"bulgoki" news and stories

In this weekly series, home cook Bruce Watson works his way through a decades-old family cookbook, adapting the best recipes exclusively for Slashfood.

Over the last few years, Korean barbecue has gained fresh relevance in the United States. Whether served on hot dog buns in Manhattan, tortillas in Los Angeles or rice in Korean restaurants around the country, the sweet, oniony flavors of bulgoki, japchae and galbi are incredibly delicious and increasingly popular.

When I was a kid, bulgoki (also spelled bulgogi, pulgoki, pulgogi and any number of other ways) was a staple in my house. My parents, who lived in Korea before I was born, loved the stuff and would cook it on an electric griddle at our dinner table. As my sisters and I got older, we got involved in the fun; some of my first cooking experiences involved flipping bulgoki with a pair of bamboo tongs.

I've played with amounts and ingredients, but my mother's basic bulgoki recipe is fantastic. In fact, my only major change is in the dipping sauce: while my parents used light soy sauce with a sprinkle of pepper, I prefer a more traditional garlic/vinegar sauce, which I've included below.

Get the recipe for bulgoki after the jump.

While I would describe myself as an adventurous eater, I also have to admit that my palate has some definite blind spots. Basically, there are a few tastes that I've never experienced, simply because they've never crossed my plate. This year, my wife and I joined a CSA, which means that we are now trying to figure out what to do with a wide variety of exciting and unfamiliar vegetables.

A couple of weeks ago, we got our first napa cabbage. I'm sure that I've eaten napa before, but I've never really prepared it, and I wanted to do something beyond the obvious. After a little searching, my wife and I came up with a recipe that used napa cabbage as a salad base for filet mignons cooked with shiitakes and mizuna, but the idea of spending $40 on ingredients to make a dish in which napa was an afterthought struck us as a little silly. One night, however, I was making bulgoki and looking for a vegetable accompaniment. As I am not a huge fan of kimchi, and we wanted something on the cool side, I decided to mix up a napa salad. After looking over a few Asian slaw recipes and thinking about how I was going to taste-match with the bulgoki, I put this together. It's tasty, light, colorful, and easy to make. Best of all, it makes a great side for bulgoki!

Now if I can only figure out what to do with all the kale that I got from the CSA...

Napa Salad
1 medium-sized head napa cabbage, cleaned and thinly sliced
2 red bell peppers, cored, cleaned, and julienned
2 Bosc pears, peeled, cored, cleaned and julienned
1/4 cup chopped cilantro (optional)
3 tablespoons rice vinegar
Juice of 3 limes
2 tablespoons grated fresh ginger
2 tablespoons sesame oil
1 1/2 tablespoons sugar
salt to taste

Mix vinegar, lime juice, ginger, sesame oil, sugar, and salt together in a cup or bowl. Combine remaining ingredients and toss with vinegar lime dressing. Serve immediately.