korean bbq

as a thank you to my conference team, i wanted to treat them to some korean bbq, something that most of them never had before. the challenge was finding the right cut of meat. I went to a local butcher, but it was hard to explain the kind of cut i needed for bulgogi (korean marinated beef) so in the end i went into london to a korean grocery store to buy the beef.

i haven't marinated my own bulgogi in a long time because in the past i could easily buy at the korean grocery store. well, living in the outskirts of london, korean food isn't as accessible. also i wanted to make sure the marinade was gluten free. (did you know that kikkoman soy sauce has wheat?)

i found a good recipe from maangchi.com. i used her bulgogi recipe (minus the pear) and substituted regular soy sauce with tamari soy sauce which is gluten free. she uses a food processor to make her marinade which saves a lot of chopping time. lucky for me, we have a food processor in our home.

i marinated the meat for most of the morning (almost 6 hours). we grilled it to give it a bit of a burnt edge. along with the bulgogi, i prepared a spinach side dish, a bean sprout side dish, as well as egg-battered zucchini slices. i showed everyone how to eat the bulgogi in their own lettuce wrap.

in the end, everyone loved it! i want to make bulgogi again, but i need to find a local butcher. that is my next quest.