Galbi Jjim (Korean Soy-Braised Beef Stew)

January 16, 2022

2차 백신 접종 후 3개월이 지났고 나아졌어요. 비타민C 치료 효과가 있어요! 내 친구도 2차 백신 접종 후 현기증 부작용을 있는데 남편의 인터넷 조사 덕분에 비타민C 치료를 먹고 잘 나았어요.

우연히도 한가위도 추석이었서 나는 정상 생활을 하고 있어 참참 감사해요. 나는 이제 요리와 운동과 운전과 같은 내가 좋아하는 모든 일을 할 수 있게 되어서 부스터샷이 걱정돼요.

부작용을 최소화하기 위해 부스터샷이 2주 전에 먼저 비타민 C 치료를 시작하려고 해요. 예전보다 빨리 나아져서 정상 생활으로 돌아가고 싶어요.

요즘 드물게 블로깅을 안해서 미안해요. 연말에 일이 너무 바쁘고 많은 파티 때문에 블로깅 하는 시간이 없었어요.

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Apologies for the extended dormancy. The latter part of 2021 was a whirlwind of work, family commitments, and errands...u know, the usual gazillion adulting things. I never really realised how much people rush to meet their KPIs, (at the end of the year so as to make their bonus assessment dates), until last year. It was nuts, I was completely snowed under.

I've gotten a little reprieve at the start of a new year bc everyone's engines seem to still be warming up (ooh and a somewhat belated HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL!) so I'm now tryna chip away at the insane backlog, and what better way to kick off a fresh new year with a brand new post.

So, we had our favourite people over during the festive period. And while I wanted to cook Korean cuisine, there was one in our party who can't take spicy foods (and he's a Baba so go figure!), so I thought to cook Galbi Jjim. Traditionally served during Seollal (the Korean New Year, which typically refers to the Lunar New Year, but could also mean the first of January for the younger generation these days), it is a decadent dish symbolizing prosperity and laden with the best and most luxurious of ingredients. It may not seem all that luxurious to a first-worlder, but in the olden days, people seldom had access to a cut like the short rib, which was reserved for special occasions.

As usual, I preface this with the usual caveat that I bastardise my recipes (few of mine are ever really traditional anyway), this recipe is a lot less sweet than the classic. Many Korean dishes are heavy on the sugar, but I dial that back in my cooking. I like my sugar in my desserts, less so in my savoury foods.

I call Galbi Jjim the Korean version of our Peranakan tau yew bak. The flavour profile is similar: lots of black soy sauce, a little spice, and fragranced with toasty sesame oil. And bc the dish is so rich, banchan such as piquant kimchi and refreshing sigeumchi namul (seasoned spinach) make for perfect accompaniments.

Another thing about this dish, it can be prepared entirely beforehand (all the better bc the stew gets to meld and steep), and heated up for whenever you need it, freeing up time to cook other dishes if you're planning a big shindig. Which was exactly what I needed when I was hosting Christmas and New Year's dinners. Chilling the stew overnight also allows for the oil (invariably rendered bc short rib is so fatty) to solidify and thus extraction is far less unwieldy.