rice, Dolsot Bibimbap*, should be called Dolsot Bibim Ogokbap (돌솥 비빔 오곡밥) because not only is the rice physically mixed with all the vegetables, meat, and rice as in traditional bibimbap, but the grains themselves are composed of a mix, hence Mixed Rice².

My blend of grains diverges from the traditional ogokbap^† five-grains^± of sweet rice, foxtail millet, red beans, black beans, and sorghum. And, unlike ogokbap, which is traditionally served on the day of Jeongwol Daeboreum, the first full moon of the new lunar year, my grain mix has been modified for daily consumption. While health-conscious Koreans are increasingly consuming multi-grain rice nowadays, I find pre-packaged blends of mixed grains to not be quite to my liking. I don’t like the taste of beans in rice that I plan to eat with kimchi, unless they are buttery Peruvian lima beans or quick-to-cook lentils. Nor do I like wild black rice mixed with sticky rice. Wild black rice tastes better, in my opinion, with fragrant, long grain rice, like jasmine rice. Some varieties of black rice not only poke at your throat but also bleed into the rice, coloring the rice a dark purple. Grains and beans also have different soaking times, and the pre-packaged multi-grain rice does not allow you to adjust for the different soaking times.

In my everyday version of ogokbap, I blend short grain brown rice, sweet brown rice, foxtail millet, wheat berry, oat groats, green lentils, and peas to create a golden brown rice mix with flecks of yellow and green. Combine this rice with a medley of delicately seasoned summer vegetables, earthy shitake mushrooms and burdock, and well-marbled bulgogi-style flank meat and you have a well-balanced meal all in one bowl! Crack in an egg, drop a dollop of kochujang or samjang^‡, mix the mix up, and your dolsot bibimbap will be ready to eat!

Cooked in a granite stone pot, even the leftover roasted rice stuck to the bottom of the pot, nurungi, is delicious and is, in fact, a favorite Korean snack now sold in grocery stores. After you scoop out the rice, pour water into the stone pot for a toasty, after-meal palette cleanser.
^* Also spelled tolsot pibimbap.
^† Ogokbap, also called chapgokbap, is served on the fifteenth day of the first month of the lunar year.
^± The exact grain blend varies, depending on which region you examine. Sometimes, for instance, black soybeans are included. Generally, the grains used in ogokbap are those they plan to plant in the coming year.
^‡Samjang, also spelled ssamjang, is a combination of kochujang, fermented hot pepper paste, and doenjang, fermented soybean paste. Although kochujang is more commonly used in bibimbap, samjang may also be used.

Dolsot Bibimbap Recipe

~ Serves 2 people

Soaking and Cooking the Mixed Grains
Peruvian lima beans require a longer soaking time of 4-6 hours and at least three water changes (in hot weather, soaking time is less than in cold weather). Otherwise, most of the grains here are relatively quick-to-soak-and-cook.

1 cup short grain brown rice
½ cup sweet brown rice
2 tbs split peas
2 tbs wheat berry
2 tbs foxtail millet
1 tbs lentils
1 tbs oat groats
¼ tsp salt

1. Soak the short grain brown rice, sweet brown rice and wheat berry together for 1 ½ - 2 hours and separately, the lentils for the same time, rinsing the lentils thoroughly and changing the water at least once.
2. Soak the millet for one hour, rubbing the grains and changing the water at least once.
3. Drain the millet and set aside.
4. Mix together the short grain brown rice, sweet brown rice, split peas, wheat berry, lentils, and oat groats and rinse once more. Drain and set aside.
5. Make sure your stone pot has been properly cleaned. See below for Dolsot Cleaning Instructions.
6. Put all of the grains except the millet in the pot with three cups of water.

7. Bring the water to a boil with the lid off. Dissolve salt into the boiling water.
8. After boiling gently for 15 minutes, add the millet in, decrease the heat to low, and cover the pot, leaving a crack of an opening.
9. Cook for another 15 minutes and then seal the opening shut with the lid.
10. Cook for another 15 minutes on very low, and then turn off and let sit for 5 minutes.
11. Fluff the rice with a fork and immediately seal to preserve the heat.

Preparing the Vegetables
Some people feel that bibimbap has a very labor-intensive process for preparing and seasoning vegetables, but actually, you can use whatever seasonal vegetables you like, including fresh sprouts and purple cabbage, both of which involve no preparation other than washing and chopping! Alternatively, you can cheat and go to the Korean grocery store and pick up prepared banchans such as doraji saengchae (marinated bellflower root) and pre-packed bibimbap seasoned vegetables. In general, the best short cut is using the right equipment. A mandolin slicer, as featured in Ratatouille and my cucumber salad recipe, is indispensable in any recipe that calls for slicing vegetables into thin disks or matchsticks.

3 medium carrots, sliced into matchsticks
2 Italian squash, sliced into matchsticks, leaving out the seed middle
1 lb chrysanthemum, leaves separated from stalks, stalks chopped in 1” pieces
2 tbs distilled white vinegar
½ tsp salt
2 tsp soy sauce
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 tsp sesame oil
1/8 tsp salt
1/8 tsp black pepper

1. Boil 6 cups of water with vinegar and salt.
2. Using a metal sieve, douse the carrots in the boiling water for 1 minute and then immerse in a bowl of icy water. Drain and set aside.
3. Douse the Italian squash for 45 seconds, immerse in icy water, drain and set aside.
4. Douse chrysanthemum leaves for 30 seconds, immerse in icy water, squeeze dry, and set aside.
5. Douse chrysanthemum stalks for 2 minutes, immerse in icy water, drain, and combine with wilted chrysanthemum leaves.
6. Coat the wilted chrysanthemum leaves and stalks with the soy sauce, garlic, sesame oil, salt, and black pepper.

Soybean sprouts- Mung bean spouts may also be used as a substitute for soybean sprouts. Although they are not as wide available, I do think they have a better flavor than soybean sprouts. You can also sprout your own, but it takes a few days.

1 ½ cups soybean sprouts
1 cup water

7. Place soybean spouts and water in a covered pot.
8. Boil for three minutes and then drain and set aside.

Ginkgo nuts- These healthy nuts are a beautiful addition to bibimbap, adding a wonderful chewiness and nutty flavor.

1 cup gingko nuts
2 tsp of vegetable oil

9. In a non-stick pan with oil, roast shelled ginkgo nuts over medium heat.
10. Transfer to a brown paper bag and rub between hands to remove the shell. Set aside.

Burdock & Shitake Mushrooms- The burdock root, which resembles a parsnip once peeled, adds a deep, earthy flavor. Similarly, shitake mushrooms add earthy and rustic undertones to this bibimbap.

1 burdock root, approximately 2 ½ ft, cut into matchsticks
2 tsp soy sauce
1 tbs sesame oil
2 cloves garlic, crushed
½ tsp honey

4-5 shitake mushrooms, fresh or thoroughly soaked and sliced
2 tsp soy sauce
1 tbs sesame oil
1 clove garlic, crushed
½ tsp honey

11. Over medium heat, pour the oil in the pan, then add the crushed garlic, sliced burdock, and roast for five minutes.
12. Add the soy sauce and honey, stirring often to make sure the burdock is well-coated. Cook until the burdock is browned on the edges, approximately 10 minutes.
13. Repeat these steps for the sliced shitake mushrooms.

Bulgogi
Literally translated, fired-meat adds a punch of protein to this otherwise vegetable-intense dish.

10 ounces of well-marbled rib-eye or tenderloin, thinly sliced
1 tbs + 1 tsp soy sauce
2 tbs vermouth
2 tbs maesil ju, green plum wine
1 tsp sesame oil
2 garlic cloves, crushed
¼ onion, sliced
¼ cup pineapple juice
½ tsp black pepper, ground
2 tsp red pepper threads, cut in 1” pieces

1. Put all the ingredients in a small pot and bring to a boil over medium heat.
2. Reduce to a simmer and cook covered for 15 minutes.
3. Remove cover and on medium heat, cook until most of the liquid has evaporated and turned into a thicker sauce, stirring frequently to prevent burning. Set aside.

Dolsot Bibimbap
All of the prepared toppings won’t fit on the top of the rice in the dolsot, so arrange a bit of each for the purposes of presentation on top. You can then allow your guests to add more vegetables and meat to each of their dishes.

Ssamjang or kochujang
1 tbs toasted sesame seeds for garnish
1 sheet gim, seasoned, roasted pressed laver, shredded for garnish

1. First, crack the eggs on the piping hot rice.
2. Arrange the vegetables and meat on top of the rice in the pot.
3. Serve with more vegetables, meat, and a dollop of either kochujang or samjang.
4. Garnish with seaweed and sesame seeds.

Instructions on How To Clean Your New Dolsot, Chiseled Granite Stone Pot

You may notice that dolsots are traditionally a shiny jet black color, reminiscent more of cast iron than chiseled granite. Dolsots become this way over time after repeated seasonings with oil and salt. Chonju, a Korean city, is famous for serving delicious bibimbap in these striking jet black granite bowls. My dolsot has not gone through enough seasonings to get this color, but I am noticing it steadily getting darker with each serving of bibimbap.

There are two different ways to wash your new granite stone pot. Regardless of which method you choose, you must never wash your dolsot with soap. The granite surface of stone pots is very porous and will absorb the soap and emit a very-difficult-to-rid-of-soapy-flavor.

The First Method

1. Rinse your pot very well.
2. Wearing rubber gloves to prevent your hands from chafing and becoming dried from the salt, pour a generous amount of salt into bowl and rub the salt around the sides and bottom. You will notice the salt pick up the dirt and become grey in color.
3. Rinse the bowl well.
4. Fill the bowl with water and at least ¼ cup of salt and bring to a boil.

The Second Method

1. Rinse your pot very well.
2. Place your stone pot in a large pot filled with salted water.
3. Bring the large pot of water to a boil.
4. Boil for an hour.
5. Remove the pot once the water is cooled.
6. For good measure, rub salt in the inside of the bowl to remove any sanded stone residue.

Dolsot Maintenance
After each use, use only salt and water to clean your dolsot. If you wear rubber gloves, you can either rub the salt into the dolsot to clean it well or just boil the whole thing to remove large residual rice grains and etc. Once your dolsot has dried, rub a little oil all around it and inside it. Keep it away from dust.

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Southwestern Style Korean Kimchi Pancake (김치전)

East meets Southwest in this sizzling hot dish

This Korean kimchi pancake, Kimchijeon*, adopts the okonomiyaki free spirit of mix-in-whatever-you-like while loosely following a Korean-Mexican fusion theme. Made with organic sweet brown rice flour, tangy sliced kimchi, spicy chicken chorizo sausage, fresh-cut Korean watercress, chopped red onions, hot chili peppers, and chewy Korean corn, the outside of this pancake is crisp while the inside is chewy like mochi. It’s the ultimate savory pancake, bursting with heat and intense flavor. Incarnated, this Southwestern Style Kimchi Pancake might be a Korean cowboy living in New Mexico. Ssssssss hot!

Not only encompassing fried savory pancakes but also other fried dishes, including egg-dipped vegetables and meats, 전 or chŏn/jŏn/jeons are often served as appetizers or side dishes. The batter is generally composed of wheat flour, ice cold water, and egg, although variations include pure or blends of ground skinned-mung beans, soybeans, corn starch, and sometimes, rice flour. I always prefer the non-wheat flour versions of pancakes because they have more character. The flavor and texture of nokdujeon (mung bean pancake), also called bindaetteok or bindaedduk, for instance, is very distinct, and when properly executed, the light golden bits of mung bean melt in your mouth. For today’s recipe, however, I selected a pure sweet brown rice flour base because I have a penchant for that sticky, satiating combo of meat and sweet glutinous rice. At dim sum, for example, one of my favorites is Hahm Sui Gock, a deep-fried, crispy glutinous rice flour dumpling stuffed with ground pork, Chinese chives, Shitaki mushrooms, and dried shrimp that resembles a miniature golden football you just want to punt into your mouth. You can think of my Southwestern Style Kimchi Pancake as being the healthier fusion, pancake version of Hahm Suey Gock. It’s also a delicious solution to the problem of leftover kimchi in your fridge.

Southwestern Style Korean Kimchi Pancake Recipe

~ Makes roughly a dozen 6-inch pancakes

Sweet brown rice batter
I bought a whole bag of organic sweet brown rice mochi gome from my local Nijiya market, but you can just purchase regular sweet rice flour at your local store. I recommend using a Pyrex 2-Quart Measuring Cup when measuring the water, mixing up and microwaving the mochi.

1 ¾ cups sweet brown rice, finely ground into flour
2 cups boiling water

1. Sift the sweet brown rice flour into the boiling water.
2. Mix well, breaking up any clumps, and microwave for 1 minute.
3. Mix well, breaking any clumps, and microwave for 40 seconds at a time. Repeat 5 times.

Southwestern Style Korean Kimchi Batter
Make sure to remove the excess liquid from the kimchi and washed watercress. You don’t want the batter to be too runny.

¾ cup ripe kimchi, squeezed to remove excess liquid
1 lb chicken chorizo sausage
1 Korean corn cut from the cob
2 bunches Korean watercress (minari), washed and pat or spun dried
1 small red onion, chopped
2 Korean hot red peppers, sliced
2 tablespoons red pepper threads (sil kochu), cut

1. Mix the ingredients listed above into the sweet brown rice batter.
2. Microwave another minute and mix well. Set aside to cool.
3. Cover and refrigerate the batter. Chilling the batter before frying it will create more crispy pancakes.

Frying the Southwestern Style Kimchi Pancakes
I recommend using either peanut, grape seed, or canola oil, but not olive oil. Olive oil does not have a high burning point, and when raised to a temperature past that burning point, it becomes carcinogenic.

1. On a medium fire, heat up a cast-iron or non-stick skillet with just enough oil to cover the surface of the pan.
2. Pour the pancake batter in and wait about five - seven minutes, watching the bottom of the pancake to make sure it doesn’t burn.
3. Flip the pancake and cook the other side for about four minutes.
4. Transfer to a plate. Do not stack the pancakes or place them on paper towels or they will stick. Enjoy immediately.

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Bulgogi Buffalo Burger (불고기버거)

Bison burger meat fired with bulgogi flavor & nestled in a sticky brown rice bun

If there exists an edible that epitomizes the experience of being an American born Korean raised in Southern California, it is the Bulgogi Buffalo Burger. Imagine a 1/2 lb bulgogi-style seasoned slab of all-organic, grass-fed, free-range American buffalo meat topped with grilled onions, melted cheddar, crisp bean sprouts, crunchy purple cabbage, fragrant perilla leaves, pungent kimchi, and spicy jalapeños nestled between a roasted brown rice bun with a dollop of kochujang ketchup on the side. The bison burger meat is flavored with typical Asian seasonings of soy sauce and garlic but given an unconventional shot of Korean green plum wine, maesil ju. The Bulgogi Buffalo Burger also prominently features kochujang, fermented hot pepper paste and kimchi, spicy fermented napa cabbage- two national Korean foods, according to the Korean government. With your bulgogi, bap, and banchan in burger form, you can manhandle your meal and sink your teeth in the good old fashioned American way!

Buffalo (American Bison) meat is sweeter in flavor and leaner than beef. Bison meat is also healthier than skinless chicken, pork, lamb and even some fish, especially if you consider the mercury levels in fish nowadays. There is little shrinkage in bison meat, and because there is less fat to insulate the bison meat, it cooks faster than beef. Furthermore, in comparison to grain-fed beef, buffalo meat contains 69% more iron and higher levels of vitamins, minerals and omega-3 to omega-6 fatty acids, which help promote a healthy metabolism. So, send this buffalo home on the range and then, straight in your tummy

Bulgogi Buffalo Burger Recipe

~ Serves 4 people

Bulgogi-Style Marinated Bison Meat
If you are not eager to march off to a hunting range with a bow and arrow, check whether your local farmer's market carries bison meat or make the purchase online.

2 lbs ground buffalo (American bison) meat
4 large cloves of garlic
6 tsp soy sauce
4 tbs pineapple juice
3 tbs Korean green plum wine, maesil ju
2 tsp ginger juice
1/2 tsp pepper

1. Crush and roast the garlic. Let cool.
2. Force the ginger through the garlic crusher to obtain ginger juice. Mix the ginger juice with roasted garlic and other marinade ingredients.
3. Marinate the ground bison 2-3 hours or overnight.

Kochujang Ketchup
In lieu of ketchup, you can dab some fermented hot pepper paste on your burger. I recommend either O'Foods or Pulmone kochujang for the best quality results. Don’t slather on the kochujang like ketchup, however, because kochujang is much saltier than ketchup. O’Foods is less salty and much tastier than Pulmone but also twice as much in cost.

1/4 cup kochujang
2 tbs rice vinegar
2 tbs green plum wine, maesil ju
2 tsp sesame oil
1 clove garlic, crushed

1. Mix all the ingredients together well. Let everyone help themselves.

Mixed Brown Rice (Bap) Buns
The stickiness of the sweet brown rice helps hold the grains together. Inspired by a favorite Korean snack, nurungi, which is the scorched rice at the bottom of the pot, down-home Korean melds with backyard American cooking.

2/3 cup short grain brown rice
1/3 cup sweet brown rice
2 cups of water
4 tsp sesame oil

1. Mix 2/3 cup short grain brown rice with 1/3 cup sweet brown rice, rinse and drain.
2. Pour 2 cups of water and pressure cook rice. Let cool to a warm temperature.
3. Cut about 1 square foot of saran wrap. Place a little over 1/4 cup of rice in the center of the saran wrap, and flatten and compress the rice into the shape of patty. Make sure you pack the patty tight.
4. Pour 1/2 tsp of sesame oil per patty on the pan. You will have 8 rice patties.
5. Cook each patty for 5-7 minutes over medium heat on each side. Do not flip the patty unnecessarily. 7 minutes will produce a more scorched bun than 5 minutes.

Preparing Toppings
Make sure you purchase perilla (kenip) leaves from the Korean market and not shiso leaves from the Japanese market. Korean perilla leaves are larger, heartier, less furry, and gentler in flavor than their Japanese counterparts. Kimchi can be purchased almost anywhere nowadays, including Costco, but I like to go to the Galleria market in K-town and get the kimchi with the raw oysters, croaker, and beltfish.

12 perilla leaves
2 cups young soybean sprouts
2 cups purple cabbage, shredded
2 green jalapeño peppers, sliced
1/2 onion, grilled
2 cups kimchi, sliced
4 slices cheddar cheese

1. Wash, dry, and prepare all the fresh vegetables. Set aside.
2. Grill the onions on the pan with touch of olive oil. Set aside.

Cooking & Assembling the Burger
Bison meat cooks 1/3 faster than regular beef, so if you like your burger medium rare, keep a close watch on the time. As with any lean meat, bison burger meat tastes better not over-cooked to well-done because the meat may become chewy and dry. The basic cooking strategy is: sear on high, then low and slow. Make sure you use a pancake spatula or tongs to flip the meat. Do not agitate or poke the meat more than necessary because the delicious juices are more likely to escape.

Ground bison meat, marinated
2 tsp vegetable oil

1. Heat the pan or grill up on high. Use 1/2 tsp of oil per burger patty.
2. Divide the meat into four patties.
3. Sear each side for about 1-2 minutes.
4. Reduce the heat to medium low and cook 3-4 minutes on each side.
5. Place the burger meat on top of the rice bun and pile on whatever toppings you desire.

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