I Think It Might Be Spring

I Think It Might Be Spring

     Along the western wall of our kitchen is where we keep, among other things our cookbooks.  Among them are Pig, both of the Gourmet cookbooks, How To Cook Meat, and a file folder stuffed with likely thousands of recipes ripped from newspapers and magazines.  Looking through it for some sort of recipe to help with an idea for tonight I came across a bulgogi recipe that said it would take two minutes tops to cook the beef.
     The article accompanying the recipe I chose tells us that the bulgogi is best with a dipping sauce made from the ingredients of the marinade, Instead of rebuilding the sauce I convinced Dad we should simply boil the marinade to remove the meat juices.  The rice is on the stove, a veggie plate has been built, and now we wait for the beef to be done marinating.
     This is such a ridiculously simple recipe that there isn't much worth mentioning.  Bulgogi is a Korean dish that is believed to have originated somewhere between 1500 to 2000 years ago.  Bulgogi literally means "fire meat", which refers to its preparation, over an open flame (though it is often pan-cooked), as opposed to its spiciness.  Bulgogi is now used in burgers at some South Korean fast food chains, (I doubt there is an abundance of KFC in the North), which are said to taste like teriyaki burgers.
     The meat is sizzling away full blast now, we've had to cook it in three batches because of skillet size limitations, and you have to hurry to get each batch on.


     The bulgogi was excellent, salty, sweet. lightly onion-y, and snippets of garlic.  The butter lettuce provided a canvas for the flavor, and the moist carrots made it pungent and bright.  I would have liked to make the bulgogi on the grill, but we were apprehensive that it would fall through (much like our fears for Cy's grilled pizza a year ago).  Grilling season, and grilling recipes are are almost here though.  Today was certainly the right weather.