Dinner Last Night - Yakiniku (Japanese Style Korean BBQ)

Yakiniku

This is another one of my favorite meals!  It's another dish that the Japanese took from another country and made it their own :o)  It's really not that different than the Korean version, but the marinade may be a little different.  I got my recipe by mixing up my mom's, Korean cookbooks & Bobby Flay...lol  Again, you can get more variety when you eat out at a restaurant, but it's kind of fun to make this at home since you cook it at the table.  If you don't have a portable stove for the table, you can just cook everything on the stove or grill and then serve it.  I served...short ribs, rib eye, pork belly & kimchi, home made kimchi, eringi & oyster mushrooms, zucchini, rice & salad. Again, I wouldn't call my cooking "authentic", but it tastes really good!

Making the marinade...

For the marinade I throw in soy sauce, water, sugar, mirin, garlic, sesame oil, sake, tobanjang (a spicy chile sauce), salt, pepper, ginger and grated Asian pear and cook it on the stove until the sugar has dissolved.  You can cook the meats without any marinade or just salt & pepper, but I like it with the tare (sauce).  I just use the same sauce for all the beef.  Some people make different sauces, but I'm too lazy to do that ;o)

Galbi (Short Ribs)

I use the plate style short ribs and make cuts on each side, so that they will turn into a long strip.  You can use the flanken style short rib, the type that has the little bones and is cut into a strip, but I like the plate style because you end up slicing it against the grain into small pieces after it's cooked, so it's more tender!

Before and After...

Rib Eye (Bulgogi)

Bulgogi is thinly sliced meat.  It is traditionally beef, but it can be pork or chicken.  I got these pre-sliced at the Korean market and then added my marinade to it.  It doesn't need to marinate for too long or it will get too salty.

Short Ribs in Marinade

I keep the short ribs in the marinade up to an hour or more...

Oyster Mushrooms

I like oyster mushroom for their delicate flavor.  These were in a plastic box and the bottom ones were getting a little soggy, so I chopped those up and used it for the pork belly & kimchi dish.  I put salt & pepper on the fresher ones with the eringi mushrooms and zuchhini and grilled all those veggies.

Pork Belly & Oyster Mushrooms

I put sesame oil, salt & pepper on the pork belly and let it sit while I sauteed the oyster mushroom with garlic.  I then added the pork belly and when that cooked through I added the kimchi and cooked it until the kimchi warmed through.  This is sliced pork belly, not cured bacon ;o)

Pork Belly & Kimchi

Short Ribs grilling...

I grill the beef with the bone on and then save the bones to make stock later.  I have a nice collection of beef bones from steaks, prime rib etc. in my freezer :o)

Short Rib, Rib Eye & Zucchini

Short Rib, Rib Eye, Zucchini & Oyster Mushrooms

I wish that I had another grill to switch it out like they do at the restaurants. The grill gets pretty burnt cooking the short rib.  To clean it, I use oven cleaner...works like a charm!

Kalbi

I like to make a dipping sauce for the meat with the extra juice from the Kimchi and a little bit of soy sauce :o)