Sun 24 Sep 2006
Bulgogi Korean BBQ Sauce -ChoRipDong Brand
I’ve always had a unique fascination with Korean Bulgogi BBQ. When I lived in San Diego, I loved going to Zion supermarket to buy their premarinated Bulgogi ribs. When I lived in Beijing, I’d eat Korean BBQ almost weekly in WuDaoKou. Some months ago I had the opportunity to visit Korea on business and sampled some amazing Korean BBQ. Eating it at a restaurant is one type of satisfaction, but for me being able to make it yourself at home is bringing food to a higher level of satisfaction. I’ve tried various recipes from friends and some that I’ve found on the internet. These turned out ok. Once I used too many kiwis and marinated it too long and the acids basically dissolved the meat to a soft gooey pulp. 
(Not good). So this time, I decided I would meet restaurant experience half way and cheat with store bought Bulgogi sauce. With my unlucky streak of home made sauce, I figure I could still get the satisfaction of cooking at home but still have almost the great flavor of restaurant Korean bbq. I was browsing around the sauce aisle in a local Asian supermarket and chose the ChoRipDong brand cause it looked the most authentic and the ingredients didn’t have a ton of preservatives, high glucose corn syrup, etc. I marinated my beef for about 30 minutes in the fridge along with some sliced onions. I didn’t have a BBQ available that night so I pan fried the beef over high heat for 5-10 minutes then placed the entire 
frying pan on the top rack of an oven and broiled the meat for another 10 minutes resulting in a nice crispy golden brown. Served it over romaine lettuce. It was simple and easy and almost as good as the restaurant. If anyone else has additional recipes or other Bulgogi BBQ sauces they would recommend, please comment!
