Name: Huge Bulgogi
Prep time: 25 min
Cook time: 8 min
Total time: 33 min
Yield: 4 servings
Ingredients: 1.5 lb ribeye or sirloin, sliced paper-thin; 1/2 cup Asian pear or Bosc pear, peeled and grated; 1/3 cup soy sauce; 2 tbsp brown sugar; 1 tbsp toasted sesame oil; 6 cloves garlic, minced; 1 tbsp fresh ginger, grated; 1 medium yellow onion, half grated, half thinly sliced; 4 scallions, sliced thin; 1 tsp black pepper; 2 tbsp Mirin (rice wine); 1 tbsp toasted sesame seeds; 2 tbsp neutral oil (for searing); as needed steamed short-grain rice (for serving); 1 head, optional red leaf or butter lettuce leaves (for wrapping)

Huge Bulgogi

Prep

25m

Cook

Total

33m

Bigly says

Bulgogi. BULGOGI! The greatest bulgogi in the history of bulgogi — and bulgogi goes back, way back, the Goguryeo kingdom was grilling marinated beef on swords over open fires while the rest of the world was still figuring out the wheel. Pre-pyramid technology, this dish. Older than France. Older than Italy. The Goguryeo people knew, and now I know, and after today, you'll know. The way most places do bulgogi now — the chain places, the strip mall places, the spot wedged between a dry cleaner and a nail salon — is TRAGIC. Cheap meat. Bottle sauce. Cooked until it tastes like a wet belt. Sad.

Let me tell you something. Bigly's bulgogi uses RIBEYE. Skirt steak works too, fine, I respect a budget, but ribeye is the move. Thin-sliced, paper-thin, and bathed in a marinade with the SECRET ingredient — pear. Asian pear. The pear has enzymes, real enzymes, real chemistry, and those enzymes BREAK DOWN the meat fibers and make it tender and slightly sweet without dumping a cup of sugar in there like the bottle-sauce people. Food chemists agree. That's not me talking, that's SCIENCE.

Then you sear it HOT, fast, BIG char, beautiful char, you fold it into a lettuce leaf with rice and a smear of ssamjang and you understand — finally, FINALLY — what bulgogi was always supposed to be. The Goguryeo would weep. The Goguryeo would say, 'Bigly, you got it.' Tremendous, tremendous bulgogi. Hands down.

Ingredients

1.5 lbribeye or sirloin, sliced paper-thin(freeze 30 min before slicing for clean thin cuts)
1/2 cupAsian pear or Bosc pear, peeled and grated(THE secret, do not skip)
1/3 cupsoy sauce
2 tbspbrown sugar
1 tbsptoasted sesame oil
6 clovesgarlic, minced
1 tbspfresh ginger, grated
1 mediumyellow onion, half grated, half thinly sliced
4scallions, sliced thin
1 tspblack pepper
2 tbspMirin (rice wine)
1 tbsptoasted sesame seeds
2 tbspneutral oil (for searing)
as neededsteamed short-grain rice (for serving)
1 head, optionalred leaf or butter lettuce leaves (for wrapping)

Steps

1
In a large bowl, whisk grated pear, soy sauce, brown sugar, sesame oil, garlic, ginger, grated onion, mirin, and black pepper.
2
Add the thinly sliced beef and sliced onion to the marinade. Toss until every piece is coated. Cover and refrigerate at least 30 minutes (up to 4 hours — longer than that and the pear enzymes will turn the meat mushy).
3
Heat a large cast iron skillet or grill pan over high heat until just smoking. Add 1 tbsp neutral oil.
4
Lift a portion of the beef out of the marinade, letting excess drip off, and spread in a single layer in the hot pan. Do not crowd — work in 2-3 batches.
5
Sear undisturbed for 60-90 seconds until the edges char, then stir and cook another 60 seconds until just cooked through. Transfer to a serving platter.
6
Repeat with the remaining beef, adding more oil between batches as needed.
7
Sprinkle the cooked bulgogi with sliced scallions and toasted sesame seeds.
8
Serve immediately with steamed rice and lettuce leaves for wrapping.

One more thing

This is the bulgogi. The one. You make this once at home and your family will look at the bulgogi place down the street with new eyes — sad eyes, disappointed eyes, the eyes of people who know they've been deceived for years by an industrial soy-sauce-and-corn-syrup operation pretending to be a restaurant. You'll never go back. You can't go back. The pear has spoken. The pear always speaks. Tell your friends.