Korean bbq at home

And my first trip to Busy Bee Cafe

Oct 16, 2023

Menu planning in our house pretty much starts with one flavor or dish, and this week, it was Korean. It has been so long since we’ve made any Korean that my first thought went to kalbi.

I like to buy my short ribs pre-cut at BHFM, but they were out, probably because I was there on a Saturday afternoon. This meant that I had to cut my own, and I am not very impressed with how it went. But the instructions in Sohui Kim’s Korean Home Cooking were great. I blame myself.

For years, my go-to kalbi recipe is the one printed out in my recipe book. Google tells me now that it’s from NPR. It’s low key so it’s quick to pull together, roughly chopped soy sauce, sugar, scallions, crushed garlic. I like recipes like that. I have long avoided the recipes that called for Asian pear but I decided to change it up this time. I used Sohui Kim’s recipe which calls for grated Asian pear, onion, garlic, and ginger. I put short ribs and soy mixture in double sealed ziplocs and left it to marinate overnight.

I believe the marinate does better in ziplocs, and I double seal for safety.

As a note about Asian pears, I like the ones that are a lighter color, which are the ones I grew up with. I find their skins are a little thinner and also their taste is more fresh, crisp. It has been hard for me to find these at BHFM, so I am really happy they carry them now. I bought two, one for the kalbi and one for me.

Look for these lighter, more yellow Asian pears if you are eating out of hand. The darker/green-brown varieties are not as great in my opinion.

Then I started on my mu ssam. We first got mu ssam at MK-1 up in Duluth. They are pickled thinly sliced daikon discs. I really enjoy the flavor contrast of the smoky, sweet, salty beef against the pickley daikon. I have a recipe also printed in my little recipe book right under the Yoon family recipe so I assumed they came from the same place. Mu ssam take a minimum of 5 days so says my recipe. It also says they pretty much last forever if you keep them submerged. I deliberately got a smaller daikon/mu so that I could fit it on my benriner, and the size was perfect!

I suppose I could move this to a deli tub now, but I like these cambros (from Webstaurant.com) because they have sealed tops. I am thinking to buy another daikon and set the slices to pickling so that I am prepared for next time.

I needed to weigh these down the day I made them, but they soften over time so they stay submerged on their own.

Now that my mu ssam were happily pickling, I got into my banchan, all from Korean Home Cooking.

First, glazed lotus root simmered in a soy, rice wine vinegar, brown sugar mixture. I had never cooked with lotus root before and I did cook this for a really long time until finally noticing the book note that these are braised until tender but still crunchy. So I guess they turned out perfectly. I did find them a little sweet, so I may cut down on the sugar next time. But I am pretty sure they are supposed to be on the sweet side with a name like glazed lotus root.

I started off cooking these in a saucepan but a skillet was better for glazing.

Second was soy-braised tofu, which I always like at the restaurant. I also thought I might eat more tofu so eat less beef. I can’t say that happened but I did enjoy it. This is firm tofu, sliced and sauteed, then simmered in soy, garlic, scallions, and a bit of sugar and gochugaru. My gochugaru was waaaay too old so it was now kind of burgundy-ish instead of bright red. So it also didn’t have a heat that it might at the restaurant but I would definitely make it again.

Last was sweet soy-glazed kabocha. I realize now that I happened to choose sweeter banchan. I was more focused on the vegetable than the preparation, so next time, I will add a little more balance. But kabocha is one of my favorite vegetables, so I couldn’t not try out this recipe! It starts with roasting the cut kabocha, skin on, then cutting it up to simmer in a soy, mirin, brown sugar mixture. I remember now when we were making a lot of Korean food years ago that I went through so much sesame oil that I bought a can of it. Well, it’s time to restock on sesame oil.

Yes, it’s a lot of kabocha relative to the volume of everything else. We still have some.

Right before dinner, I grilled off the short ribs on Baby Shorty’s smooth side. I thought it would be less work to clean. The short ribs were too thick as expected, so I did end up halving them so they would be thinner and easier to eat.

I also made a scallion salad each night which we really like on Korean bbq, and of course there was kimchi.

Scallion salad adds a nice freshness to your Korean bbq bites.

We got three dinners out of this. The first night, the mu ssam were still not marinated enough so it was mostly lettuce wraps. The second night, I put my mu ssam in my lettuce wraps, and on night three, it was all mu ssam all the time.

I like to use both the sesame oil + salt dip and doenjang in my wraps.

The perfect bite: *mu ssam*, scallion salad, kimchi, *kalbi* dipped in sesame oil, and there should be some doenjang at the bottom.

It’s time to restock all our Korean ingredients and then enjoy this again. Although I need a break after all this oxtail soup and short ribs to eat some white meats to balance out my cholesterol.

A work event brought me downtown and I saw that Busy Bee Cafe was only a couple minutes away. I had never been before but really wanted to try it. I had convinced a colleague to drive (and if you know me, you know this is my MO) so it was even better to enjoy with a friend. They are only doing takeout so we took our haul to Washington Park to enjoy and then took a short jaunt on the Beltline. It was a good, full day, people!

I got the two-piece fried chicken, dark meat of course. This chicken was so amazing. The crust was beautiful and cracks as you eat it. The chicken itself was so juicy. I want to say I have never had fried chicken this juicy before. Absolutely fantastic.

For sides, I went fried okra and collards. Both were good.

My friend went veggie plate. I can’t say this is a healthier choice than mine, but to each her own. Mac and cheese. Baked beans which were the meatiest tasting baked beans I have ever had. Cornbread dressing (I was jealous of this one!). And carrot souffle, which really tasted a lot like sweet potato. The lady taking our order said “good choice!” for the carrot souffle. Noted.

And then we couldn’t miss out on the banana pudding. We each got one - because I didn’t think I could miss out if she had it… It was great. But it was even better the next day. Of course I brought it home so Josh could try it, not that I could have finished it anyway.

Well, yeah I did make a galette also. Pear again because they are so delicious.

What I’m reading, watching, and listening to:

RIP Michael Chiarello. My sister gave me a few cookbooks when I first started learning to cook and his was one of them. (NYT)
Jack Daniels is getting into fancier whiskey bottlings and special reserves. (NYT)
I got a huge stack of library books. Among the ones I want: Dominique Ansel’s Everyone Can Bake and Pati Jinich’s Treasures of the Mexican Table.
Gastropod did a feature on doughnuts and now I need one. (Gastropod.com)
The Japanese have the BEST packaging. (Kenji on IG)
It may be over now, but Seemingly Ranch was all the rage thanks to Taylor Swift, and she may not even know it. (NYT)

The Little Fork

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