This is an interesting way to get bulgogi in a skillet.  It is adapted from Kassie Yeung’s book Bad B*tch In The Kitchen and will serve about 4 and takes about 30 minutes, although I made the meat mixture a few hours in advance to further meld the flavors and stored it in the refrigerator.

The one trick in this is hitting the sweet spot of getting just the right amount of char on the meat.  I went a bit too far on this first try and the skillet I used was a bear to clean.  The next time I will be a bit more cautious.  Carol also thought I could have used more than 2 Tbs. of oil.

4 cloves garlic

¼ of a medium yellow onion, roughly cut

¼ of a large Asian pear (nashi), roughly chopped

2 green onions, cut into 2 inch pieces

2 Tbs. light soy sauce

1 Tbs. mirin

1 Tbs. gochujang (Korean chili paste)

1 Tbs. brown sugar

½ tsp. kosher salt

½ tsp. freshly ground black pepper

1 lb. lean ground beef (I used 90/10)

2 Tbs. neutral oil (I used avocado oil)

1 tsp. sesame seeds

1 tsp. toasted sesame oil

Chop the garlic in a food processor.  Add the onion, Asian pear, and green onions, and pulse to finely chop.  Add the soy sauce, mirin, gochujang, brown sugar, kosher salt, and black pepper.  Pulse to mix well.  Pour the contents of the food processor into a large bowl and mix with the ground beef.  The mixture will be quite wet.

In a large skillet heat the neutral oil over high heat until shimmering.  Add the meat mixture and spread it in a thinnish layer over the whole pan.  Allow to fry untouched for a few minutes until you smell the meat browning.  Then flip and cook the other side.  The sweet spot is to get a nice char on the meat but not to burn it.  Continue flipping the meat until cooked through.  The whole process will take 5 to 8 minutes.  Remove from heat and sprinkle with the sesame seeds and sesame oil.

We served this with lettuce leaves, steamed rice, and kimchi.