Korean BBQ Beef
If you're a lover of all things beefy and barbecued and keen on Asian flavours this is something you might want to try! This recipe has been contributed to us by Andrea from Forking Foodie. If you fancy something a little different, but not too 'out there', this is a great way to cook rump steak. One of the tastiest cuts of steak, it is also from a hard-working muscle which means it is not the most tender steak - however in this dish, the Asian pear in the marinade really tenderises the meat. And on top of this, it's packed full of robust Asian flavours - garlic, ginger, soy and onions, with a hint of sweetness. It’s delicious served with rice or the kimchi featured in this issue.
No: Gluten / Dairy / Egg / Tree Nuts
Preparation Time 10 minutes + marinating time
Cooking Time 10 minutes
Serves 4
Cannot be frozen
Ingredients
- rump steak - 450g (weight after trimming off excess fat - if you're buying it with the fat on, you'll need to buy extra. Also, you could easily add another 200-300g of meat to this marinade if you like)
- pear - 1, Asian, peeled and roughly chopped (also known as Nashi pears, available quite widely - or you could substitute Bosc/Kasier, or a normal crisp variety of pear if you can't get hold of these varieties, the peeled flesh will weigh around 100g)
- onion - 50g (1/2 an onion), peeled
- garlic cloves - 4, peeled
- ginger - 1 inch, peeled
- soy sauce - 20g (*or use tamari for gluten free)
- brown sugar - 25g, dark, or your preferred form of sweetener, e.g. honey, rapadura
- pepper - freshly ground black, to taste
- sesame oil - 15g Tbsp, toasted
- spring onions - 4
- carrot - 1/2 (or one small carrot), peeled
- sesame seeds - optional
Method
- Slice the beef into thin slices (like you would for a stir-fry). You might find this easiest to do if you put it into the freezer for half an hour first to firm up. Go for 2-3mm if you you can, up to 5mm thick is good. Then make the marinade.
- Add the onion (50g), garlic (4), ginger (1), pear (1), soy sauce (20g), sugar (25g), black pepper (to taste) and toasted sesame oil (15g) into the bowl.
- Speed 7 / 25 seconds, scrape down
- Blitz again on Speed 9 / 25 seconds.
- Mix the beef strips together with the marinade in a non-reactive (non-metal) bowl.
- Cut the carrot in half lengthways, and slice on a steep diagonal, about 2-3mm thick. Add to the beef and marinade.
- Slice two of the spring onions on a steep diagonal, 5mm-1cm thick. Add to the beef and marinade and stir in.
- Cover and refrigerate the marinating beef - preferably overnight if possible, or for at least an hour or two.
- Before you cook the beef, slice the other two spring onions on the diagonal for a garnish, and set aside.
- Authentically, this is cooked over a barbecue, in a barbecue pan (with holes in it - see picture in the gallery) or something similar with holes that the beef won't fall through. If you haven't got a barbecue pan, I don't see any reason why you can't thread the strips of beef onto metal or (soaked) wooden skewers, together with the carrot and spring onion slices for an equally delicious treat.
- So, if you're cooking it over your barbecue, go fire it up, get it nice and hot (you're not trying to cook a fish over a gentle heat - you want to be able to get that beef sizzling in the pan!), and cook the beef to your liking.
- As barbecuing is not an exact science for most of us, the amount of time it takes to cook your beef is going to depend on how close to the coals your rack / pan is, and how hot they are. However, because of the punchy, tenderising marinade, it's pretty hard to get it wrong, so just go with your instincts - the beauty of cooking it in a pan, means you can try a piece really easily when you think it's about there (the same with skewers - albeit you can see where you've stolen a piece!).
- Once it's done, serve it up scattered with sliced spring onions, and optional sesame seeds if you're using.
