Pork Chops a Bulgogi

So the snow drought is finally broken, with eight inches of the heavy wet stuff. Luckily my beast snow blower handled it with little or no issues. But working with heavy machinery in the cold does tend to wear you out and make you hungry. (It does help that my driveway is 100′ long, not the 1500′ it used to be.)

Applying a little bit of that DevOps thing and planning for the failure of energy to cook, we performed a failover process so that Madam Badwolf could take over this function. (We’ll call it CHA – Culinary High Availability. And yes, I am making fun of the AWS penchant for naming services in three-letter acronyms.)

What makes this recipe work is thick-cut chops, and a long marinate. I call out overnight (see the DevOps Planning thing), but if one is in developer mode (I need instant gratification), one can marinate for as little as 20 minutes. Using thicker chops, or even bone-in chops helps protect against drying out.

The cook is relatively quick and straightforward, with a 5-6 minute sear and a ~10-minute roast in a hot oven. DO COOK TO TEMP, NOT TO TIME!

And yes, I have once again mugged an unsuspecting culinary tradition and abused it for pleasure.

From Wikipedia:

Bulgogi from Korean bul-gogi [pul.ɡo.ɡi]), literally “fire meat”, is a gui (구이; Korean-style grilled or roasted dish) made of thin, marinated slices of meat, most commonly beef, grilled on a barbecue or on a stove-top griddle. It is also often stir-fried in a pan in home cooking. Sirloin, rib eye or brisket are frequently used cuts of beef for the dish. The dish originated from northern areas of the Korean Peninsula, but is a very popular dish in South Korea, where it can be found anywhere from upscale restaurants to local supermarkets as pan-ready kits.

Pork belly, or samgyeopsal in Korean, is a popular cut for pork bulgogi. Much like the ribeye, it is tender and fatty which can give the meat a better taste. Before cooking, the meat is marinated to enhance its flavor and tenderness with a mixture of soy sauce, sugar, sesame oil, garlic, ground black pepper, and other ingredients such as scallions, ginger, onions or mushrooms, especially white button mushrooms or matsutake.

Hmm, this leaves some exciting variations for my next version of this.

Pork Chops a Bulgogi

Tasty, tender, and juicy, these chops have the "chops" to deliver spicy, sweet and, savory flavor!

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Prep Time 10 minutes mins

Cook Time 20 minutes mins

Marinating Time 8 hours hrs

Total Time 8 hours hrs 30 minutes mins

Course Dinner, Main Course

Cuisine American, Asian, Korean

Servings 4

Calories 157 kcal

Equipment

• 1 Cast Iron Skillet One can use a grill pan here

Ingredients

  

1x2x3x

• 4 ea Pork Chops Thick Cut 1" or so
• 3 tbsp Gochujang
• 4 tsp Minced Garlic
• 2 tsp Grated Ginger
• 1/4 Cup Soy Sauce Low Sodium
• 2 tbsp Honey I used hot honey here
• 2 tbsp Sesame Oil Toasted adds a great taste
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• Salt and Pepper To taste

Instructions

 

The Sauce

• In a large resealable freezer bag add the soy sauce, honey, garlic, and ginger in a medium-sized bowl
• Taste, season, and balance taste,
• Reserve 1/2 the sauce for cooking
• Add the chops and 1/2 the sauce to a large resealable freezer bag, massage to coat well, and stash in the fridge overnight. (One can shorten this to an hour, but longer is better)

The Cook

• Preheat oven to 400°F.
• Heat the olive oil in a large skillet for medium-high heat. Add pork chops, without marinade, and cook for about 2 to 3 minutes for the first side or until it gets a nice brownish color
• Add the reserved sauce and flip the chops, Cook another 2 to 3 min on this side. Flip once or twice to coat the chops in the sauce
• Place the skillet in the oven to finish cooking them. Roast for about 5 to 10 minutes, or until pork chops are completely cooked through.
• Serve with Oi Kimchi, (Cucumber Kimchi) and Rice

Notes

Take the time to Marinate:

Marinate your chops for at least 20 minutes and up to overnight. The longer you let the pork marinate, the more the flavor will be layered.

Use thick-cut chops:

Ideally, you want your pork chops to be about an inch thick. However, using thinner chops might not even need to go into the oven to finish cooking. For example, I have been known to cut pork loin into chops.

Cook to temp, not time:

To ensure the chops are fully cooked, you can use an instant-read digital meat thermometer to ensure the pork reaches at least 145°F (63°C). Doing this also helps to keep you from overcooking the pork as well.

Nutrition

Calories: 157kcalCarbohydrates: 15gProtein: 2gFat: 11gSaturated Fat: 2gPolyunsaturated Fat: 3gMonounsaturated Fat: 5gCholesterol: 1mgSodium: 815mgPotassium: 104mgFiber: 0.3gSugar: 10gVitamin A: 24IUVitamin C: 4mgCalcium: 15mgIron: 1mg

Keyword Chop, Korean, Pork

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