Bulgogi

First of all I would like to apologize for my lack of posting the past two weeks, it is not because I haven't been cooking or trying out new restaurants, because I actually have quite the back log of things that I need to post; I was just in a blogging funk! I am not sure what it was, but every time I thought about going to my computer to post something, I would always find something else to do, then I went out of town for a few days and time just got away from me. But I am back, and ready to post!

For those of you who have never eaten or heard of Bulgogi, it is actually just the fancy name for Korean BBQ. My first experience with Korean BBQ was last summer at a sushi restaurant in Coronado, I spent a whole year trying to find a place here in Arizona that served it, but alas, they are all pretty far from where I live and I never was able to get to one of them. When I went back to Coronado this summer, I went to the sushi place again, but wasn't very hungry, so I didn't order the Bulgogi. So now it had been over a year and I still hadn't gotten my Bulgogi fix, and I just knew that I had to remedy the situation.

When I was perusing some of my favorite food blogs, I linked over to one whose author was actually born and raised in Korea. She had posted a simple recipe for Bulgogi that used a bottled sauce and said that it tasted just as good as if you were to make it from scratch....so I figured I would give it a try! My regular grocery store didn't carry the sauce, so I took a field trip to a nearby Asian grocery store. This was my first trip to such a store, and it was quite the experience! I decided to make the Bulgogi for my family for lunch on a Saturday afternoon; my sister and I were going to my parents house to work on a sewing project with our mom, so I thought it would be nice to bring over some lunch.

I marinated the meat overnight, and it cooked up really quick on the grill because I had had the butcher slice the meat really thin. The authentic way to eat it is to then wrap it in lettuce with some cooked rice, and a bit more of the sauce. Everyone seemed to really enjoy this, the flavors were very fresh and it was a nice, light lunch. While I enjoyed it, it wasn't quite the same as the delicious Bulgogi that I had experienced last summer, but overall I found it to be a nice refreshing meal. My sister took the leftovers to work a few days later, and said that they were even delicious reheated too!

My picture below is only of the meat, my camera battery died before I could get a picture of it all assembled.

Bulgogi

adapted from My Fabulous Recipes

2 lbs tri-tip or flank steak, thinly sliced (I asked my butcher to do the slicing)
1 jar CJ's Korean BBQ Marinade (found at an Ethnic grocery store)
3 garlic cloves, minced
1/3 cup Asian pear, freshly ground
1 tablespoon sesame seeds
Cooked rice, optional
Lettuce leaves, optional

In large bowl, place thinly sliced tri-tip or flank steak. In separate bowl, mix the BBQ sauce, garlic, pear, and sesame seeds well. Pour the sauce over the beef. Stir the beef until it is soaked in the sauce. Cover and let marinate overnight in the fridge. Grill the meat over a medium heat grill according to your liking. Serve with rice and lettuce for wraps if desired.