Lee Dobson's Beef & Chicken Bulgogi

When we lived in Manitowoc, Wisconsin, Lee, who is a native of South Korea, came over and made this with me at my house.  (Which really means she made it and I watched so I would know how to do it next time).  I wrote it down as we made it.  She is an amazing cook!  I’ll never forget how shocked I was when she asked me if I had fresh garlic and found that she meant two whole heads of fresh garlic instead of two cloves.  (I had to go to the store for more garlic).  The huge amount of Black Pepper made me giggle as well.  (I’d never used ½ cup of black pepper in anything before this nor do I in any other recipe).  No wonder it is so flavorful!  It has become a family favorite for special occasions like birthdays.

Sauce: 
4 onions peeled and quartered
2 whole heads of fresh garlic; chop off ends, pull apart and peel each clove separately
3-4 inches of fresh ginger root; peel and chop into ½ inch chunks
1 cup sweet rice cooking wine (sake)
2 cups Soy Sauce
1 cup vegetable oil
1 cup sesame oil
½ cup black pepper
2 ½ cup honey

Blend in blender or food processor until well blended and no chunks of onion, ginger or garlic are left.  It may take more than one batch to blend it all.
Pour sauce into large bowl
Add 2 bunches green onion thin sliced

Add meat:
2 lbs bulgogi sliced  Rib Eye Beef (marinate in refrigerator overnight)
2 lbs thin sliced chicken breasts (marinate in refrigerator overnight)
Take a fork and take each slice of meat and coat both sides with the sauce and then let it sit in the bowl.  Cover bowl and marinate overnight in the refrigerator. 

She had me do beef the first night and then after cooking the beef, use the raw sauce again to marinate the chicken overnight and then we cooked that 24 hours later.  I worried about this from a food contamination standpoint but it turned out delicious and did not make anyone sick.  She was trying to make full use of the sauce.  We usually just choose one meat to do these days.
 
Lee grilled the meat.  I haven’t quite figured out how to keep the extremely thin slices on the grill but my daughter Sarah says she has seen it done on the grill in with several layers of foil to keep the meat from falling through.  If you want to serve this sauce with the meat after marinating, you must cook it thoroughly on the stove top.  It is delicious without sauce however.  Extremely flavorful from marinating.
 
 The Lower Carb Version
In more recent years, I have made this lower carb so my husband I can eat it without doing serious damage to our blood sugar.   (Notice I don’t say low carb.  It’s just my best shot at lower carb with keeping the original flavor as much as possible.  I have tried it without the sweet cooking wine before and it did not maintain the same flavor).  We made it this week for Son #3’s birthday and it was delicious.  No one could tell that it was the lower carb version.

Sauce:
3 small onions quartered
16 peeled garlic cloves
3 inches fresh ginger root peeled and cut in ½ inch chunks
1 cup sweet cooking wine (sake)
2 cups Tamari (gluten free)
1 ½ cup avocado oil
½ cup sesame oil (I cut it down because I am sensitive to sesame but can get away with a little)
½ c black pepper
2 ½ cup low carb sweetener of your choice.  I use half erythritol and half xylitol.  I get stomach upset if I use all erythritol and am sensitive to most other low carb sweeteners as well.   I did add a little allulose this time too when the sauce didn’t seem quite balanced and needed a bit more sweet.  Before the raw meat is added, you can taste the sauce to see if the flavor is right.  Lee did a lot of this when she was making it.

Blend all in blender.  It will probably take more than one batch.  Then pour into large bowl.

Add 2 bunches of green onions thin sliced

Add Meat:
4 lbs very thin sliced Rib Eye
Take fork and coat each side of each piece of meat and then let sit in bowl of sauce.  Cover bowl and let it marinate in the refrigerator for 12-24 hours.  Then grill.

2 Notes:
We’ve had two difficulties with this recipe.  One is finding Bulgogi sliced Rib Eye since there is not a Korean market close.  We’ve used all kinds of beef cuts and thicknesses in this marinade, just buying the thinnest of what I could find at our local stores, but the thin sliced Bulgogi slices are the best. 

This week I tried asking our local grocer to slice rib eye steaks very thin for me.  He was obliging, but what I got was a mess where the slices did not maintain their integrity and were a little like hamburger.  Next time I will buy the Rib Eye Steaks, partially freeze them, and slice them myself.  I finally have sharp enough knives that I think I can do it myself.  All that said, we laughed about the final product (I had to cook it in a skillet like a hamburger dinner) but it was still absolutely delicious and we are enjoying the left overs.

The second problem is how to cook it.  We’ve done it on a George Foreman Grill (very messy), James has grilled it when the slices were a little thicker, I’ve tried cooking it in the oven on jelly roll pans (not my favorite), this time it was obviously in a skillet.  Honestly, it’s always good.  Maybe next time I’ll get the grilling on foil figured out.

Some things are good enough that it is just worth making it work however you can.  You can not go wrong with this marinade.  It is amazing!  Thank you Lee!