Hubert’s Cold Korean Noodles With Bulgogi – 비빔면

Ingredients

• Bulgogi (불고기):
• 1 lb of thinly sliced beef sirloin – partially freeze the meat to make it easier to cut very thin
• 5 tbsp soy sauce
• 2 tbsp of rice syrup (preferred) or sugar
• ¼ cup chopped green onions or chives
• 2 tbsp minced garlic.
• 2 tbsp sesame seeds (grilled, preferably)
• ½ tbsp black pepper
• Garnishes:
• Cucumber
• Korean pear-apple (preferred) or pear
• Egg
• Sauce:
• 3 tbsp soy sauce
• 2 tbsp of gochujang (Korean pepper paste)
• 2 tbsp of sugar
• 1 Tbsp. sesame oil
• Korean buckwheat (somyeon) noodles

Instructions

1. Prep marinade, mix, add meat, leave for 30mn minimum, and grill - because the meat is very thin, grilling is a short process. It’s better to brown both sides, and move on. This should be quick. One doesn’t need one of the Korean grilling device, I’ve done it on a flat iron plan. Don’t mind if the syrup and sauce will burn+stick a bit.
2. Don’t put all the meat and sauce at once. We don’t want things to be “soupy”, or you won’t have the BBQ taste.
3. Once done, put some aluminum foil on top, and we’ll use the meat later.
4. Cut cumcumber and korean pear into “matchsticks” about 1mm thick and 10cm long. Wrap to prevent oxydation, we’ll use later.
5. Make a soft-boiled egg: Boil water. Once water is boiling, put the egg in for 7.5mn EXACTLY. When the time has passes, leave the egg for 1-2 mn in cold water. Make sure there’s enough water to keep things cool. Ice cold is good. Peel, slice and use it later for plating
6. Cook the noodles following the directions on the package. Duration will vary from seconds to minutes depending on the noodle’s thickness and type. Mine had to be boiled and stirred only for 40 seconds (no more, or they’ll become saggy). Also, wait until the water is boiling before putting the noddles in. Stir during the whole cooking time.
7. I highly recommend boiling in some kind of straining recipient because it makes it easier to move the noodles out.
8. When the cooking is done, move the noodles into a large recipient filled with cold water (I add ice cubes). This will prevent them from being saggy or overcooking. You rinse them to remove all the gluten to avoid stickiness. Then you can make a bun by wrapping the noodles around your fingers, like you would do with small electric cables. You could leave them messy, but I just can’t do that. Lol.
9. Once you have one or two buns of noodles in the bowl, add:
10. The sauce
11. The cucumber sticks
12. The pear sticks
13. The egg
14. The meat
15. And voila! Enjoy and share!
16. Note: Koreans will typically cut noodles with scissors and mix everything (bibim means “mix”) before eating with chopsticks and spoons.