A popular dish in Korean cuisine, Galbi Jjim, also called Korean Braised Short Ribs, is made with beef or pork short ribs. It is braised until it becomes tender, sweet, savory, and almost falling off the bone. Korean festival days such as Chuseok, New Year's Day (Seollal), family birthdays, or weddings are often used to prepare the dish.

Although Galbi Jjim was not a regular menu item at our restaurant, we prepared it for ourselves on Korean holidays and served a small portion to our customers.

Recipe Type: Korean Meat Dishes, Beef, Braise
Serves 4 - 6

Ingredients
5 pounds bone-in beef short ribs or back ribs

Braise Seasoning Liquid
½ cup soy sauce¼ cup sugar
¼ cup brown sugar
1 peeled and shredded Korean or Asian pear or semi sweet apple
3 cloves fresh garlic
2 tablespoons mirim or mirin
1 tablespoon sesame oil
1 teaspoon black pepper
2 ½ cups water

Optional Add Ins
2 medium red or yellow potatoes, peeled
Sweet Potato, cut in quarters
2 medium carrots peeled
½ pound Korean radish peeled
5 or 6 Shiitake mushrooms
1 or 2 green chili peppers sliced into thick rings

Garnish Options
green onions, slivered jujubes, sesame seeds, slivered red chili peppers, pine nuts

Directions
You should be able to find pre-cut short or back ribs for galbi jjim at a local meat counter, If not, then your meat counter should be able to cut the ribs for you. We have a standard rack of back ribs cut in thirds (roughly 2½ to 3 inches) across the bone. Separate the ribs if needed.
Clean and par-boil (This step is to remove excess blood and bone dust from the rib pieces):
Place the rib pieces in a large pot and cover with luke warm water. Let soak for about half an hour to 45 minutes. Drain and rinse the ribs in cold water.

Re-fill the pot with water until the ribs are just covered.
Place the pot on the stove and bring to a boil over high heat.
Reduce the heat to medium and boil for about 15 to 20 minutes.
Move the ribs to a large bowl or plate, then discard the boil water and clean the pot.

Add the soy sauce, sugar, pear, garlic, mirin, sesame oil, black pepper and water to a large mixing bowl and mix well. Put the ribs back in to the pot, add the braise liquid, and bring to a boil over medium heat.
Cover and cook for about 30 minutes. Reduce heat to low.
Add any, or all (except mushrooms), of the add-ins to the pot, cover, and simmer for another half hour.
Add mushrooms if used, and simmer, uncovered, for another 10 minutes.

Remove from pot, plate, add garnish, and serve galbi jjim with steamed rice and banchan.

Tip:
If there are any Carnicerias (Mexican style meat markets) near you, they will usually have cut ribs that work well for galbi jjim, as well as many other cuts that can easily be used in Korean recipes.
Stores like Safeway, Albertson's, Winco, Fred Meyer, most larger Korean Markets, and many larger Asian markets will also have the pre-cut ribs to use for galbi jjim.