Savory Saturday – Kalbi (Korean Short Ribs) Recipe (My Way!)

Savory Saturday is just basically a recipe day that just highlights one meal a week that I made that was a hit with my picky husband! Since I am newly married, I thought it would be cool to talk about my experiences with our growing pains with making meals. Although I’ve lived with my husband before we got married and made food every day, I think it’s different now that we are married since know I have to care. hahahaha!!! (I know, CRAZY?!) The good, the bad and everything in between. I warn you know, a lot of these recipes are going to come from allrecipes.com or epicurious.com or even youtube.com, but it is all about how I make it. These are also going to be recipes that my husband’s mom and grandmother taught me and some from my mother so…it’s all here! 🙂 I’m that person that reads like 10 pages of reviews (that’s over 100 reviews) and takes the best of those reviews to make a recipe. (I know, I’m a freak!!) This will also be reviews of new food products I tried that are supposed to be healthy.

Whew, now that the intro is done…my first review/recipe is Korean BBQ spare ribs. This is MY recipe that I made from my sister’s, my mom’s and allrecipes.com’s recipes. I took the best of all my worlds…so here it is! Tweak it the way you like it but my husband loves this, my way! I’ve done this with large parties and just us for dinner for a few nights. This freezes well and make delicious left overs for lunches. It seems like a lot of ingredients and a lot of work but it’s really not, and it’s SO much cheaper than buying it in the store.

1 cup Brown Sugar
1 cup 7-Up
1 cup Soy Sauce (NOT Low Sodium)
¼ cup (4 Tablespoons) of Sesame Oil
½ bulb of Garlic (about 2-4 heaping Tablespoons of grated garlic)
1 grated large peeled Asian Pear or 1 1/2 small peeled Asian Pears (with juices)
1 grated peeled Kiwi (with juices)
2 small or 1 large Sliced Onions
4 stalks of Chopped Green Onions
¼ cup (4 Tablespoons) of Black Pepper
¼ cup of Red Pepper Flakes
¼ teaspoon of Salt
2 Tablespoons of Honey
5 lbs of Center Cut of Flanken Short Ribs* (cut at ½ inch) or 10-15 portabella mushrooms
Toasted Sesame Seeds (Optional)

Flanken Short Ribs Directions

Wash meat well with cold water and dry with paper towel.
Pound the meat on the ribs with a meat tenderizer or a mallet carefully so that it does not break through the meat, but enough to flatten the meat and tenderize.
Cut off any excess fat. (Some fat is okay because it will flavor the meat.)
Combine brown sugar, 7-Up, soy sauce, sesame oil, garlic, Asian pear, kiwi, black pepper, red pepper flakes, salt, and honey in a blender and blend until smooth.
In a large bowl, add sliced onions and chopped green onions to the blended liquid and mix with a spoon.
In a glass dish or a large Tupperware container, layer a single layer of flanken short ribs, and pour a small amount of the mixed marinade. Make sure you spread some onions and green onions.
On top of the single layer of short ribs and onions add another layer of short ribs and marinade with the onions and green onion. You are going to continue to do this until you run out of short ribs. (You should have plenty of liquid left over to reserve.)
Marinate as long as you can in the refrigerator. (This recipe will still work if you marinate this for about 15 minutes but the meat takes on a better flavor and consistency when marinated for a longer period. (Preferably Overnight, but no more than 36 hours.)
You can cook this in a frying pan or on the grill. Cook until well done.
(Optional Step) You can cook the remaining liquid in a pot and continue to cook until the onions are completely soft, and pour over the meat. (Remember that there was raw meat in this marinade so boil for at least 5-10 minutes. Otherwise, discard the liquid.)
(Optional Step) Sprinkle some sesame seeds on top.