LA galbi takes me back to late college nights at Korean restaurants, where we shared a cast-iron dish of sizzling grilled beef ribs at 1:00 a.m. This LA galbi marinade recipe hits the spot whenever I feel a spark of nostalgia and want a filling dish that serves many people for dinner.
What is LA Galbi?
Galbi or kalbi was one of my favorite dishes, especially during late-night college meals at BCD Tofu House or Koba. When I’m too lazy to go to a restaurant or need backup dishes in my freezer, having Trader Joe’s Korean short ribs in the freezer is pretty tasty too! LA galbi is a Korean American marinated beef short ribs. It’s a style of galbi-gui (갈비구이), or “grilled ribs dish,” that originated from Korean immigrants in Los Angeles. Galbi is also romanized as “kalbi” and used interchangeably. While there are different types of galbi dishes, like saeng-galbi (non-marinated ribs), LA galbi specifically is made with a pear and soy sauce base marinade with flanken-cut beef short ribs. There are different origin stories of LA-style galbi, and a popular theory is that it was created by Korean immigrants in LA because it was difficult to find the traditional wang-galbi cut of short rib. Wang-galbi is thicker and needs to be sliced multiple times to reveal a longer cut of meat (imagine unraveling a piece of meat). LA-style cuts of galbi originated from American-style cuts of beef ribs that were cut from a band-saw. The thinness of the meat allows for faster marinating; however, the exposed bones need extra care when prepping to remove excess shards. For example, you’ll need to scrub the meat with water to remove bone debris and soak them for at least 20 minutes to remove excess blood. You can buy LA-style cut short ribs, aka flanken beef rib cuts, at your local Korean grocery store, like H-Mart. You might also be able to find them at Mexican grocery stores, but sometimes, their cuts of beef are thicker.
Ingredients in the galbi marinade
Galbi has a sweet and savory flavor made from Korean pears, rice syrup, aromatics, and savory seasonings. The ingredients to this galbi marinade are very similar to spicy pork bulgogi with some adjustments:
Korean pear – this fruit adds a distinctive flavor and sweetness to the marinade. Aromatics (yellow onion, garlic, and ginger) – the combination of these aromatics adds complexity to the galbi and gives you a savory base. I use fresh onion, garlic, and ginger instead of dried powder for a fresher flavor. I also noticed how thick and clumpy the marinade would get if I used powder instead of fresh ingredients. Soy sauce – this adds salt and a savory soy flavor. Don’t skimp out on the soy sauce, especially if you only marinate for four hours. Mirin – this brings an acidity to balance out the marinade’s sweet and savory flavors and also helps tenderize the meat. If you can’t find mirin, you can use rice vinegar and add one teaspoon of white sugar for every one tablespoon of rice vinegar. Rice syrup – this sweetener is a Korean staple, but if you can’t find it, you can also substitute it with honey. Black pepper – this gives a little more depth and spice to the marinade. Roasted sesame oil – sesame rounds out the balance of salt, acid, and sweetness to give a little bit of richness at the end. Stir in the roasted sesame oil after blending so you don’t degrade the oil from the heat of overprocessing in the blender.
Before marinating your meat, taste-test the marinade to see if you want to make any adjustments. It should be a good balance of sweet and savory flavors–with a forward saltiness flavor from the soy sauce but not overpowering.
Should you cook galbi over charcoal?
There are various ways to cook galbi: on a pan over the stove, in the oven, or on a grill. My preferred method of cooking galbi is over a charcoal grill because I like the smokey flavor it adds to the meat. To learn more about cooking with charcoal, read my detailed instructions on how to start a charcoal grill. At KBBQ spots, we typically cook galbi over a gas grill on a cast-iron grate or sheet pan. If you don’t have access to a grill, using a pan on the stove is easy. Keep in mind that the sweet marinade will eventually burn as you cook, so it may be a pain to clean up cast iron after cooking. I like to stick with stainless steel whenever I’m not using the grill to cook galbi.
What to serve with galbi
Galbi is traditionally served for ssam (or Korean wraps), where pieces of meat are wrapped with layers of lettuce (or perilla leaves) and topped with Korean condiments like gochujang (red pepper paste), sesame oil and salt, or ssamjang (spicy fermented soybean paste). In addition to rice paper wraps, I also like eating galbi with Korean purple rice. There are also several banchan (or side dishes) to eat with galbi, like:
kimchi Korean Cucumber Salad (Oi Muchim) Korean Potato Salad (Gamja Salad) Korean Pickled Radish (Crunchy Chicken-Mu)
If you have leftovers, LA galbi is perfect for bibimbap (Korean rice bowl w/ veggies & beef) or kimbap (Korean seaweed rice ‘sushi’ rolls).
