Product Code Database
Galbi
(), kalbi, galbi-gui (), or grilled ribs is a type of gui (grilled dish) in traditional Korean cuisine. " Galbi" is the Korean word for "rib", and the dish is usually made with beef short ribs. When pork spare ribs or another meat is used instead, the dish is named accordingly. Galbi is served raw, then cooked on tabletop grills usually by the diners themselves. The dish may be marinated in a sweet and savory sauce usually containing soy sauce, garlic, and sugar. Both non-marinated and marinated galbi are often featured in Korean barbecue. In Japan, this and many other dishes in Korean barbecue influenced yakiniku, a fusion cuisine that often makes use of galbi (glossed as karubi).
The specific style of cut emerged some time in the late 20th century. It is widely believed to have been innovated by the Koreans who immigrated to the US during the 1960s–1980s, a period of mass migration of Korean immigrants into Koreatown, Los Angeles, hence the name of the dish, LA Galbi. The flanken cut is not the traditional style in Korea; and the difficulty in attaining the traditional cut of meat meant the immigrants who owned Korean supermarkets and restaurants had to work with the whole rack ribs the American butchers preferred. The Korean butchers began to cut the whole rack into thin vertical strips, as the traditional galbi is also thinly sliced to allow the marinade to penetrate the meat. The popularity spread through church gatherings, restaurants and into the wider Los Angeles area, and today is a popular cut most commonly available in Korean supermarkets across the US.
One theory, evaluated in an article in the Encyclopedia of Korean Culture as the most plausible, is that the cut was invented by Korean Americans in Los Angeles in the late 20th century. Meat cut in this fashion was considered affordable and allowed for quicker penetration of the marinade. Hence the cut was then imported back to South Korea. Today they enjoy two distinct cuts of Galbi.
Another theory is that the dish was invented in South Korea as part of a marketing campaign to sell American beef in the country. Per the theory, "LA" was used in the name because it was where the most Korean Americans lived in the United States and would have been more familiar.
Another theory is that the term "LA" is an abbreviation of "Lateral Axis", after the direction the ribs are cut.
The Marination for so-galbi-gui (소갈비구이; "grilled beef ribs") typically includes soy sauce, sugar, minced garlic and , ginger juice, ground black pepper, toasted and ground sesame, and sesame oil. The beef is usually scored on the surface prior to marinating, and the juice from is brushed on before grilling.
If used, pork shoulder meat is carved into thicker slices of around in width. Deeper cuts are made when scoring the surface to allow the marinade to penetrate the meat.
Once cooked, the meat is typically cut into pieces over the grill with kitchen scissors, then wrapped inside lettuce leaves, kkaennip (perilla frutescens), or other Leaf vegetable. These made-on-the-spot leaf wraps, called ssam, usually include a piece of grilled meat, ssamjang, raw or grilled garlic, and a sauce made of doenjang (soybean paste) and gochujang (chili paste). Like other Korean main dishes, galbi is often accompanied by bap (cooked rice) and side dishes known as banchan.
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