(Yet another) Kalbi Recipe

Yes, I know I have not one, but two of these already. I did notice that it was four years between the first and second. And heck, guess what? It's been another four years already. So I guess it's just about the time again......

Actually, it was an email from frequent commenter (and hopefully reader) "Soo" that sent me down this road. It was a simple question about Kalbi, which made me realize that I hadn't made it in a while. I'd been wanting to try a different version and this seemed like a great time to do it.

So I bought some meat........

And the other ingredient, a new one......Sierra Mist. I'd been hearing about folks using lemon lime soda in their kalbi for quite a while. It's supposed to help tenderize the meat....though like most of everything else, I'm not sure how true that is. I believe it was Thomas Keller who debunked the acid as tenderizer theory. Yes, who am I to say this wouldn't work or taste good?

Still, the addition of other acids (i.e. mirin) and the standard Asian Pear which has the enzyme papain which does indeed break down protein. I know something about that since I had two chymopapain injections when I was younger. Though too much papain can make your meat really mushy.

Anyway, I started with a baseline, and just built on it by taste of the marinade. One big change in how I make this. I now grate everything by hand. A couple of years back I decided not to use the food processor/blender for this anymore. It was whipping in too much air, adding too much heat, making the marinade taste a bit different for me.

Enough of that; here's Kalbi Three:

Kalbi Three:

1 cup Aloha Shoyu
12 ounces Sierra Mist or Sprite
¼ cup mirin
1/3 cup dark brown sugar
½ cup grated Asian Pear
½ cup grated onion
2 Tb minced or grated garlic
3 Tb Malt Syrup
1 Tb sesame oil

- Combine all ingredients.
- Marinade ribs overnight

The flavor was more light and fruity than sweet. Even though I used Haeundae cut, Angus beef ribs, these were on the chewy side. Still, the Missus enjoyed the flavor. I need to do a taste-off of my various recipes with the addition of one that does a milk marinade for tenderizing first. I've heard a couple of "my grandma's kalbi recipe" stories of milk being used to tenderize the beef. Anyone know of this?

Comments

[kat]

yummy!

[Kirk]

Hi Kat - Funny, each version tastes very different to us.

[Soo]

Thanks for the new recipe! I volunteer to help with the taste off. ;-) The number 2 beef and Zion worked well for me. Odd how I was grilling kalbi last night and now you have given me another recipe to try.

[kyle]

Looks good. Hard to find big bone kalbi. Lot of times its sliced thin.

[Jinxieats]

Hi Kirk, I've heard of using milk as a tenderizer but that seemed sketchy to me... I guess the idea is that there are enzymes to break down the muscle fibers more? But nowadays how many enzymes are left in milk post processing anyway? haha. I have heard that buttermilk will help, though, because of its acidity. Not sure how kalbi+buttermilk will taste though =P

[Kirk]

Hi Soo - I'm glad you found some beef you can work with.

Hi Kyle - It's not too hard here in San Diego.

Hi Jinxi - Funny thing; everytime I ask for more "details", I get a kinda weird response. I've used buttermilk extensively for fried chicken, but was wondering. I'm figuring that it must be buttermilk for the lactic acid....

[Cathy]

We soak beef liver in milk about an hour before dredging in flour and then pan frying. Never considered using it for kabli. In any case, I have all the ingredients other than the Sprite...and the kalbi.

[Faye]

A Korean mom just told me her secret to Kalbi is Pineapple Juice :) But the grated asian pear sounds amazing - a friend told me about this long ago so I'm hoping to try this out soon as well.
Where did you buy the Kalbi meat?

[Kirk]

Hi Cathy - Your just one short trip to the market away!

Hi Faye - You have to watch marinating in pineapple juice, it's great on tough meat, but can turn it into mush. I use it for other marinades. Got this from Zion, but the best place is Korean Meat Market, though it's pricey. I'm pretty much quality over quantity.....

[nhbilly]

Ever tried kiwi as a tenderizer?
Becareful though, I usually use a whole blended kiwi 10-15 minutes before I grill/cook the meat (10lbs). I use it after marinating the meat overnight.

[Kirk]

Hi Billy - Of course. The funny thing is, you even commented on a post where I used kiwi in my marinade: http://mmm-yoso.typepad.com/mmmyoso/2009/07/more-grilling-revised-kalbi-recipe-ono-kiawe-charcoal.html
LOL! Guess I've been doing this for too long.

[nhbilly]

Dang, I've been reading your blog for too long!

[Kirk]

And we really appreciate your loyal "readership" Billy!

[Wandering Chopsticks]

I've tried pureed nectarines or peaches in the marinade. I don't know whether they work as a tenderizer, but for flavor they're great. I still have yet to unpack my food processor from the move, so I recently made kalbi with applesauce. Flavor and tenderness were great, but the marinade was a bit chunkier than if I had pureed it as usual.

[Kirk]

Hi WC - I'm not sure if peaches or nectarines would work as a meat tenderizer either. I haven't tried either in kalbi, but it seems that you can use almost any type of fruit.

[Barbara]

I know for a fact that buttermilk is a good tenderizer. I know that because my aunt & uncle would go hunting and soak the meat in buttermilk to get the gaminess out and tenderize the meat. I myself experimented with it {with & with out} and it works really good with........