Easy Korean Short Ribs (Kalbi)
In most places, it’s warm enough to grill outside – let the BBQ season begin! While I love that barbecue cooking leaves the heat and messiness outdoors, I also love the smokey flavor that grilling brings. Outdoor grilling is all around easier in my opinion, especially since the only real work is making the marinade, and that usually takes minutes.
I love the myriads of flavors created when jumping from one ethnic seasoning to another, and Korean barbecue is one of my favorites. Bulgogi and kalbi are my favorite Korean grilling recipes. Their marinades are basically the same, but while bulgogi refers to grilled beef brisket, steak, or tenderloin, kalbi usually means grilled beef short ribs.
The bold marinade for these popular dishes contains a combo of sweet, salty and acidic ingredients that explode with flavor after a smoky char on the grill. And the secret sweet ingredient in this marinade is pears! Fresh or dried can be used, but the secret to pears is that they contain an enzyme called calpain, which actually helps to tenderize the meat.
If you would like to serve a little marinade as a dipping sauce for the cooked ribs, hold back half a cup or so at the beginning and refrigerate until mealtime. But be sure to discard any marinade that is used for marinating the raw meat. And always refrigerate foods as they marinate to prevent the spread of harmful bacteria.
Pro tip: If you have a vacuum sealer, you can expedite marinating time by combining the meat or protein with a marinade and then vacuum sealing it. The extraction of air from the bag forces the liquid marinade into the protein, doing the job in a fraction of the time.
Korean Grilled Short Ribs (Kalbi)
Yield: 1 3/4 cup marinade (1 ¼ cups for marinade and ½ cup for dipping sauce)
Ingredients
2 pounds of beef short ribs (or pork ribs or chicken)
For the marinade:
½ cup low-sodium soy sauce
2 tablespoons Melissa’s agave nectar
2 tablespoons unseasoned rice wine vinegar
2 tablespoons Melissa’s chopped ginger
1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil
1 tablespoon Melissa’s chopped garlic
1/2 Melissa’s Butterscotch™ pear (peeled and cored), about 6 ounces
3 small Melissa’s shallots (about 2 ½ ounces), peeled, trimmed, and finely minced (about ¼ cup)
Garnishes:
Green onion
Sesame seeds
1 tablespoon gochujang (Korean chili paste), optional
Preparation
Combine all marinade ingredients in a bowl or jar. At this point, the marinade can be made several days ahead of time and stored in the refrigerator.
Set aside ½ cup marinade for dipping sauce at serving time. Pour the remaining marinade into a shallow baking pan, just large enough to accommodate the meat in a single layer. Add meat to the pan and toss well to coat all sides. Cover tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 12 to 24 hours before cooking. Try to turn the meat at least once during marination.
To cook the short ribs, remove plastic wrap from marinating pan and bring marinated meat to room temperature. Preheat oven to 250 degrees Fahrenheit. Cover the meat pan tightly with foil and bake for 2 hours or until the meat is very tender but still attached to the bone. At this point, the ribs should be fully cooked. This step can be done ahead of time and then refrigerated. Bring to room temperature before grilling.
Preheat grill (or smoker) to 350 degrees Fahrenheit—grill ribs for about 20 minutes or until evenly browned on all sides. Take care not to burn them, as there is sugar in the marinade. Watch them closely and do not leave unattended.
Remove from grill and garnish with slivered green onion and toasted white and/or black sesame seeds. Pass dipping sauce.
