Kalbi 101

Pictured here is my neighbor Buddy and his lovely girlfriend Hyeo Min, aka Minnie. Pam was also present, but I convinced her that the camera could not do her beauty justice, so she begrudgingly opted not to be in the photo. Look at how cute these two are... kinda makes me wanna puke. I'll tell you what doesn't make me want to puke: Kalbi! On an aside, I'd like to think that my old Shakespeare professor, Dr. Kerwin would be really proud of this introduction.

Kalbi is one of our favorite activities. This is group dining at its best, and we like to partake in this feast at least once a week. We'll either have kalbi or sam gib sau, the former being beef and the latter being pork. What happens is we order food for at least two people, usually more,and the servers (who are extremely gracious and helpful unlike the help I grew accustomed to) bring an array of sides and fire up the grill.

As you may have noticed, there is a grill in the middle of the table. We start the feast by throwing the meat, garlic, onions, and mushrooms on the grill and letting it all fry. In the meantime, we munch on the soup provided, usually in two varieties. In this case we have gimchi jiggae (kimchi soup), which is a spicy red soup with cabbage and tofu, and egg soup (Korean name unknown), which is basically a big scrambled egg with some various flavoring. Both are delicious... and nutritious. We also munch on the sprouts and vegetables on the table.

I have to take a moment to describe the sprouts, which are incredibly tasty. The sprouts are very fresh and crunchy, and they pop delightfully when I bite into them. They are a little salty and are seasoned with crushed chilis and some sort of red sauce/paste. There is also a green grasslike veggie with a really fresh cucumbery taste that I could eat all day. I have no idea what this is and I don't really care, as long as it's within reach of my chopsticks.

When the meat is cooked, we pick pieces off the grill with our chopsticks and put them in a lettuce leaf, or sesame leaf if preferred. Pam hates sesame leaves, while I don't mind them. I prefer lettuce, but it's good either way. After securing the meat and possibly a garlic clove or piece of onion in the lettuce, I put a big dollup of chili paste on, just to make everything stick. The chili paste isn't overly spicy, but rather a little sweet. Honestly, I'm not sure how to describe it except that it is enormously savory. With the paste in place (to make everything stick together), I'll then add sprouts or grasslike stuff--sometimes both, and a little bit of rice. Then I wrap it up and scarf it down. I also forgot to mention the individual saucers of oil and seasoning to dip our meat into. I'll use these ever other leaf or so often.

Also on the table is kimchi (of course) and macaroni salad, which goes largely ignored. I have no idea how macaroni salad made it onto this menu, alas there's always one thing (at least) out of place in Korea. I'm not a huge fan of regular kimchi, but I like to grill it. Sometimes I'll thow a pile of kimchi on the grill and use it to supplement my gourmet lettuce wraps.

I can stuff one after another of these things into my face, and I always feel good afterwards. Tasty and nutritious, kalbi might be the ideal food. I already can sense one thing I'll miss when I come home, and it's this delectable style of eating.