Today we celebrated my son’s 1st Birthday at our home with 30 guests. It was a fun birthday party and the food was wonderful. Koreans call the first birthday “Tol” and often times there is a “Toljabee” event. This event is considered the highlight of the party because the birthday boy/girl is dressed in traditional Korean garments called “Tok-Bok” or “Ham-Bok”. The child sits in front of a table full of festive fruit, rice cakes, and other food along with the Toljabee items.
During the Toljabee event, several items are placed on a table. The child is then placed in front of the table and chooses an item. This is where the fun part comes in. Supposedly the first item he/she chooses will predict his/her future. Most Koreans I know set out items they hope for. For our Toljabee we put a football (my husband would love it if our son played college football), cash (for prosperity), noodles (for a long life), books (scholarly), and a bible (ministry). I was convinced our son would pick the football. I was so surprised when he picked noodles! Then one of his cousins shouted, “He’s gonna be a chef!” I hadn’t thought about that.. but looks like my son is taking after his mama! So now you know a little but about Korean culture. But I’m sure you’re eager to make your own Kalbi at home. So I have some good news and bad news for you.
Yesterday I posted part 1 of some tips on preparing short ribs for Kalbi marinade. However because I wanted to make sure everything I prepared was perfect for today I had to redo the Kalbi marinade. <- Thats the bad news. The good news is that the recipe modifications I made last night was well worth it! As I posted yesterday, the owner of the little Korean grocery store highly encouraged me to wash the meat and soak it in water for 2 hours 2 times. Then my mom told me to add coke or 7 up to the mixture and a kiwi. I ate Kalbi twice yesterday. When I ate a sample at breakfast the meat tasted good. Not as good as I’m use to, but I attributed it to not marinading for 2 full days. When I ate it for dinner I was completely unhappy with the results. The ribs tasted completely greasy and it was hard to enjoy the Kalbi. In all my Kalbi eating life I have never had greasy ribs. Something was terribly wrong. As my husband and I talked about it, we agreed it had to do with the ribs. In other words, not all Korean short ribs are created equal. The ribs I initially bought had a lot of fat on them. I did notice this at the store but didn’t think it would make a difference. Boy was I wrong. If you are planning to make Kalbi make sure your short ribs do not have lots of fat of them. The excessive fat completely ruins this wonderful dish.
But don’t feel bad for me. After dinner I drove to another Korean Grocery store. I am so glad because I bought 3 packages of beef and just looking at them in the package I knew I did the right thing. The beef had normal marbling but no excessive fat. They looked way leaner than the first ones I bought. I wish I had a photo but I had to kick it into high gear last night to prepare today’s meal. Also looking at the package I did not see the same bone dust I saw with the first batch. Because it was so late in the evening last night I decided to just put them straight in the marinade and say a prayer.
This morning when I woke up, I put the ribs that were on top on the bottom and vice versa. When it was time to grill, the smell drifting into the house said it all. Everyone loved the ribs including me. In conclusion by not soaking the ribs, I found that there was no difference in taste. By not using a Kiwi, I did not find the ribs were less tender. Marinading for 1 night was plenty enough time for the ribs to soak it up. I also did not use a can of soda because I didn’t have any left and the ribs were still AMAZING and AWESOME – Operation Kalbi Successful! So here’s the recipe below. Enjoy!
Kalbi Marinade Recipe
1 1/2 cups soy sauce or Gluten-free Tamari Soy Sauce by San-J.
3/4 cup white sugar
1/4 cup sesame oil
5 cloves of garlic, minced
1/2 of a medium yellow onion, chopped
3 large green onions, cut into small pieces
2 tbl toasted sesame seeds
1/2 tsp of red pepper flakes
4-6 pounds of Korean short-ribs
DIRECTIONS:
Place ribs in a large ziplock bag or a dish that can hold them all (I used a large pot with lid). Combine all the ingredients together and stir for 1 minute. Pour the marinade into the pot, dish, or ziplock over the meat making sure ll the ribs have been coated. Cover and refrigerate over night. The next morning make sure to place the ribs that were on the bottom on top, and vice versa. Continue to refrigerate until its time to grill.
Heat grill to medium-high heat and when the grill is nice and hot add meat. Grill each side for 3-4 minutes. Garnish with addional slices of green onion and toasted sesame seeds.
*Looking for the other type of Korean Barbequed beef recipe called bulgogi? It’s right here.
Loved these ribs! Entering them in a rib cook-off on 4th of July!
Made this tonight- started with the bulgogi recipe but realized I had the Kali short rib cut- marinated for the hour stated in bulgogi recipe and grilled- all was good! I made a bit extra marinade and sautéed kale in that to serve along side with rice. Dinner was delish. Thanks!!
Jennie: You crack me up! 🙂
Bridget, Ive made these four times and each time have used sesame oil made from toasted seeds and they have turned out AMAZING. This is so easy to make in huge batches and grills up super quick, so it’s GREAT for parties. The leftovers (If there are any), heat up nicely and still taste really good. As I mentioned above, I did add some fresh ginger and a can of coke and will continue to do so: they turned out so tender. My sister and brother in law came to visit with their four young kids about 9 months ago and I prepared these. Last week, she called to tell me that she overheard her kids bragging to friends that their “aunt Jennie makes the BEST ribs!” Hows that for the ultimate compliment?? Thanks again Alice for this super recipe!!
ps-I’m posting this now because I needed recipe ….I’m marinating some right now for a birthday party tomorrow night 🙂
Hi
Do you take dark (toasted) sesame oil or just normal one?
Thank you 🙂
Hi Alice,
Had to tell you this recipe is INCREDIBLE! I had some friends over for dinner this past Saturday night and they went crazy over the BBQ I made on the grill from this recipe. I marinated the beef overnight and used something called flap steak, which I never heard of but bought at Costco. It was similar to skirt steak. It was tender and amazing!
Everyone wanted the recipe. I guess you can make it with chicken too? Thank you so much and I look forward to making some more of your recipes.
Hi Alice,
I love this recipe! It’s absolutely delicious and I truly appreciate the fact that it is authentic and not an American take on it. I do have one question though: Considering that I am not a cook, I’d like to know what are the best pairings with this recipe, meaning what other recipes would best compliment this dish?
Thanks so much for sharing!
After starting the marinating process yesterday afternoon, I followed your lead and cooked one strip of strip of the kalbi this morning just to make sure I wouldn’t be embarrassing myself at dinner time tonight…it was AWESOME! I can only imagine how much better it will taste with 8 or 9 more hours in the marinade. Just for the sake of culinary experimentation, I went ahead and threw in the can of cola and some fresh ginger. I’m not sure if those additions made a difference or not because this is my first time making kalbi but I’ll probably keep adding them because it turned out so well.
I’m going to boil the left over marinade, let it cool and use it for some chicken breasts. I’ll probably throw those in the freezer and I’ll have some pre-marinated chicken ready for a last minute meal some night.
It’s taking everything I’ve got not to cook up a few more “taste tester” ribs for myself before dinner tonight. Thanks for sharing a great, reliable recipe it’s going in my recipe file for sure!
Quick question. I had kalbi style short ribs while vacationing in hawaii. They were phenomenal. But the meat was not grilled and seemed more like it was made in a crock pot. Have you ever cooked kalbi in a crock pot? If so, any directions would be helpful!
I also read a Vietnamese bbq recipe from your blog, they are so different, even both of them are from Asia. Anyway I prefer Vietnamese one, i like their sauce, i have tried once, really really good. One other thing is in Asia, you prefer indoor cooking grills for family, so we can have barbecue everyday. Its different from Western countries when we often have bbq outsite with families and friends at weekends.
I made this last august for my daughter’s birthday party and it was delicious!! it was very easy to make and everyone loved it.. even my korean mother-in-law. im makin this weekend for husband.. thanks so much for the recipe =)
An Asian dish is a good twist to be prepared this New Year. ! I’m fond of barbecue recipes and I just can’t wait to try this. All the best.
it’s not “ham-bok”, it’s han-bok. but that’s besides the point. that looks really good! 😀
Thank you for sharing! This recipe is without a doubt the best! I finally found a Kalbi recipe that is lip smacking good, the whole family LOVED this version & said it was the best EVER! I made a glaze w/the remaining marinade to make it even yummier. 🙂
Thanks for the recipe! I’ve made the ribs twice in the last week and the kids LOVE it! Super easy and delicious 🙂
We made these the other day and they were absolutely perfect! I only marinated them for about six hours and they turned out great. The only thing I would do differently next time would be to add more of the red pepper flakes for a little more of a kick, but that’s just a personal preference. Thanks for sharing, Alice!
Thanks for posting this easy-to-make-recipe-kalbi! I tried them and they were fantastic! I am not a cook and I do not know how to cook. I used your recipe and my husband and his siblings loved it! We are going to try it again. Thank you so much!
I might pee my pants these look so good! I’m adding this to my list of “to make” this summer. Thanks for sharing!
Hi, I just stumbled upon your blog while looking for a recipe for kalbi written in English. I am a Korean, and just wanted to add some comments. One of the purposes of soaking the kalbi in cold water before marinating is to wash off the bone particles from the meat. You’ll see all the sediments of bone particles after you soak the meat. So, if you don’t have time to soak them, I would recommend that you at least rince off the rib under running water.
Also, I just had yummy kalbi at my friend’s house, and her recipe was amazingly simple:
For 10 pounds kalbi, add 1 cup soy sauce, 2 cups water, and 1 pureed onion. That’s it. It was still very tasty.
I hope your son is doing well!
coke marinade thats the ticket.
Hi Heather,
Short ribs can be found at just about any grocery store. If you live near Ranch 99, Uwajimaya, or H-Mart, they will also carry short ribs. I’ve also seen them at Sam’s Club and Costco. Hope this helps!
Hi Alice,
I’m a fellow Seattleite – where can I find Korean short ribs?
Thanks 🙂
I ran across this page when i seared “kalbi recipe” on google. definitely want to try this! but how many servings is your recipe for?
We tried this tonight and it was great, thanks for the recipe! I didn’t want to risk it on the GF indoor grill and got my husband to fire up the BBQ in 16F weather. 🙂 I’ll make it again next time with more red pepper and also add ginger. Will reduce the soy sauce (I used Kikkoman) as it was a little too salty.
Hi Alice, I just found your blog while looking up bulgogi and kalbi recipes. Your son looks really charming in the picture :).
Can we cook the kalbi in the oven instead as it’s too cold to be out grilling in the Canadian winter! I have a small George Foreman grill if that would work but I hope you have a oven method too. Thanks.