Kalbi

So effing delicious



Pre-Marinade ingredients:
2-3 lbs kalbi cut short ribs - short rib cut across the "grain" of the rib bone
1 large onion
1 large asian pear or 2 small bartlett pears or 2 gala apples
8-10 cloves garlic
1 can Pepsi or 7up (technically can sub 3-4tbsp honey)

Overnight Marinade:
5-6 Tbsp Soy sauce
4 Tbsp sugar
2 Tbsp honey
4-5 Tbsp Shao Xing (chinese rice wine)
1-2 Tbsp sesame oil
3-4 stalks green onion, thin sliced
2-5 clove garlic, sliced
1 knob ginger, minced
2 Tbsp sambal (or sub red pepper flakes)
2 Tbsp water
2 Tbsp sesame seeds (toasted)

To start:
add a few Tbsps of salt to an extra large bowl or a casserole dish and add some water, stir, then add the short ribs. Add water to mostly cover meat, and stir with hand> Let sit for 1/2 hour, then drain, rinse and drain.

Prepare pre-marinade:
Rough dice onion, pear or apple, garlic -- add to blender to puree the ingredients and pour over the meat. Add can of Pepsi/7up. Mix with hands, thoroughly. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 2-4 hours.

Prepare overnight marinade:
Take a large gallon ziploc bag and add all ingredients listed above. Close and shake to mix.

Remove meat from fridge and drain liquid. Remove some of the pulp, leaving plenty coating the meat, and pour contents into the ziploc bag with all the overnight marinade in it. Zip shut. I usually rinse the bowl/casserole and throw the ziploc bag into that dish before placing back into fridge overnight/ 24 hours.

Then comes the grilling!

Above: ribs are soaking in lightly salted water while I prepare Pre-marinade

Above: after adding pureed onion, pear, garlic and can of soda, cover and place in fridge. The acid of the soda will tendorize the meat while the onion and garlic seep in to provide umami while the fruit balances it.

Above: After filling a large ziploc bag with Overnight Marinade, add drained meat to bag, seal, and refrigerate overnight, 24 hours.

Grilling is the easy part.

Get the grill as hot as possible. Greater than 450 degrees. The key is for the fire to sizzle up to create a nice crispiness of the marinade on the outside of the meat. Make it gristle. 2 minutes per side if really hot, 4 minutes a side if your gas grill isn't that powerful. Charcoal is best with the coals piled up to an inch or two under the grate.


Indoor cooking.

This is a bit tougher to try and get a nice crispiness/gristle. It is also very slow as I can only do a batch of 3 pieces at a time.

Heat a cast iron skillet on high heat. Turn Broiler onto High and place rack 4-5 inches from heat source. 2 inches is fine too, but you've got to really keep an eye on it.

Add slices of meat to cast iron skillet, wait about 30 seconds, then move skillet to broiler (use a pot handler!).

Keep door ajar and you'll see that the gristle will develop after about 3-4 minutes, turn meat and allow other side of meat to gristle- sometimes I drain the skillet after flipping.

Repeat for remaining meat, keeping other pieces covered.


Serve with freshly made white rice and crisp romaine lettuce leafs. Place some rice into the lettuce leaf, rip pieces of meat off bone and place into meat with rice. Add some chili oil if you have some, and enjoy.

Garlic Chili Oil

very easy, very tasty, very versatile(y)

4-8 large cloves of garlic, minced or rough chopped
20-30 dried red bird's eye chilis (1/4-1/2 cup), rough chopped
1 cup peanut oil

2 tbsp sesame oil

Add the first 3 ingredients to a saucepan and turn on to medium low heat. After 3-5 minutes, garlic and chilis will start to bubble and sizzle. If temperature is correct, it should continue in this "simmer" for 5 minutes, until garlic just barely begins to brown. Turn off heat and let sit for 15-30 minutes for oil to cool and flavors to mature and spread through oil.

Add sesame oil to measuring cup (same one I used to measure the 1 cup peanut oil).

Use fine mesh sieve to pour contents of saucepan back into measuring cup, filtering out all the chopped ingredients, leaving you with a cup of golden brown oil.

Pour into a squirt bottle and cap.

Use on plain white rice, as a spicy oil for sauteing veggies or meats, or even use for a spicy salad vinaigrette.

Kimchi Making

Still working on this recipe, but...

1 head Napa Cabbage
1/2-1 cup coarse or kosher salt

6 green onions, cut into 2" pieces
1 6" dashi radish

5 cloves garlic, cut into slivers

Blend into paste:
10 cloves garlic pureed with the spices

1" x 2" ginger knob, grated

1/4 cup sugar or honey, or 1/2 pureed apple or pear

1 tbsp salted shrimp (or double fish sauce amount)
1 tbsp fish sauce
1 tbsp gochujang

1 tbsp Korean chili powder

2 tablespoons toasted sesame seeds

optional- 1 tsp miso

Dissolve 1/2 cup of salt into a pint/drinking glass of warm water- just stir to dissolve.

Cut cabbage into big pieces, or small (2" x 2" pieces is small), place into big mixing bowl

Pour salt water onto cabbage, and fill bowl layering cabbage, then a tablespoon of salt, another layer of cut cabbage, another tablespoon of salt, etc. Cover with plastic wrap and stack dishes on top of bowl of cabbage.

Let sit for 4-6 hours, or overnight. The plates will slowly descend into the bowl and press down the cabbage as it releases water from the brining, and the bottom of the bowl will fill with the residual water.

While waiting for cabbage to wilt in salt water, cut up all the other ingredients: green onions, garlic, dashi, carrot, and puree other ingredients into a paste. If not using a fruit, measure sugar.

Next step is to simply combine all the ingredients listed above and stir with your (covered) hands




After mixing, parse into jars and let sit counter top for 2-4 days before refridgerating.


Eat after the 2-4 days, or let sit in fridge to develop for months.

I like to dash a drip of sesame oil onto a serving of fresh kimchi.

Chase the Dog

So here I am. Yep, that's me.

You don't believe me? Well, I guess I can't really prove it, but if you know me at all, you know I can't make this stuff up- so here's the story.


I get an email from a friend (she is the blonde with me on the field). All it said was, "do you want to be a mascot at the Bears game this weekend?"

Naturally, I had no idea what she was talking about. So, after a few email exchanges, she got to the point that her work needed someone to fill the dummy suit for the game. Chase the Dog was slated to present the game ball and the halftime check. I was skeptical that I would have to spend the game entertaining some daycare center in the stadium, but I was assured no such thing existed, and that I would be able to bask in the lap of luxury in the Chase bank suites during the game.

Luckily, her story checked out and it actually turned out to be pretty fun even with the costume on. I was paired up with '86 Super Bowl champ Willie Galt for the on field activities and even had a dance-off with Staley (the everyday Bears mascot) while on the field. Plus, it was a high scoring game that the Bears won. What I won't mention is the extent of the tailgating activities I participated in before donning the costume.

So, if you still don't believe, here are some more pics. Notice the height difference- that's about the only claim I can make to proving it was me.

Just startin' a blog for old blogs sake

This is my girlfriend. Well, we actually broke up recently because she said I was "too old" for her tastes anymore.

I guess you just never know until you walk a mile in someone else's shoes, right?