Korean Fusion Baby Back Ribs Barbecue

Summer is here and it is probably not an exaggeration to say everybody's favorite summer dish is barbecue. Barbecue, although originated from Europe initially, has been uniquely developed to be American's signature dish over centuries. In 19th century in Southern United States, barbecue was predominantly for pork as pork was low maintenance meat there was available. Many southern states had developed their own unique ways of barbecuing since then, using local ingredients such as oak, hickory woods, chili powder, and tomato base. Although condiments may vary among states such as Kansas or Texas, one thing the early barbecuers knew was that there had to be natural burning energy sources such as wood, which can add smoky flavor to the meat and enhance their overall barbecue experience. The Americans using certain woods in their barbecue is very similar to how early Koreans used certain blacked wood chips for Korean barbecue.

This Korean fusion baby back ribs barbecue is a fusion dish that I created with a different barbecue sauce recipe combined with a Korean and American flavor together and a unique method of preparation. Baby back ribs are prepared using similar ways as to Korean steamed ribs called Galbijjim in the beginning to soften the texture of the ribs before grilling. Then later the sweet, spicy, and overall flavorful sauce is added to the barbecue with a kick of smoky burning hickory wood chips. Follow the steps below and you will have a great barbecuing experience.

1. First, prepare the barbecue sauce. 1Tsp Korean red chili paste, 2Tsp red chili powders, 3Tsp Teriyaki sauce, 2Tsp soy sauce, 2Tsp honey, 2Tsp barbecue sauce, 2tsp vinegar, 1Tsp minced garlic, 3Tsp minced onion, and sprinkle of toasted sesame seeds


2. Steam pork baby back ribs in a pressure cooker by adding chopped onions, and fresh ginger on the bottom, and a pinch of salt over water for 5 minutes.


3. Prepare hickory wooden chips by putting them on a aluminum foil plate.

Put water to the wooden chips and leave it for 20 minutes to make them wet.
Then drain the water out and poke holes on the foil for a good circulation of smoke below the grill.

So this is the barbecue grill my parents have. This is a gas grill and of course the flavor is by itself, not as great as charcoal grills. However, adding hickory wooden chips for indirect wood barbecuing flavor to the meat will even trump the flavor of charcoal grilled meat by itself.

Turn on all the heat.

4. Place the wooden chips on one side of the grill and shut the cover and let it burn for 10-15 minutes.
This is when it started to burn and produce the smoky flavor typical of hickory wood.

5. Now it's time for some barbecuing. Bring out your steamed pork baby back ribs and put them on the other side of the grill.


6. Right after, you need to apply the barbecue sauce and brush them thoroughly.


7. Shut the cover and cook for 2 minutes. You won't need to cook for so long since the inside is already cooked.

8. As the fully cooked and already hot ribs will require shorter time to cook, it also requires a shorter time to have grill marks on it. After the grill marks, you need to flip them over to the other side and apply some serious barbecue sauce this time.
Brush the sauce thoroughly to make sure all the sides are touched upon.

9. Continue to heat for additional 2 minutes and you're ready to eat!

As you need, you can apply more fresh barbecue sauce prepared in step #1 for enhancing the barbecue flavor. Enjoy!


Ok so I'm submitting this recipe to this barbeque contest at ibuybarbecues.com. We'll see if I get the prize.

Marinated Korean Beef Barbecue

For Korean barbecue, beef is my favorite.  Naturally I like kalbi and bulgogi.  But how about more of an easy and quick version?  Korean bbq can be as easy as you want it to be.  I like to buy boneless ribs and eat it many different ways but I like to marinate them in my quick Korean barbecue sauce.

1. First, purchase boneless ribs or rib steaks from a butchery. I bought mine from Costco. They have pretty good quality meat.

How thinly you want to slice will depend on following factors – how much time you have for marinating, whether you like thicker or thinner cuts, or if your meat is slightly frozen.

2. The marinate sauce includes 1) teriyaki sauce, 2) sesame oil, 3) minced garlic, and 4) sugar. For better flavors, you can add grated pear and onion into the mix.

For marinating sliced meat, it should take 2-3 hours before it’s fully marinated.

However, if you decide to marinate big chunks (steak size), try to leave them in the marinade at least overnight.



3. The fun part is cooking. I wish I lived in a house with a backyard because then I could grill them on a BBQ grill. It will taste so much better cooked in open fire.  When your meat is somewhat thick, cook them in high heat first to seal the juice and then in lower heat.





5. I like mine medium.


It's ready. Enjoy!

Korean Berbecue (Beef, non-marinated)

Most people think of "Galbi" or "Galbee" when asked about Korean barbecue. Galbi is a marinated short ribs and is only one item under Korean barbecue. There are many different kinds of Korean beef barbecues depending on the type of meat and type of marinate or no marinate. The non-marinated Korean barbecues are very easy to prepare.


1. There are a few choices of meat. You can either get loins, or ribs. Unless you go to a Korean market and specifically get the ones that are nicely sliced, the easiest way for you is get a loins or rib steak and slice them yourself at home. Try to slice them thinly like the pictures below because if too thick, you won't get the flavor right due to the different techniques of heating for Korean barbecue.

2. Once you have the slices ready, you want to mix them with sesame oil, little bit of salt, and black pepper. Some people add garlic at this point to the fresh meat and that's totally fine.


3. If you barbecue on a grill, that'll be fantastic, however, a home frying pan will work just fine. The only thing is that you want to cook the meat (since they are thin enough) with high heat. Cook one side of the meat on high heat for maybe 30 seconds and quickly flip to cook the other side for another 15 seconds. Cooking in high heat for a short time preserves the juiciness of the inside and also outside will have slight brown grilled marks. I like it slightly pink inside just like steaks so sometimes I under cook it but it's totally upto you. Try to cook other sliced vegetables with the meat such as mushrooms, garlic slices, or sliced onions.

This picture below is the loins.

These are the ribs. I personally like ribs better for some reason. They taste juicier and sometimes naturally sweeter to me.


So yes, cooking the barbecue part is very simple and straight forward. Try this with the 1) green onion salads (I posted a recipe for that here), 2) Korean miso soup (spicier and thicker than Japanese miso soup) 3) lettuces (Some indispensable fresh vegetable side dish with Korean barbecue includes lettuce, fresh green peppers, sesame leaf called "gaet ip" and finally some pickled radish called "moo chung" 4) dipping sauce called Sahmjang or Ssamjang.

Here is what Sahmjang looks like. You dip the meat, garlic, and other cooked vegetables into this sauce and this will definately upgrade the flavor. You can purchase this from a Korean supermarket. Below is what it looks like.

Korean Barbecue (Chicken)

Korean barbecue has come a long way to become popular in the American mainstream food market. Most people seem to fall in love with Korean barbecue after trying it for the first time. So what is then Korean barbecue?  Does it have to be this fancy schmancy setting with the grill on top of your dinner table?  Guess you’re out of luck if you want to cook the darn thing at home.  I think it’s more of the marinade.  As you see above, this is not your typical Korean barbecue.

Drumsticks are rarely used in Korean barbecue. Usually, it’s beef or pork and they are the most popular choices of the meat. But I’m a man and I love chicken.  So what do I do?  Improvise…

1. Sauce
In a container, pour soy sauce (1/4 ratio), teriyaki sauce (2/4), fish sauce (1/4). In case you’re wondering what fish sauce is, look at this picture below. Nowadays, you can easily purchase this from any big American supermarket.

2. Condiments
Once you have the basic mixture of the sauce from #1, you can add minced garlic (1-2 spoon), a touch of sesame oil, sugar (you can also replace with sweetners if you’re health conscious. I use Splender), and some finely ground red chili powder.  The best kind to use is Korean sun dried chili powder. You can buy this at a Korean supermarket if you want.


The final sauce will look like this below.


3. Add chicken
I buy big packets of drumsticks and before I freeze them, I separate them and put around six to seven pieces in a smaller zip lock before freezing the rest I will not eat right away. (I live alone so this is perfect for me, but if you have a bigger family, you can use bigger zip lock and put more chicken in or even use the whole package from the market. Just make sure you eat up the marinated chickens within three days at most once refrigerated, or it will go bad.

You might want to make some cut marks on the chicken just so that the sauce will seep in better to the inside of the meaty area of your drumsticks.


When you are ready, just dunk them in!


Make sure the sauce gets into every piece in your container.


4. Allow 3-5 hours to marinate the chicken inside a refrigerator. 5. Bake or grill the chicken!
I don’t have a grill in my apartment so I just use the oven. For oven users, it is really helpful if you create an open box shape with aluminum foil like below so that you don’t have to clean the grease on your pan afterwards. Call me a lazy bastard for not wanting to do the dishes but all you gotta do is just throw away the foil.

Put the chicken on the pan and bake it for 20 minutes at 350 degree F. At this point, inside of the drumsticks should be fully cooked but the outside of the chicken will still be somewhat moist and not crispy and caramelized as you would want them to be. Take the pan out of the oven and flip the chickens over (they might be stuck on the bottom), and broil them for additional 10 minutes. This will give you a somewhat crispy texture on the outside.

After 20 minutes: At this point, inside of the meaty drum area should be fully cooked.


After additional 10 minutes of broiling: Now this is what I'm talking about!


Clean up?



6. Eat!
I usually sprinkle some sesame seeds on top to make it look better. Also it tastes better with them but it is totally upto you. Enjoy!


What not to do:
1. Leaving the chicken meat in the sauce for more than two days. It will make the meat really salty unless you add water to the mix. I would only put in the amount of meat you plan to eat in next 1-2 days. However, the sauce is reusable. Once the meat is gone, you can defrost more meat, make some cut marks like #3, and add them in.

2. If you leave the meat in the sauce refrigerated for more than a week, meat will go bad.