02 September 2008

Dwehji-Gogi - Korean BBQ Pork

Korean food seems to be a big theme on this blog. Perhaps it's because nearly half of us spent at least one year on that little peninsula. The two most popular dishes...at least for Americans, I guess, are bulgogi and dwehji-gogi. Bulgogi is most popular because it's just tasty, dwehji-gogi comes in second because, depending on where you get it, it can practically burn your tongue off with it's spiciness.

We are going to address dwehji-gogi today. Because it's yummy and you must try it. It's required. While you're at it head out to an Asian food store and snag some kimchi and some o-jing-o (seasoned shredded squid) and you'll have yourself a truly authentic and delicious Korean meal. You won't regret it. I promise.

This recipe comes directly from A Korean Mother's Cooking Notes.

Ingredients

1 pound of pork (use a pork roast and not a tenderloin as the tenderloin is too lean)
2 T soy sauce
2 T red pepper powder or paste
2 T wine
3 T sugar
1 T sesame oil
1 T sesame salt
2 T chopped green onion
1 t chopped garlic
1 t chopped ginger
1/4 t black pepper

1. Slice the pork into thin strips, no thicker than 1/4 inch.

2. Mix all the other ingredients together.

3. Combine the meat and the seasoning sauce and make sure that every piece of meat is well covered with the seasoning.

4. Broil or pan-fry.

Now a few words. As is always the case, I did not use this exact recipe...because I'm a rebel like that. I have lots of daughters who are sort of wimpy and can't handle the spice so instead of 2 tablespoons of red pepper powder, I put in only 1/2 a tablespoon in one half of the seasoning and then 2 tablespoons in the other half, for Del and I. I also put in less sugar and slightly more soy sauce and more garlic, because garlic is really good. Also, I just put in sesame seeds and not sesame salt, because I'm too lazy to make sesame salt (recipe follows). My point is that the above recipe is a good skeleton. You can adjust it to your own taste and use ingredients you have on hand (ground ginger instead of fresh, etc). The only two ingredients that can't really be replace with some sort of equivalent are soy sauce and sesame oil. When you pan-fry it, make sure to do it in small batches. You want to make sure you're sauteing the meat the whole time and if you over-crowd the pan you'll end up with a soggy mess. Of course, serve with rice and if you don't like kimchi and kim (seaweed) then just serve it with some Chinese pea pods or something like that.

Sesame Salt

-roast some sesame seeds in a pan until they are done popping or until you can easily crush them between your fingers.
-grind them up.

That's it, sesame salt. They say that they call it sesame salt to differentiate between whole sesame seeds and ground up sesame seeds and not because you add any salt to it.

5 comments:

Kainoa said...

OHHH, that looks SO yummy! You take photos like the pioneer woman does! Makes it look so good! I have never tried pork style korean bbq, now I will have to. I LOVE kim chee too bad I'm the only one that eats it! Thanks for the recipe!!!!

Johanna said...

That looks good, but I think I would need the version similar to your girls. I am a bit wimpy when it comes to spice too...

I tried kimchi once, too. I couldn't really handle it either. I am not so adventurous when it comes to asian food in general. I like almost all Chinese and Japanese food, but a lot of the Korean food is just too much for me! Good thing I am not in the half that lived there for a while!

Kainoa said...

I wish I was in the half that lived there, but being born and raised in Hawaii, it comes a bit close. I love Korean food. The first thing I do when I go home to visit is get off the plane and head to a Korean Restaurant. If you ever go to Hawaii, Sorabol is the BEST Korean food I have ever tasted. They always win top korean restaurant in Hawaii every year. Just though I'd share.

Unknown said...

this looks good! shane actually likes this better than bulgogi. but we've gotten away from eating pork so i'll have to keep an eye out for a sale. the sesame salt is interesting. i've never heard of that.

i miss Hawaii food :(

Tina said...

mmmmmmmmmmm, I love Dwehji-gogi!
I remember we used to get that every time we went to that Bulgogi house right off base. I swear I would go back to visit Korea again just because of the food. Not surprisingly, there are not any Korean places here in England... none that I have found anyhow.