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.

Spicy Pork Stir Fry

This spicy looking red stir fried dish is called "Jae Yook Bokum" in Korean. It's basically pan fried Korean spicy pork. When making this dish, the spicy sauce is very important and it determines the flavor of the whole dish. After all, that is the only sauce you add to this dish. If you are not into hardcore spicy Korean food, you can soften it up by adding more soy sauce and less red pepper paste and red pepper powder to the sauce mix.

1. First you need some Korean red pepper paste (gochujang). In the picture below, I used about 4 tablespoons of it. I used a lot because I like it spicy. Do not follow this 4 tablespoon direction if you can't eat spicy food. Add maybe 1-2 tablespoons and later add more soy sauce.


2. To make it spicier, I added another 2 tablespoons of red pepper flakes to the mix. Yes, I am crazy.

3. 1 tablespoon of sesame oil.

4. 1 tablespoon of soy sauce.

5. 1 tablespoon of sugar.

6. 2 tablespoons of corn syrup. Skip this part if you don't like corn syrup.

7. Add some black pepper and the sauce is pretty much ready.

8. Ok now, you want to slice up your pork meat. I used loins just because I had some leftover from the other day. However, if you like something more tender, go with pork belly. Pork belly will make this dish very nice and rich.
9. Put the pork meats into a bowl and add 3-4 tablespoons of minced garlic. Yes, that night, I did not go out after eating this!

10. Add the sauce you prepared earlier. Just use enough sauce to throughly marinate all your pork.


11. Now, you will be chopping some vegetables and adding them to the mix above. I used an onion, a carrot, two Jalapeño peppers, a green onion, and a red bell pepper.



Just chop them all and add them to the mix.

12. Put this mixture into your refrigirator for about 30 minutes before you start to pan fry them.

13. Pan fry them for 7 minutes in med-high heat and throughly cook the pork.

Enjoy!

Curry Don Katsu

Using the curry recipe from the previous post, you can make another great dish. You are probably familiar with a famous Japanese dish named Katsu. Katsu refers this breaded deep fried meat. Don katsu refers to fried pork chop basically. Chicken katsu is fried chicken meat (usually breast) that is flat in a shape of steak. In the United States, I usually see chicken Katsu more often than Don katsu though I believe the original katsu dish included pork. Well, it doesn't really matter which meat you use. Also, if you have some leftover curry from the other day, you can use that as sauce for this dish.

1. You need a few pieces of sliced pork loin.



2. Using your kitchen knife, make some cut marks in both directions to soften up your meat.

3. Sprinkle a little bit of black pepper.

4. For batter, use 1/2 corn starch and 1/2 flour and mix with water and eggs. (1 cup of starch, 1 cup of flour, and 1 cup of water)


5. Dip your meat into the batter.

6. This is Panko, Japanese bread crums used for deep frying meat.

7. As soon as you take your meat out of your batter from step5, put Panko all over your meat.
Do that for every piece.

8. Heat up oil in your wok for 7 minutes in high heat. Then deep fry your meat for about 7 minutes until blood stops coming out of your meat.

9. After you take your Katsu out, put them on 2-3 layers of paper towel. You want to drain as much oil as possible from your meat before eating.

10. Pour curry sauce over your Don katsu. The side dishes are pickled Daikon and cabbage salad.
Enjoy!