Subliminal Retreat~

Kalbi-Jjim is Korean braised beef ribs.

The first time I had Kalbi-Jjim was when I visited New York City this past winter holidays.
I was going to make a post about the restaurant where I was introduced to this fantastic beef dish before posting my own trial..... but I just can't wait to share with you the recipe of this delicious dish.

If you google for recipe of Kalbi-Jjim you'd find many different versions of it....
While it's normal for people to have disparate rendition of the same-titled dish, I feel that some recipes of Kalbi-Jjim I found online really vary a great deal from one another.
Therefore I adhere to the recipe which I felt would produce the kind of Kalbi-Jjim closest in taste to the one I had at the restaurant where they put things like red dates, chestnut, and something tasted like ginseng in the dish.



My recipe is basically taken from
but I used less sugar for marinating, more water (SEJUNG only used half a cup, which is too less for me) because the liquid dried out after 90 minutes of braising leaving part of beef ribs slightly scorched, next time I will just add enough water at the beginning so the meat won't get burnt.
I also added some extra ingredients in attempt to make the dish the way I had it in NYC.

4 pounds kalbi (beef ribs, labeled big beef ribs in the Korean market where I shopped), cut in short lengths
½ cup grated Asian pear
¼ cup sake
2 tablespoons sugar
½ cup soy sauce
½ medium onion, finely chopped ( I actually used 1 medium-small onion)
2 tablespoons minced green onion
2 tablespoons minced garlic
2 teaspoons sesame oil
2 teaspoons sesame seeds
1½ cup water or more
1 inch ginger root, peeled and cut in thin slices
24 jujubes (Asian dried red dates)
20 fresh or dried chestnuts, optional
1 tablespoon crystal sugar or to taste
1 tablespoon pine nuts (I forgot to sprinkle this at the end....haha)

2 small fresh ginsengs (I just segmented each of the ginseng in 3)
Some Korean rice cake (boiled until soften)
some pan-fried egg sheet (cut in stripes)
some fresh green onion (slightly boiled.)



According to SEJUNG:

Start the preparation 2 days before serving. On the first day, place the ribs in a large bowl or dishpan and cover with cold water. Let stand 2 hours.


Drain the ribs, rinse and pat dry with paper towels. Place them in a container with a lid. Grind the pear in a food processor or blender. Combine the pear, sake and sugar with the meat and mix well. Cover and marinate in the refrigerator 1 hour.


Combine the soy sauce, onion, green onion, garlic, sesame oil and sesame seeds in a food processor or blender and process until pureed. Add to the meat. Mix well. Cover and refrigerate overnight.


The next day, place the meat in a Dutch oven. Add 1½ cup water, cover and bring to a boil. Add the ginger root slices. Reduce the heat, cover and cook over medium low heat 3 hours.

Meanwhile, soak the dates until softened enough to slit them and pry out the seeds. After 2 hours, add the seeded dates and the dried chestnuts, if using, and cook 30 minutes to 1 hour longer.


Let the meat cool. If any bones have separated from the meat, remove them and discard. Return the meat and cooking juices to the washed storage container. Cover and refrigerate overnight.

The next day, remove as much of the congealed fat from the meat as possible. Turn into a Dutch oven and reheat to serving temperature. Transfer the meat and juices to a large heated serving container. Sprinkle with pine nuts, and with dried red chile strands if you are bold.

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*I didn't wait till the third day to remove fat from the meat. I cooked the meat on the morning of the second day, let it cool till around 1 pm, then freeze it until 4pm.
After picking out all the fat I reheat the dish and cook the rice cake and egg sheet in the meantime.

Then I mixed the heated meat, rice cake, egg and green onion together.

Trust me this toothsome Kalbijjim will satisfy any picky critique.

However, this recipe didn't give me exactly the taste of Kalbijjim I had in NYC. Maybe I'll try other ways sometime to figure out the taste...lol~

Despite it all..... This Kalbijjim I made is undeniably yummy, I can't wait to make it again!
(It kinda tasted like tender juicy beef jerky...haha...but better than that!)