Monday, August 11, 2008

WCC 31 - Get Your Grill On

It's August, it's boiling outside (most of the time)....so why not leave the oven and stove off and head into the yard with your grill? That's the idea behind this months Weekend Cookbook Challenge, hosted by Moi. For those of you who have not yet participated in a WCC, find a recipe from a cookbook, magazine, or off the internet that fits the months theme, make it, write about it, and send a link to me. Easy like pie.

We like to use our grill pretty often, but most of the time we aren't very adventurous with what we cook. Many times if something is being marinated before grilling it's being done with a purchased sauce. Sorry if that offends. So I thought it would be fun to find a recipe that need a homemade marinade. And something with beef becuase I'd found a piece of steak in the freezer. And something fast, because we had plans to go out after dinner. And I found a recipe that checked off all those boxes in my second hand copy of The Frugal Gourmet On Our Immigrant Ancestors by Jeff Smith.


I haven't spent much time with this book, but I love it. Recipes from 35 different cultures from Armenian to Yugoslavian. There's some really interesting stuff. From the Korean Immigrants section I chose Beef Bulgogi.

I ended up altering the recipe in a couple of different ways. I omitted the sesame oil because I hate sesame oil with a passion. I also had to omit the sesame salt (ground toasted sesame seeds and salt) because I'd run out of sesame seeds. I changed some ingredient amounts as well, so really it came out more teriyaki than bulgogi. But it was very nice - speedy, and sweet and spicy. Because the meat was thinly sliced (well, as thin as I could, I really need new knives), it needs little time to marinate or cook. This isn't a 30 minute meal, but maybe 45.



Beef Bulgogi, Teriyaki Style
modified from Jeff Smith's Beef Bulgogi

Serves 4 or more

1 lb sirloin or other steak of your choice
2 tb soy sauce
2 tb sugar
4 green onions, finely chopped
3 garlic cloves finely chopped
1 tb fresh ginger, finely chopped
2 tb sake
1 tsp or to taste hot pepper flakes

Slice the meat thinly and set aside. Mix the rest of the ingredients in a bowl, and add the meat. Toss to coat, and let sit for 30 minutes. Heat your grill over medium high heat. Remove the beef from the marinade and grill, turning once, 2 minutes per side or until done to your liking.

Serve hot, but the leftovers are tasty cold too.

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