Korean BBQ Steak
Updated July 24, 2024
- Total Time
- 1 hour 5 minutes, plus at least 4 hours’ marinating
- Prep Time
- 15 minutes
- Cook Time
- 50 minutes, plus at least 4 hours’ marinating
- Rating
- Comments
- Read comments
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Ingredients
- 1mild Korean green pepper or seeded jalapeño or ½ green bell pepper
- ½ Fresno chile or other medium-hot red pepper
- 3garlic cloves
- 2scallions
- ½ shallot
- ¾ cup doenjang (see Tip)
- ¼ cup toasted sesame oil
- 2tablespoons gochujang
- 2tablespoons rice vinegar
- 10garlic cloves
- 1(1½-inch) piece ginger, unpeeled
- 1small yellow onion, peeled and chopped
- ¼ Asian pear or ½ apple, unpeeled and chopped (about 1 cup)
- ½ cup soy sauce or tamari
- ½ cup cola, preferably Mexican Coke
- 3tablespoons dark brown sugar
- 2teaspoons coarse kosher salt or fine sea salt
- 1¾ teaspoons coarsely ground black pepper
- 2teaspoons toasted sesame oil
- 1teaspoon MSG (optional)
- 2pounds boneless beef steaks, like rib-eye, sirloin, strip or short rib (¾ to 1 inch thick)
- Neutral oil, such as canola or grapeseed, as needed
- Various lettuces for wrapping, like perilla, red leaf and romaine
For the Ssamjang
For the Steak
Preparation
- Step 1
Make the ssamjang: Finely chop the peppers, garlic, scallions and shallot, and add to a bowl. Add the doenjang, sesame oil, gochujang and rice vinegar, and stir to combine. Cover and refrigerate until ready to eat.
- Step 2
Marinate the steak: In a blender or food processor, blend the garlic, ginger, onion, Asian pear, soy sauce and cola until smooth. Through a sieve, strain the marinade into a large bowl or wide dish. Stir in the brown sugar, salt, black pepper, sesame oil and MSG, if using. Nestle in the steaks, cover and refrigerate at least 4 hours and up to 12.
- Step 3
Drain and pat the steaks dry and let sit at room temperature for 20 minutes before cooking.
- Step 4
To cook the steaks on the stovetop, heat a large cast-iron or other heavy skillet over high. Add enough neutral oil to lightly coat the pan, then wait until you see a wisp of smoke. Add the steaks (in batches if necessary) and cook, gently pressing down for even contact with the pan, until charred, 1 to 2 minutes per side for medium-rare. Alternatively, you can grill the steaks: Heat an outdoor grill to high. Grill, covered if using a gas grill, until charred, 4 to 6 minutes per side for medium-rare. Let the steak rest on a cutting board for at least 10 minutes before slicing against the grain.
- Step 5
Serve the steak slices with the ssamjang and lettuces, so diners can make their own bundles while eating.
- You can find doenjang, often labeled “soybean paste,” in Korean or Asian supermarkets and online, either in jars or in plastic rectangular tubs. Funkily pungent and packed with savoriness, doenjang is a magical flavor booster that is sometimes compared to Japanese miso but has a saltier, more assertive kick. Full of fermented sourness and deep Parmesan-like umami, it can enliven all manner of soups, stews and salad dressings with unparalleled brio.
Private Notes
Comments
No need to strain the marinade to avoid burning, thus losing additional flavor. If you're supposed to "Drain and pat the steaks dry" before cooking, as Step 3 asserts, the burnable elements will be wiped away. Besides, a little bit of caramelization is a good thing.
Based on the butcher’s recommendation and a good sale, I used hanger steak for this recipe. This is a less dense, more “stringy” cut than rib-eye or sirloin or London broil. When this cut encountered the meat tenderizing enzymes in the Asian pear and other ingredients in the marinade for 8 hours, it seemed to get very soft before going on the grill. And it took much longer to cook than an unmarinated steak, but the result was a very tender, very flavorful meal that everyone seemed to enjoy.
The phosphoric acid helps to tenderize the meat. No reason to eliminate it, it works out to a couple of tablespoons per portion and is cooked off. Could substitute Pepsi if you prefer.
This was wonderful, especially for invigorating a steak that wasn’t the best cut and had been in the freezer for a while. I used yellow miso instead of the doenjang, omitted the coke and used poblano for the ssamjang. The leftover marinade and pan juice was great for sautéing greens. The ssamjang was delicious but if you’re short on time (or ingredients), the steak was tasty on its own. The steaks spluttered, so use an oil screen if you have one.
3/4 of cup of doenjang seems like more than the other recipes I have found on line, which call for 1/4 cup of doenjang to 2 Tbs of gochujang (plus the other stuff). I'm finding it a bit overpowering, so will try the reduced amount next time.
A great recipe. It is very flavorful and my family loved it.