Galbi Jjim (???)
Korean Braised Short Rib Stew
Galbi Jjim (???) is a dish often found in a large clay or stone pot on the table during Korean family dinners and celebrations, and for many people, represents true home-style comfort food.The Korean word
Galbi (??) refers to the Beef Rib cut from the Chuck Primal located between ribs 1 through 5. They have a higher meat to fat proportion than the cuts from ribs 6 to 12 of the Plate Primal, but when cut from a Choice or Prime graded primal, they are often very well marbled.
Galbi is cut in two styles: The English or “Thick-cut” or “
Jjim” style, that are cut parallel to the bone — which we will be using for our
main recipe; and the Flanken, or the “Cali” or “L.A.” style, which are cut across the bone, with three or four short bones in a long strip.
The Korean word
Jjim (?), taken literally, is to
steam. Most people, when making
Galbi Jjim, make the mistake of immersing and boiling the
Galbi in a sauce that is overdiluted with water and then removing it too quickly before the connective tissues can break down. The key to making a flavorful and tender
Galbi Jjim is to use a technique that “steams” the Galbi while it is only
partially immersed in a thick, super-saturated braising sauce for a long period of time.
* * * * *
A lot of people think that by adding a whole bunch of junk into the cooking of their Galbi Jjim, they will make it taste better. This is not the case. If you put too much stuff into the cooking of a dish, you will ruin the dish. It is possible to overengineer the cooking of food. Most often, the simplest and most elegant design is the best; and when the best materials are used in the application, your end-product is superior to the other over-engineered, over-designed crap you see everywhere.
Instead we will be focusing on material and technique — three aspects of the dish to make our perfect Galbi Jjim: Tenderization through natural and added Enzymatic action; The moist-heat Jjim (braising) technique; and the necessity of the bones and connective tissues.
TENDERIZINGFirst, we start with a big ol’ hunk o’
Galbi.
This started out as a 3-inch thick “L.A.” or Flanken cut of
Galbi — I buy them this way because I buy them about ten pounds at a time and I like roasting them and eating them like steaks with the clear sesame oil and salt dipping sauce you use for
Chadol Baegi. This cut is thick enough to still cut into pieces suitable for
Galbi Jjim, and buying it this way gives you a lot more meat than if you buy it just cut
Jjim or English cut style.
The reason it looks like the top and bottom 1/4-inch of meat is missing is because I’ve trimmed it and cut it away like you’re supposed to when you Dry-Age your well-marbled piece of beef.
Dry-Aging Beef
Beef is dry-aged to make it more tender and flavorful. During dry-aging, enzymatic proteolysis, or breakdown of muscle proteins, connective tissues and fibers occurs. Larger protein components of meat break down into smaller fragments and as this process continues, the meat becomes extremely tender. Also, because a significant amount of moisture evaporates during dry-aging, the beef has a stronger, more intense flavor.
An added benefit to dry-aging when making Galbi Jjim is that the braising sauce will more readily be absorbed into the beef.
The best way to dry-age beef at home is to do it the way Alton Brown of Good Eats on the Food Network does it. The technique is simple, and can be found in my
Steak au Poivre recipe on
thousandthdish.
You don’t have to dry-age your beef, but if you do your results will be better. If you do, do it under your own responsibility. I won’t take responsibility for you screwing up.
K O R E A N P E A R Fruits as Tenderizing Agents
Certain fruits contain Protease enzymes
like Bromelain and Papain that can be
used to break down protein for use as a
meat tenderizer.
Papaya and Kiwi are among the strongest.
If you use Papaya and Kiwi, you must be
careful how long you expose your meat
— you can literally turn your meat into
mush if you leave it too long.
We are using Korean Pear because it is the
most authentic. Asian Pears are acceptable
also, but the proteolytic action of the
Korean Pear is about twice as effective as
the Asian Pear. For this recipe, we are
mainly using the Korean Pear for flavor,
because proteolytic enzymatic activity
stops above cooking temperatures. If you
want your Galbi even more tender,
marinate in the Pear juice before cooking.
BRAISING (Jjim ?)A braise is based on flavor extraction. A SMALL amount of braising liquid is added to the meat and the pot is covered. As everything begins to cook, steam is generated from the simmering broth. The broth will begin to pick up the flavors released by the meat and the meat will return its own flavors into the broth. The broth transforms from a simple braising liquid into a flavorful, complex sauce.
Braising is a moist-heat cooking technique. Moist heat breaks down the collagen in meat. Braising allows for this connective tissue breakdown without muscle-fiber breakdown. The braising process heats the muscle fibers, which consist mainly of water. Once heated, they contract, which squeezes out some of the moisture and causes shrinking and drying. Connective tissues also release water when heated. Plus, the heat and moisture turns the collagen in the connective tissue into a rich, flavorful gelatin that also melds with the braising liquid. When the muscle fibers reabsorb this liquid, the braising cycle is complete.
Food scientists have compared collagen conversions in a rump roast when it is dry-roasted well done (about a two-hour process), and when it is braised for 30 minutes and for 90 minutes. The roasted sample had 14% of its collagen gelatinized, the 30-minute braise 11%, and the 90- minute braise 52%. The long, slow braise, one can conclude, is the best way to tenderize meat with high connective- tissue content.
KEY: To properly make Galbi Jjim, you MUST braise it slow-and-low for at least 90 minutes.
KEY: Make sure you use the bones in this dish. During the braising, marrow will escape, flavoring your sauce with the same richness you find in Osso Bucco. Boneless “
Galbi” will not have the connective tissue attached to the bone, and will not taste good in this dish.
EDIT: We are not searing this first to make use of the additional flavor compounds produced by the
Maillard Reaction because after several trials, I discovered that the initial browning does not work well because we are scoring the meat before cooking and essential juices that should be in the sauce escape into the searing pot; and because the finished sauce is so deep and intense that the difference between a pre-seared piece of meat one that is not is barely noticable — and the browning only adds to the time and difficulty of making this dish.
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INGREDIENTS:STUFF:
4 lbs beef short rib, english or “thick” cut
10 gingko nuts (optional*)
10 dried jujuba (red chinese dates)
SAUCE:
6 cups beef stock (stock left over from boiling beef rib)
10 Tbsp soy sauce
6 Tbsp grated pear (preferably Korean pear)
4 Tbsp honey (or 9 Tbsp of sugar)
6 cloves garlic, smashed
2 pieces ginger cut into 1/2 pieces and smashed
2 Tbsp sesame seed oil
1/4 cup rice wine
4 Tbsp fine gochugaro**
ADD-ON AT END:
1 medium onion, rustic chopped
10 chestnuts, whole and peeled
4 green onions, cut into 1-inch pieces
2 carrots, cut into 3/4-inch pieces
10 fresh pyogo or shiitake mushrooms***
10 fresh oyster mushrooms
1 handful enoki mushrooms
* NOTE: If you can get gingko nuts, by all means use them. Authentic
Galbi Jjim uses gingko nuts. However, as they are almost impossible to find, good luck. Rumor has it that there are gingko trees somewhere in Central Park where you can get gingko nuts for free.
** NOTE:
Gochugaro is Korean red chili pepper flake/ powder. If you are using the kind from Korea and not China (look on the package, most
gochugaro in the United States is from China), reduce by half.
*** NOTE: We are using FRESH
Pyogo or Shiitake mushrooms because they are more subtle in flavor and texture, and dried variety overpowers in this dish. Use dried if you must, but this tastes better with fresh.
PROCEDURE:
Wash and Score your beef.
This is to allow for the penetration of
the flavors, and to break some connective
tissue.
Notice how tender dry-aging makes it.
It’s falling off the bone and we haven’t
even cooked it yet.
Boil your beef for ten minutes in just
enough water to cover, or a minimum of
6 cups, whichever is less. Remove after
ten minutes, skim the surface to remove
foam.
Reserve 6 cups of cooking liquid.
Wash the beef and wash the pot if you
are going to reuse it.
Mix the sauce, taking the grated Korean
pear and squeezing it through a cheesecloth
to get the juices only.
Place beef back into a big pot, add the
sauce, and the reserved cooking liquid only
to the halfway point on the
galbi — no
more. Add gingko nuts and jujuba (chinese
dates). Bring to a boil.
COVER tightly.
Simmer for at least 90 minutes, checking
to make sure there is always at least a little
bit of liquid at the bottom of the pot. A
simmer is small bubbles barely breaking
the surface. Keep the cover on, this is
very very very very very important, as
you cannot
Jjim without a cover on tightly.
Add the “Add-on at end” ingredients.
Pick and choose what you want.
Authentic
Galbi Jjim has the chestnuts.
A famous
Galbi Jjim restaurant in
Bundang adds the rest as part of their
signature dish. Cook for 20 more
minutes.
Plate and Serve.
* * * * *
Before I end this entry, I want to capitalize on a few key points in making a good Galbi Jjim. For details, read back into the entry.
1) You MUST braise the Galbi slow-and-low at a simmer for AT LEAST 90 minutes.
2) You MUST use the bones in this dish. Boneless Galbi meat will not work.
3) You MUST only add braising liquid halfway up the side of the Galbi, and add more cooking liquid to replace as it steams out. At the end, your sauce should be almost syrup-like.
4) You MUST cover your pot, and make sure you use a heavy stainless steel or cast iron pot.
Everything else is fluff. You may add extra vegetables at the end. I do, because I like making a meal out of this. If you just want to eat meat, that’s fine too. What I like doing after the meat is done, is taking more vegetables and cooking them in the leftover sauce. If you want to keep making
Galbi Jjim, keep the leftover sauce and use it as a “mother” sauce later.
I hope you try this recipe out because I put a lot of time and effort into this one. If you do this right, you will be making a
Galbi Jjim that will make your grandmother jealous when you bring this to a family get-together. Or just break open a bottle of soju or two and eat yourself into a coma.
PS: Stay tuned for ?? (Fire Chicken) to come soon.
Love and Aloha,
—
thousandthdishEDIT: Don’t be intimidated!! If you look at the instructions, all you basically do is put stuff in a pot and let it go for 90 minutes! If you follow the instructions, YOU can make this! 
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