Anna's Korean Kitchen Diary» beef

Marinated vs Non marinated BBQ

Anna — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 23:51:04 +0000

Did you know that Koreans prefer Non-marinated BBQ over Marinated? (and seems to be vice versa for non-Koreans)

Koreans like non-marinated ones better usually because you need to bbq with better quality meat for those kinds, even restaurants...so usually non-marinated beef are more expensive than anything else! Exception will be pork since pork...is cheaper...

Marinated ones may have more strong (and sweet)flavor, but they can go by without using good quality meat. Marinated BBQ include Jaeyookbokkeum (spicy pork), Galbi/Kalbi (marinated ribs), Bulgogi...etc.
Also when you get non-marinated ones, you'll be able to enjoy the real flavor of the fresh meat itself. Non-marinated ones include Samgyupsal (pork belly strips), Chadolbagi (very thin beef brisket), Seng Galbi (non-marinated ribs) and Seng Galbi is the most expensive of all.

It's your choice and if you decide to get mix of everything, start with non marinated ones and then BBQ marinated ones later.

Marinated ones tend to burn the grill faster and would require you to change the grill too often. Also because if you eat marinated ones first then you won't be able to enjoy the full flavor of the fresh meat due to sauce taste lingering in your mouth. So keep that in mind!

Kalbi Sauce on ebay:

KOREA FOOD/BULGOGI BEEF MARINADE/BBQ KALBI SAUCE 225ml / FREE SHIPPING

US $9.95

KOREA FOOD / KALBI BEEF MARINADE / BBQ BULGOGI SAUCE 230ml / FREE SHIPPING

US $9.95

six(6) Hawaiian Pride HAWAIIAN BBQ sauce kalbi Halm's

US $17.50

Beef Miyuk Gook/Seaweed Soup Recipe

Anna — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 17:03:40 +0000

From my previous post about Miyuk Gook, I discussed about how Koreans started eating Miyuk Gook for their birthdays. In short this soup is healthy, healthy, healthy. And today, the recipe!

This soup can be reheated couple times and will taste good for days so if you really like this soup, don't be afraid to make more than you can eat at once!

Ingredients (Following makes about 4 servings)
40g dried seaweed
200g beef (any beef used for stew/stock is fine)
2tsp salt
1tsp Dashida (Beef Stock Powder)
1/2 tsp ground/minced garlic
1tsp sesame oil

Ok, Let's Start!

First thing is to hydrate dry seaweed. Soak in water till it get nice and plump. Wash them first and then cut into bite sizes.

Also cut beef into bite sizes as well. This will be used to cook nice broth. If you don't like beef you can substitute with mussels or just don't put anything to make clear soup. Beef broth is usually the original birthday soup and clear soup with only seaweed is for new moms. But that doesn't mean you cannot choose your preference right? I personally like Miyuk Gook with mussels.

Get a pot and fry seaweed with sesame oil and garlic ONLY. No beef Yet!
Quickly fry so the flavor gets locked in. No need to do too much. Now pour 16 cups of water and add beef. Add salt and Dashida too. If you don't like Dashida, you can leave it out. But we like to add just a little bit to pull flavors together for better taste. Boil at high temperature.

As it starts to boil, you will see these kind of impurities (blood etc...) floating on top.

Now comes the most important step of the recipe. This cannot stay. We need to take them out.

So wait and when it seems like most of them are on top, start skimming those nasty stuff off from the soup and discard. Be careful not to get too much of soup off with it. This will help soup taste nice and clean.

When you are done discarding the impurities, turn down the heat to med (about to 5 on our stove knob) and cook for another 15 minutes.
And you are DONE!

ENJOY!

Pho Nam Restaurant in Catonsville, MD

Anna — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 03:12:47 +0000

Pho anyone?

I love pho! Rainy day...cold day...depressing day...what I need is a bowl of pho!

I went to Pho NamRestaurant in Catonsville. I used to go to Pho Dat Thahn in Columbia all the time. But just wanted to try a new place for a change. And I was pleasantly surprised. I ordered #11 which had well done flank and steak and my friend ordered #8 with skirt flank and well done flank.

Usually when you order this rice noodle soup you get bean sprouts, thai basil, green peppers, and slices of lime. We ordered a side of onion.

As soon as I get mine, I squeeze some lime on the soup first, then grab lots of sprouts and some onion. Since they are fresh I turn them over and get noodles on top and fresh stuff to the bottom so they'll get steamed (sorta...). Pho Nam gave us smaller portion of sprouts (we put lots and lots almost as much as noodles) we had to ask for another plate of sprouts.

Pho wouldn't be the same without these sauces-Hoisin sauce and Sriracha sauce. Hoisin sauce is more sweeter and Sriracha is REALLY spicy! I use the sprouts plate to squeeze out BOTH sauce and mix them together. I like it better when it's mixed in together.

Everyone has different style of eating this. My friend puts these sauces right into the soup and he also puts green peppers too. Yes, he likes it spicy. I like my soup as it is only with lime juice added on it. I use my meat as a wrap and stuff meat with slices of onion, noodles, sprouts, and some sauce on it. I do all this with my chopstick so guess you need to be nifty with chopsticks if you need to wrap with chopsticks and eat it too (but I use my spoon to place all these first!)

Mmmmmmmmm...so good.
Some say it's good for cold and some say it's good for hangovers...nothing scientifically proven though...please don't quote me anywhere.

When I go to Vietnamese Pho Restaurants I rarely eat other dishes since I just LOVE Pho Soup, but I found Vietnamese dishes usually very good. So we decided to be adventurous and ordered a beef entree, but this was little bit of disappointment. Not that good and very small portion. So we decided that we'll just stick with Pho in this Restaurant.

If you like this restaurant or somewhere else, we would love to hear from you!

This restaurant is located on Rt 40 in the plaza with Toys R Us, Office depot, and Cici's Pizza.

Pho Nam is located at:
6477 Baltimore National Pike
Catonsville, MD 21228
(410) 455-6000
Not exactly sure of the hours but the door signs says it opens till 8pm 7days.

Other Restaurant Reviews:
Allgreen Market Food Court-Poongnyun , MD
Sushi King Japanese Restaurant , MD
Niko Japanese Restaurant, MD
VietGoel/LightHouse Tofu House Korean Restaurant , MD
Jong Kak Korean BBQ Restaurant in Baltimore, MD
Tian Korean-Chinese Restaurant, MD

Bulgogi-Korean BBQ beef

Young — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 20:08:22 +0000

We absolutely cannot leave out Kimchi AND Bulgogi when we mention Korean food.
Look familiar?
That's why our name is kimchibulgogi.com. Ha.

So shall we look into this further?

INGREDIENTS
Following serves about 4 people:

1.3lb(1pack) thinly sliced eyeround bonless OR ribeye beef (If you can't find thinly sliced beef, just get a big chunk and slice them yourself. It doesn't have to be paper thin.)

AND...
1tbsp sugar
1tbsp honey
1/4 cup soysauce
1/3 cup wine or pineapple juice (OR you can put both)
2tbsp sesame oil
1/5tbsp pepper
2tbsp garlic
1/2 onion
3 scallions
1.5oz carrot
(Optional) 1/2 Asian pear (ground or sliced)

Slice onion, scallions, and carrot.
Mix other ingredients in a bowl to make a marinade.

Mix the marinade and the beef first, then mix with vegetables.
Let it sit about 3hrs and you are ready to BBQ!
(***NOTE:If you don't have time, you can eat it right away. However, just keep in mind that the longer it is marinated, usually the better the taste.***)

WAIT!!!
Before the barbeque, there are some extra toppings you can add:

You can include sliced oyster mushrooms...

OR you can put some rice cakes...

OR Enokitake mushrooms..

OR sweet potatoes...OR bell peppers...

OR altogether!!! We used our portable gas range and a grill pan to BBQ our bulgogi. Serve them with rice, banchan like kimchi, and maybe some lettuce. If you are not sure what this is about, please refer to my Jongkak restaurant review.

***If you are just making it for yourself, you may wanna just cook it on the pan and serve over rice with pickled ginger. I love this way. Convenient and tasty too!

ENJOY!