Jan 2, 2001

Korean Barbecue

SERVES 4 - 6

If you don't want to serve all the different cuts of meat in the recipe, simply buy three pounds of one type.

2 cups mirin (Japanese rice wine)
1/4 cup canned pineapple juice
1 tsp. Asian sesame oil
1 lb. thinly sliced boneless beef short-rib meat,
   cut into approximately 2'' squares
1 lb. thinly sliced flanken-style beef short ribs,
   cut between bones into pieces
1 lb. thinly sliced beef rib eye or sirloin,
   cut into approximately 2'' squares
1/2 cup soy sauce
4 cloves garlic, peeled and thickly sliced
4 tbsp. fermented soybean paste
3 tbsp. hot red-pepper paste
2 jalapeños, stemmed and thinly sliced
1 head leaf lettuce, leaves separated
4 cups steamed rice

1. Mix together mirin, pineapple juice, and sesame oil in a large, wide bowl. Add meat, turning to coat well with marinade. Cover, and refrigerate for at least 8 hours and up to 3 days, turning meat in marinade periodically. Add soy sauce and 4-6 slices of the garlic to marinade 2-3 hours before grilling meat.

2. Heat a charcoal or gas grill. Mix together soybean paste and red-pepper paste in a small bowl, and set aside. Transfer meat to a platter, discarding marinade. Grill meat over medium-hot heat until lightly charred in places and cooked through, 2-5 minutes per side, depending on thickness. Transfer grilled meat to a serving platter. Grill remaining garlic slices and jalapeños until lightly browned, about 1 minute per side. (If grill rack is too widely spaced to hold garlic and jalapeños, cook them in a small oiled pan set on one side of the grill.)

3. At the table, hold 1 lettuce leaf in one hand, put a spoonful of rice onto lettuce, spread some of the soybean and red-pepper paste mixture on rice, lay 1 or 2 pieces of meat on top, and add a piece each of garlic and jalapeño, if you like. To eat, wrap lettuce leaf around filling.