Galbi

Galbi (Korean: 갈비), kalbi, galbi-gui (갈비구이), or grilled ribs is a type of gui (grilled dish) in Korean cuisine. "Galbi" is the Korean word for "rib", and the dish is usually made with beef short ribs. When pork spare ribs or another meat is used instead, the dish is named accordingly. Galbi is served raw, then cooked on tabletop grills usually by the diners themselves. The dish may be marinated in a sweet and savory sauce usually containing soy sauce, garlic, and sugar. Both non-marinated and marinated galbi are often featured in Korean barbecue. In Japan, this and many other dishes in Korean barbecue influenced yakiniku, a fusion cuisine that often makes use of galbi (glossed as karubi).
Traditionally, galbi is cut to expose one smooth bone along the short edge with the meat uniformly filleted in flat layers.
Galbi can be made using a flanken cut, which features cut bones peeking out along the long edge. This style is called "LA galbi". The method accommodates thinner rib-eye cuts preferred by American butchers.
The dish emerged some time in the late 20th century. It is attested to being popularly consumed in South Korea in 1990. There are a number of theories for its origin. The flanken cut is not traditional in Korea; the theories often focus on this aspect of the dish.
One theory, evaluated in an article in the Encyclopedia of Korean Culture as the most plausible, is that the dish was invented by Korean Americans in Los Angeles in the late 20th century. Meat cut in this fashion was considered affordable, as it was cut by machine. Per the theory, the dish was then imported back to South Korea.
Another theory is that the dish was invented in South Korea as part of a marketing campaign to sell American beef in the country. Per the theory, "LA" was used in the name because it was where the most Korean Americans lived in the United States and would have been more familiar.
Another theory is that the term "LA" is an abbreviation of "Lateral Axis", after the direction the ribs are cut.
Non-marinated galbi is called saeng-galbi (생갈비; "fresh ribs"); marinated galbi is referred to as yangnyeom-galbi (양념갈비; "seasoned ribs"). Pork galbi is usually served marinated, but non-marinated dwaeji-saeng-galbi (돼지생갈비; "fresh pork ribs"), made of Jeju Black pig, is popular in Jeju Island. As pork ribs are smaller, marinated dwaeji-galbi often consists of pork ribs mixed with shoulder meats.
Softer cuts of beef, such as from a cow or heifer, are preferred when grilling galbi. Properly grilled, the dish is a glossy, dark-reddish brown with a smoky, sweet taste. The meat should easily fall from the bones.
The marinade for so-galbi-gui (소갈비구이; "grilled beef ribs") typically includes soy sauce, sugar, minced garlic and scallions, ginger juice, ground black pepper, toasted and ground sesame, and sesame oil. The beef is usually scored on the surface prior to marinating, and the juice from Korean pears is brushed on before grilling.
For dwaeji-galbi-gui (돼지갈비구이; "grilled pork ribs"), the marinade can be either ganjang (soy sauce)-based or gochujang (chili paste)-based: the former being similar to beef galbi marinade and the latter being spicy. Cheongju (rice wine) is usually used in both types of marinade to remove any undesired porky smell.
If used, pork shoulder meat is carved into thicker slices of around 2.5 centimetres (1 inch) in width. Deeper cuts are made when scoring the surface to allow the marinade to penetrate the meat.
Galbi is grilled, typically by the diners themselves, on grills set in the tables. The meat cooks for a short time on medium high heat on a lightly greased gridiron over glowing charcoal. The remaining marinade is brushed on during grilling to produce a glazed finish.
Once cooked, the meat is typically cut into pieces over the grill with kitchen scissors, then wrapped inside lettuce leaves, kkaennip (perilla frutescens), or other leafy vegetables. These made-on-the-spot leaf wraps, called ssam, usually include a piece of grilled meat, ssamjang, raw or grilled garlic, and a sauce made of doenjang (soybean paste) and gochujang (chili paste). Like other Korean main dishes, galbi is often accompanied by bap (cooked rice) and side dishes known as banchan.