The idea for a bulgogi burger came to me last summer when I was thinking about entering a burger grill-off/competition. Little did I know that the "Bulgogi Burger" is already a standard menu item on fast food burger joints in Korea. I was slightly disheartened, since my idea wasn't original, and scrapped it for the competition.
But I never forgot about making it myself. I've never actually tried a bulgogi burger in Korea (it's been about 15 years since I've been there), and decided that I didn't want to know how it is made in tha' Motherland. I wanted to come up with my own. Besides, someone also told me that many "Bulgogi Burgers" are not burgers at all - they are real pieces of bulgogi slapped between the buns. Who knows? I didn't care.
My Bulgogi Burger is a lighter version of the bulgogi marinade added to ground beef, then shaped and grilled just like a regular burger. Instead of cheese and the regular burger accompaniments, I used red leaf lettuce, which is often used with Korean barbecue for rolling up rice and meat, grilled onions that had soaked in some of the bulgogi marinade, and instead of ketchup, I slathered the bun with goh-choo-jahng - Korean red pepper sauce. Goh-choo-jahng is very very very spicy.
I wanted to make a kimchee "slaw" to put on top of the burger, but I didn't have any kimchee with me at the time. Next time...
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