Kalbi on Beef Recipe Recipe
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Ingredients: |
Ingredients: Meat
3 lbs. Beef Bone in Short Rib for Kalbi (Franken Style cut, about 1/4” thick strips with 3 ribs), soaked in water for over 30 minutes then rinsed to get the saw dust off the meat. I purchased 2 packs of Franken cut meat from the best local Asian Market in my region at $14/lb., however I later discovered my local Safeway carries exactly the same cut for $8/lb. Each package had 9 strips for a total of 18 altogether. The way I figure it, 3 strips would equal one serving at about 1/3 lb. each (including the bone weight).
Wet
• ½ c Water – as needed
• ¾ c Sugar: Honey, Clover
• ½ c Mirin
• 3 tbsp. Sesame Oil
• 1 c Soy Sauce, low-sodium
• 1 tsp Black Pepper
• 1 tsp Sichuan Peppercorns, toasted, crushed with pestle
• ¼ tsp Red Pepper Flakes
• 1/3 c Orange-Pineapple Juice
Semi-Dry
• 1 medium Onion, peeled
• 4 Garlic cloves, crushed
• 1 medium Fuji Apple, cored
• 2 tbsp. fresh Ginger root, peeled
• 1 medium Scallion, peeled
• 3 tbsp. Fermented Black Beans, soaked, rinsed
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Directions: |
Directions:===Production===
=Tuesday=
1. Using a standard 6 cup blender, I poured Wet ingredients in first, then topped with about ½ of the dry before blending on the lowest setting and did not see reason to go higher than that. Slowly added remaining Dry through the hole in the lid, and finishing up with the Orange-Pineapple Juice.
2. Returned to the meat and finished cleaning. But I squandered about 10 minutes fussing over which dish to use to hold the meat and marinade, finally settling on a nice 9x13 Pyrex casserole dish with convenient sealing lid (see photo); in hindsight the plastic bag would have been better for all around handling (which I did the 2nd time I made this). At 5 PM, the Marinade is under way.
3. The remaining Marinade I placed in a large freezer-proof ZipLoc Bag, purging all the air out. Then me – with my OCD, I double-wrapped it again in another freezer bag, then stuffed that into a paper bag to reduce freezer burn, and then wrapped that in another grocery bag. I think it’s good… for now. Hoping this will keep awhile – perhaps until Spring.
=Wednesday=
4. Post-Marinade Prep:
a. About 3 PM (22 hours on the marinade) I took ½ quantity (9 strips) from the cache.
b. Using my fingers, I squeegeed the excess marinade off each strip,
c. And then stacked them on a plate to warm up to room temperature before broiling (see photo).
5. Broiling
a. Applied PAM to Broiling Pan. NOTE: Wipe excess off or it will char in the broiler.
b. Set Oven to LOW Broil because I don’t know how fast this will go. Ack! For some reason, LOW turns off the broiler, so I reset it to HI to keep the coils engaged.
c. Placed Meat strips onto Broiling Pan; my guess was correct: It can only handle 3 strips at a time (see photo).
d. The aroma from the Oven is awesome! After 7 minutes the meat is starting to sizzle. At 10 minutes I flipped sides. Off to a slow start, but I think we’re cooking now. 2nd Side is sizzling after 2 minutes, pulled it after another 90 seconds. Wiped excess oil off pan.
e. TIME: 4:27; next batch of 3. Sizzle begins 5 minutes later. 4:33 rotated and flipped. Sizzle starts a minute later.
f. Batch 3 in @ 4:37. Sizzle at 4:43. Rotated and flipped minute later. Sizzled a minute after that. Shut down at 4:47. End of first Production. As you can see – this process goes quickly!
6. 1st Evaluation
a. First batch was an unknown quantity, and likely overcooked, but next batches I worked to keep the charring down to a fault.
b. 1st Batch came out thin like jerky. Some charring apparent.
c. 2nd & 3rd batches came out pretty well, although I am still overcooking them. When the sizzle goes broadly – that’s the time to flip, or pull if flipped.
7. 2nd Evaluation
a. The remaining 9 strips of meat stayed in the dish, and marinated for another TWO DAYS before I could get my friend to come over and help me eat them.
b. As before, I allowed the meat to warm up and squeegeed off the excess marinade.
c. Oven was placed on HIGH Broil.
d. This time I waited for the meat to sizzle well, and not any longer. Production was much faster this way.
e. The meat was much less jerky-like and juicy! This is the way to do it.
f. My friend loved it! No complaints!
=Notes=
1. The Meat: After marinating for 24 hours the meat had swollen measurably and looks like there’s a lot more than there is!
2. The Broiling Pan: Evidently my apartment did not come with one; weird. So I had to go buy one which was an adventure in itself since no one seemed to stock them. At the 3rd store (BedBathBeyond.com) I broken down and bought a dinky non-stick 9x13 Broiler with a drip pan. I was thinking I might get 9 strips on it but no, I could only fit 3 at a time.
3. Shallots: I don’t know why I use these; to me they stink and I have a hard time getting that smell out of my nose. Oh, but that’s why we have coffee beans!
4. The Fermented Black (soy) Beans were a score! I stored all but 3 tbsps. into a sealed glass jar and placed it into the fridge. The remaining I had put aside was placed in a pint glass, filled it with water, agitated for about a minute, then set it aside for at least 15 minutes. By itself it has a deep salty umami flavor unlike anything I’ve had before. After nearly 30 minutes I returned to the glass, agitated some more, then drained, rinsed, and added to the blender. Most of the salty character was gone, though it left me with a strange yet pleasant nutty-like flavor… indescribable. They pureed nicely! If you want concentrated Soy flavor – use the beans!
5. Soy Sauce: OMG is this salty, and I used the “Low-Sodium” version!
6. Mirin: Tastes like salty corn syrup with rice-based liqueur added. I should have read the ingredients before purchase because there is a brand of Mirin that does not use Corn Syrup. I feel betrayed and driven to sewer it!
7. Sichuan/Szechuan Peppercorns (Green): I could not find clear direction on how to process these. The item I purchased has already been deseeded and they were quite dark brown in color leading me to think they’ve already been toasted. I emptied the bag into a glass jar and took out only what I needed for the recipe and placed that into a Mortar & Pestle. Then I ground at it for about 5 or 10 minutes, and dumped the remains into the blender. I’ve never cooked with Szechuan before and was curious, so I took a wet finger and touched the pestle and placed it on my tongue and in about one breath it began to tingle in a pleasant sort of way. The aroma is intoxicating!
8. Chili Flakes: Honestly, it was an afterthought; I just didn’t think there was enough pepper in the marinade. Adding the ¼ tsp will likely become a superlative background ember.
9. Kalbi before today: I’ve had Kalbi many times in the past, and now that I’ve made my own it’s easy to see that those versions used cheap brown sugar and were much less complex.
10. Taste: Forgot to taste after blending, but I got a chance to taste it after about 6 hours in the fridge. Mildly sweet, garlicky, stinky shallot, and faintly spiced. However the aromatics, particularly “lemon” from the Szechuan has persisted. |
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Number Of
Servings: |
Number Of
Servings:8 to 12 |
Preparation
Time: |
Preparation
Time:Up to 90 minutes |
Personal
Notes: |
Personal
Notes: Related Topics: Kalbi Ingredients Study, Kalbi on Chicken. This is the second article in a 3-part series.
Actual Recipe made on February 16, 2021. This takes about 90 minutes to prep and makes 6 cups of liquid which was twice what I needed for 3 lbs. of meat. I split the unused portion and froze it for later.
===Review===
After broiling ½ of the meat I can offer some advice.
The taste was very light all around with low aromatics after the 1st batch were broiled. The flavor was mildly smoky, sweet, and oily as all get-out due to the cut of meat. It was without a doubt - chewy in texture, closer to jerky in the first batch, though with more attention made sure it came out meatier.
It was addicting to eat them, and I particularly liked chewing on the bones for that extra gristle. I thought for sure I would be full after 3 strips, but no – I went back for seconds! LOL
=Given all the work I put into it, I have this to say:=
• The flavors were subtle and not overpowering in any way shape or form. I was plenty happy it came out this well, and without competing or clashing flavors.
• Buy the Franken Cut of Beef from Safeway because it is a thicker slice, nearly ½ the price of the Asian market, and has less fatty marbling which is unnecessary.
• Alcohol: Use better quality Mirin. Or – drop a jigger or 2 of Vodka into the mix instead.
• Soy Sauce vs. Fermented Black Beans: Use one or the other; there’s no need to add both. That said, Soy Sauce is 3X more expensive than Fermented Black Beans, the latter being a far better deal.
• Garlic and Ginger: Could be amped up by 20%.
• Fruit: I could easily see adding up to 50% more juice or fruit. By itself, Fruit/Juice helps brown the meat during broiling and adds to sweetness when it becomes caramelized.
• Sugar: I have never been a fan of Brown Sugar – a common ingredient in Kalbi recipes – ever since I took up brewing because Brown Sugar is just White Sugar that is back-blended with Molasses. A better idea might be to use Raisins or Dates with Honey to create complex sweet superlatives.
• Ditch the Scallion unless you’re into Green Onions and Scallions.
• Peppers: Hardly noticed peppery flavor, but then this recipe was designed to be pepper-lite on purpose. I suggest perfecting the taste first before adventuring on pepper-mania. I was very excited to try the Szechuan Peppercorns and as it turned out the aroma imparted was incredible! The amount I used barely registered on my taste buds – though man could I smell it, and will definitely want to mine this in the future. At the same time I could see dropping Chili Pepper in exchange for Serrano for a profound TexMex Kalbi Twist!
===Conclusion===
I’d like to see more complexity and sweetness while paying more attention to broiling and not let it become too dry or charred. I would love to develop a boneless jerky version for the high Sierra! I think that’s how this whole thing started… with my Cousin sharing “Kalbi Jerky”; I want to do that for sure. But the process needs to be simplified.
Ready to try a real world Kalbi recipe? Check out my “Kalbi on Chicken” recipe next!
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