Mom’s Korean BBQ Bulgogi

My mom came into town and she finally agreed to sit down with me and actually break down how she makes her fan favorite, Korean marinated bbq, Bulgogi. Now let me tell you something about Asian parents, they do not measure anything out. Considering my obsession with cooking started from baking, I follow every recipe down to the 1/4 teaspoon. I cringe every time I see a recipe call for “a little salt”. Follow your recipes and your dishes will come out perfect every time. My mom on the other hand has the added element that she lives with a chef. It’s not that my mom doesn’t know how to cook, but why cook? I would probably cook a lot less too if I lived with a master chef – well, maybe not. But the one thing people ask her for all the time is her bulgogi.

I remember being in elementary school, growing up in a pretty white community, I was probably the only asian kid in my elementary school classroom. Once a year my mom would do this thing where she would come into my class and present a little bit about Korean culture. In all honestly, I don’t really remember what she was teaching us or why they let her do that, I guess they just let parents do things like that in grade school. The one thing I do remember though is that it always ended with food – specifically my mom’s “Korean beef”. You know that feeling when you’re a kid and you have the cool new toy? Everyone wanted to be your friend and you knew it was because you had something they wanted but it was still okay. This was like that. Little kids would be upset they weren’t in my 3rd grade class because that meant they wouldn’t get the Korean beef this year. Maybe it was being ethnically unique, maybe kids were just tired of PB&Js, but at that age, it doesn’t matter what made you cool, as long as you had a thing; and my thing came in the form of my mom’s cooking.

This is best prepared on a grill, or anything that doesn’t allows the juices to pool up like a frying pan. I prefer to do it on this Korean bbq grill my mom got me if I need to cook indoors or over a charcoal grill so the juices drip onto the coals and then steam back up into the meat as it cooks. mmm smokey goodness ^-^

1. Start by julienning your carrots and chopping your onions into thin slices.
2. In a large bowl add all of the ingredients except for the sesame oil, onion and meat. Mix everything together, add the sesame oil last, then add the meat in.
3. Let it marinade in an airtight bag for at least a few hours (overnight is ideal)
4. Grill alongside the onions until meat is crispy on the edges.