One of my favorite characters introduced in Yakuza 6 is Joon-gi Han. As the leader of the Jingweon Mafia, he strives for more power through Kamurocho. Kiryu first meets him at a barbecue restaurant. Joon-gi invites him to join him at Stardust as an apology for a previous encounter. Kiryu agrees and realize the complete transformation of Stardust from a casual host club to this vulgar club where anything goes including an illegal fighting ring where hosts fight one another. Joon-gi’s courtesy is only a front to get into the ring with the Dragon of Dojima himself, hoping a victory in battle will bring more respect his way. Joon-gi is a powerful leader, a man of his word, and one that will do anything in order to gain more power.
Over the past few years, I have fallen in love with Korean cuisine. The layers of complex flavors and the large variety of small side dishes, called banchan, made me want to explore what Korean food has to offer. The first dish to sing out to me was galbi, thinly sliced marinated short ribs that are grilled over high heat. The most important part of this recipe is that the meat is thin and well marbled. I’ve tried this recipe with meat that was ½-inch thick and it was delicious but I found it to be much chewier than the ¼-inch thick cut. This recipe does require a little bit of preplanning since you need to marinate the meat at least overnight. Once you have the grill set up and your short ribs ready, the meat cooks very quickly.
Ingredients:
4 lbs flank cut short-ribs, ¼ inch thick
1 cup soy sauce
⅓ cup sugar
⅓ cup brown sugar
⅓ cup honey
3 tbsp sesame oil
¼ cup mirin
¼ cup garlic paste
2 tbsp ginger paste
1 korean pear, peeled, cored, and chopped
4 scallions, chopped
1 tbsp black pepper
Place the korean pear in a food processor and grind until smooth.
Transfer into a gallon sized ziplock bag with the rest of the ingredients. Mix everything well together. Seal the bag, toss to completely coat the meat, and place the ziplock in the refrigerator overnight.
The next day, preheat your grill. Once the grill is nice and hot, oil the grate to prevent the galbi from sticking. Cook directly over the heat for 2-3 minutes per side or until it has a nice char.
Galbi
Ingredients
- 4 lbs flank cut short ribs, 1/4-inch thick
- 1 cup soy sauce
- 1/3 cup sugar
- 1/3 cup brown sugar
- 1/3 cup honey
- 3 tbsp sesame oil
- 1/4 cup mirin
- 1/4 cup garlic paste
- 1/4 cup ginger paste
- 1 korean pear, peeled, cored, and chopped
- 4 scallions, chopped
- 1 tbsp black pepper
Instructions
- Place the korean pear in a food processor and grind until smooth.
- Transfer into a gallon sized ziplock bag with the rest of the ingredients. Mix everything well together. Seal the bag, toss to completely coat the meat, and place the ziplock in the refrigerator overnight.
- The next day, preheat your grill. Once the grill is nice and hot, oil the grate to prevent the galbi from sticking. Cook directly over the heat for 2-3 minutes per side or until it has a nice char.