A Week of Menus - Kalbi Ggim Mini Lesson

Hi all - hope all is well and the cool weather inspires you to make some soups and lovely warm dishes... I'm freezing right now, so all that sounds good to me is warm korean food - except that I can't eat MUCH OF IT! (I'm soy and dairy free.) I got some feedback from Jenny who enjoyed the salmon agrodolce and expressed frustartion that my nameul explanation was too confusing...I'm going to look for an online demonstration (or perhaps just film and make my own) so that you can watch it - I think the writing was too dense - but it's got a lot of detail to help with the technique. Was anyone brave enough to try? Was it any good or am I holding my breath?

I think Kalbiggim is a great thing to make when IT IS NOT HOT! Those of you suffering in LA, this is probably not a great recipe for you, but for us, up here, it's still cool enough to enjoy a braised beef short rib, which is essentially what kalbi ggim is.

Kalbi Ggim Mini Lesson
Up north, I think the best short ribs are available at Safeway. The problem is that they are too long - and so you need to have the butcher cut the bones in half - so you have about a 2 inch long chunk where you once had a 4 inch chunk. (basically cutting the rib in half.) This makes for FAR better braising. So I get my 2 packs of 4 (8 ribs total), take it to the butcher and ask him to cut them in half which happily he does. Then I have 16 smaller pieces.

Preparation
The preparation of the beef is the most important. First - drain the blood by soaking it in cold water. Dump all your beef, bones and all into a large pot and cover with plenty of cold water. Let the beef drain the blood for about 45 minutes or an hour. After soaking, slice into the beef across the grain - essentially breaking the top of the meat, the chunkiest part into smaller pieces still attached to the bone. This allows for maximum soakage of the marinade and the sauce and maximizes tendering of the beef.

Cooking 1st round
Now - put all the sliced, soaked meat into a pot and cover with clean water. Bring the beef and the water to a boil and then reduce heat to a simmer - allow to simmer for 45 minutes. The boiling liquid will be brown, foamy and ugly. After drain all the beef and WASH OFF all of the foam and dirty bits. Rinse well under cool water until you have "clean" pieces of cooked beef.

Cooking 2nd round
In a clean pot (or the pot you used before but make sure it's clean) add the following
1 cup sugar
1 cup soy
1 cup water
1/2 cup sesame oil
1/2 cup sake
6 cloves of garlic, finely processed
Add all of your beef.
Cook over medium low heat - turning constantly and allowing different pieces of the beef to soak and cook in the liquid. cook for 40 minutes or until the beef is tender and then add 1 diced onion, 2 carrots chopped into big chunks and one potato, peeled and cut into large chunks. Continue cooking until the vegetables are fully cooked.

Serve with rice. YEAH! Kalbi Ggim!

Any suggestions for other mini lessons? I'm not a master korean chef by any stretch, but if there is something basic you want to learn, please ask. I will try and accommodate or find someone who can teach it.

Menu #1-Kalbi Ggim, Salad, Cucumbers and Rice - kimchee optional. (or mandatory if you're in my house.)
Kalbi ggim recipe above.

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/CHINESE-CHICKEN-SALAD-234995

I just use romaine (from Costco) and leave out most of the other vegetables, but you can add them. YUMMY!
This salad goes REALLY well with the kalbi ggim - you can leave out the cilantro if you're a hater, but those of you from the north of Korea (like me - red commie that I am) will be familiar with its use in Korean cooking - "goh soo" it's called in Korean and it's YUM!

Pickling Cucumbers cut into sticks for dipping into sahmjang or plain gotchoo jahng for some spicy kick.

Menu #2 -Pasta with Artichokes, sundried tomatoes, sausages
I got this recipe through Jenny who made it at a shower. It is SUPER yummy and also super easy which makes it a great dinner in a flash. I left out the mozzarella (I would LOVE it but I'm dairy free) and the parmesean cheese and it was STILL delicious. I was also in a pinch to get the girls to eat some greens, so I just took some baby spinach, chopped it up and tossed it on top so it would wilt and mix in and they loved it - gobbled it all up. In FACT - such a hit with my girls that they asked for it three times last week (luckily there were leftovers so I was able to just simply reheat and serve...again throwing on the chopped spinach for a complete meal.)

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/giada-de-laurentiis/fusilli-with-sausage-artichokes-and-sun-dried-tomatoes-recipe/index.html

Menu #3 - Kongnameul Bap and Gook (goh lee gohmtanhng that you've defrosted from the freezer.)

Wash and clean your rice. put it in the rice pot. Add ground beef - I like about 1 lb for about 3 cups of uncooked rice. Mix the beef in (this is my peculiarity - some people just leave that floating on top but I like it all mixed in and cooked together.) Add a nice chunk of kongnameul on top and just cook as you normally would. Serve with yangyum ganjang - soy sauce, sesame oil, scallions, red chili powder (if you like spicy) sesame seeds.

Menu #4 - BBQ ribs, Salad, Bread with butter

New Rib recipe - my girls LOVED IT and in fact wouldn't leave the table because they wanted more...

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/tyler-florence/the-ultimate-barbecued-ribs-recipe/index.html

the ribs is not your standard 1 hour from start to finish - it does require some slow cooking...but the sauce, which is homemade was so good and easy I thought it was a worthwhile recipe to put out there.

Happy Cooking all!