Today’s special comes out of one of the 30-or-so cookbooks lining the back wall of my office. I had been looking for a reason to try cooking beef short ribs, and the way this recipe integrated Korean flavors got me really excited.
I started the process on Saturday night by making the marinade from scratch. I ran a big container of onions, green apples, ginger, and garlic through the food processor with what seemed like way too much soy sauce. Then I balanced out the saltiness of the soy sauce with what also seemed like way too much brown sugar. Then I poured the marinade over the short rib slabs and let it sit for about 36 hours.
After enjoying my day off on Sunday, I was back at it early yesterday morning, and I had the beef on the smoker just before 8 am. Somewhere around 13 hours later, it was just about ready to go.
While the short ribs were cooking, I made a Kogi sauce out of a Korean chili paste, soy sauce, sesame oil, rice vinegar, and sugar. I also picked some thinly sliced cucumbers in rice vinegar and made our usual crema sauce.
When the beef ribs finally got up over 200 degrees, I pulled them off and let them cool for about an hour before shredding the meat. After letting it finish cooling over night, I came into work this morning ready to assemble all of today’s ingredients.They. Are. Awesome.
They. Are. Awesome.
The soy sauce and apple flavors in the marinade really come through in the meat, and the Kogi sauce adds a nice kick of spice. The acid from the pickled cucumbers and lime wedges round out the perfect flavor combination making this taco a definite winner.
