- Is your sandwich selection getting a little stale?
Well, here's one that takes some great Korean flavors
and packs them into a sub roll.
You'll wanna put this in your regular meal rotation.
Check out this bulgogi hoagie.
(upbeat music)
Bulgogi is one of those sweet and savory beef dishes
that is a Korean staple.
Combine that with some sesame slaw and spicy kimchi
and you have a sandwich that breaks the boundaries
of the traditional hoagie.
Let's get to it.
We'll be using Certified Angus Beef top sirloin steaks
for the bulgogi.
They're tender and easily available at the grocery store,
and these sirloins have some nice marbling going on,
because you know, if it's not Certified, it's not the best.
Before we cut into these, we need to pop them
in the freezer for a little while to firm up.
While those chill let's prep our marinade ingredients.
Remove the root end of a green onion
before thinly slicing the more tender green tops.
These will be reserved for our slaw
because they have a milder flavor than the whites.
Next, split the heavier whites
of the onions before slicing them thin.
This will provide a good amount of flavor for our marinade
because I feel their flavor is a little more potent
than the greens.
Peel some garlic, and rather than chopping it,
we'll grate it on a box grater.
This makes a nice garlic puree,
which mixes into the sauce well.
Grating also releases the maximum amount of allicin,
which is the enzyme in garlic
that gives it its kick.
This way, you have a more potent garlic flavor
for the marinade.
We'll use the same technique to grate the ginger
after it's peeled.
Ginger can be very fibrous,
so this helps to extract the juices
and pulp and leave behind a lot of the fibers.
Grating really helps to release all the flavor
that make the marinade nice and potent.
Make sure to get it all.
The back of a pairing knife will help to scrape the inside
of the grater.
Normally you would use an Asian pear in this marinade,
but they were out at the grocery store,
so I'm gonna use a kiwi.
They're as sweet and have an enzyme that will tenderize,
so there're are a perfect substitution for the pear.
The kiwi will be grated as well,
but when you get down to the end of it, be careful.
You don't want your fingers getting too close.
Just let those little end pieces go.
It's a minimal waste to avoid grating your knuckles.
We're finally done grating everything
and it's time for some brown sugar and soy sauce,
which will give the dish sweetness and umami.
And just the right amount of soy sauce will flavor it
with soy, but not make it overly salty.
The final ingredient is sesame oil,
which is a characteristic flavor in this marinade.
When mixing the marinade ingredients together,
you'll see why grating really pays off.
It's nice and smooth and evenly distributed.
The steaks have firmed up a bit in the freezer
and now we'll slice them into thin ribbons.
Slicing so thin opens up a ton of surface area
for the marinade to penetrate,
as well as allowing the beef to cook super quickly.
Ribeye is a common cut for bulgogi,
but I like using this sirloin for a sandwich version.
Now we'll get into that marinade.
Get your hands dirty here
because you wanna make sure that beef is totally coated
in the marinade and soaks it all up.
This isn't a recipe where the beef is swimming in liquid.
You wanna make sure that the ribbons are evenly coated
in the marinade.
Cover and refrigerate while we work on the rest
of the elements to this sandwich.
We'll make a nice creamy
and crunchy sesame slaw to go on this sandwich.
Mayo makes a nice base to add all the rest
of the ingredients to.
Rice vinegar is acidic with a slight sweetness.
Brown sugar and sesame tie in nicely with the marinade.
Whisk the slaw dressing to incorporate the ingredients
and dissolve the brown sugar.
We're using two cups of a pre shredded coleslaw mix.
If you really wanna go out,
you could shred some Napa cabbage and red cabbage for a pop
of color, and mix well to incorporate all the flavors.
Remember those green onion slices from earlier.
Yeah, I almost forgot about 'em.
Add those in and give them a good toss,
and we're done with the slaw.
Before we start searing off this beef,
this would be a great time to hit that subscribe button.
Before adding oil to the pan, let it get ripping hot.
The pan will decrease
in temperature as soon
as the cold beef hits it, (pan hisses)
so you want it scorching hot to get a good initial sear.
Try to add half the beef
in one even layer so that the pan isn't overcrowded
and you get that great sear.
Cast iron pans are ideal
for this method because they retain the heat best,
which is important when searing all these thin strips
of beef.
After the first batch is done,
make sure to let the pan recover for a minute or so
before adding the second batch.
You want it just as hot
as it was in the beginning to get a good sear
on that second batch.
Getting a really good sear develops the flavor
of the beef and caramelizes the sugars in the marinade.
You can see that nice browning
as a result from a good hot pan.
Now that all the beef is cooked off,
we can get to assembling these sandwiches.
For that classic Korean flavor, as well as a little spice,
we'll add a nice layer of kimchi.
Normally I like to toast my buns,
but for this, it's nice to leave them as is.
This will allow the juices to soak
up into that bread.
Divide up all that beautifully seared beef
amongst all those buns.
It looks like a lot,
but you can definitely get it all to fit.
This sandwich really has it all.
You've got the spicy kimchi, the sweet and savory beef,
and now we're going on with that creamy sesame slaw.
It's a little creamy and a whole lot crunchy.
And when all these flavors and textures combined, oh man,
this is one of the best sandwiches you'll make.
If you really want to go the extra mile,
I like to wrap this in paper.
That'll help to steam the bun
and let those flavors really get to know each other.
This is a hearty sandwich,
so cut it in half
because you really wanna see that cross section.
Now let's dig in.
The spicy kimchi and the marinated beef,
the flavors in here are really gonna change
up the way you think about a hoagie.
See you next time here in the Test Kitchen.