HOWTO: Korean barbecue

Fill the table with side dishes, lettuce leaves, and marinated meat, turn up the heat, and the party can begin. Korean barbecue is becoming increasingly popular, and while you can of course go to a restaurant for it, doing it at home is just as much fun. You wrap lettuce leaves with meat, kimchi, pickled vegetables, scallion salad, and anything else you like. Everyone grills their own meat and puts together their own perfect bite. Want to try it at home too? We will tell you the best way to go about it.

Buying a barbecue

To start, you of course need a tabletop barbecue. The most convenient option is to place a Korean grill plate on a portable gas stove. You can safely set this up on the table so that everyone can grill their own meat. Do open the windows, though—it can get quite smoky.

The meat

The star of Korean barbecue is the meat. Beef is often used for this, such as thinly sliced short ribs, also known as kalbi. This cut is hard to find at a regular butcher, so we have it specially cut for our store. You can also use other thinly sliced cuts of meat. Thinly sliced pork belly is also delicious. You marinate the meat for a few hours beforehand, either with a ready-made or homemade marinade. If you prefer to eat vegetarian, you can also marinate mushrooms and put those on the barbecue.

The side dishes

The meat is quite sweet, so it is nice to serve plenty of fresh and spicy banchan (Korean side dishes) at the table. You wrap everything in lettuce leaves, creating the perfect crunchy, fresh-sweet little wraps. So be sure to put lettuce leaves on the table—these can be different types, such as butterhead lettuce, romaine, or little gem. For extra flavor, you can place a shiso leaf inside the lettuce leaf before adding the rest of the ingredients. 

Also put as many pickled vegetables on the table as possible, such as kimchi made from cabbage, diced daikon or radish leaves. Make a dressing from soy sauce, sesame oil, gochugaru (Korean chili flakes), scallions, sesame seeds, grated garlic, and sugar to dress thinly sliced scallions or diced cucumber. Or make a solution of rice vinegar, sugar, and salt and pour it over thinly sliced daikon, cucumber, or other vegetables. It is not necessary, but as an extra filling, you can always put rice on the table and roll it into your wraps.