Korean Beef Rib Soup (갈비탕, GalBiTang) | Aeri's Kitchen

Steps

1. 1First, prepare 2 lb of beef ribs. A normal grocery store in America will probably not have the right kind of cut. I went to a local butcher shop and they had these large beef ribs, which are too long for GalBiTang. So, I asked them to cut them in half like this. Thankfully they did. So try to find this at your local butcher shop.
2. 2Before you even start to cook, soak the meat in cold water for at least 4 hours to leach out some of the blood. I let mine soak overnight. This process helps reduce any bad smells or flavors from the meat and bones.
3. 38 hours later, you can see all this blood that came out of the meat. Drain it and wash the meat gently in cold water to make it even cleaner.
4. 4Cut the peeled Korean radish in half. We also need 8 cloves of garlic, 1 thumbnail-sized piece of peeled ginger, and 4 green onions.
5. 5I didn’t remove the roots from the green onions, but I washed them well. Also add in 1 medium-sized onion with skin on. I already washed it real good too. Cut the onion in half.
6. 6Add all the beef ribs, the extra pieces of beef, and all the vegetable ingredients that we just prepared. Then pour about 10 cups of water into the pot.
7. 7Once the water stars to boil, cook the meat for about 1½ hours to 2 hours on medium low.
8. 8Now, take everything out of the broth. Here, we will set aside the cooked meat and the radish, but we will throw away the rest of the vegetables. Cut the cooked radish into your desired size and you can shred the extra meat that you added.
9. 9The meat, radish and the broth will go back to the pot.
10. 10Season the broth with about 1 Tbsp of salt. This is a basic seasoning, and individuals can add more salt to their tastes after it has been served. The soup is done and ready to be served at any time now.
11. 11Now, let’s prepare the noodles and the toppings. About 30 minutes before you want to serve the meal, prepare a handful of cellophane noodles, or about 4 ounces, which are called dangmyeon in Korean. These are the noodles you use to make the Korean dish Japchae. Soak the noodles in boiling hot water.
12. 12For the last topping, let’s make some flat eggs. Break 2 eggs and mix them with 2 pinches of salt. I always have this simple rule for cooking my eggs for the perfect saltiness: 1 pinch of salt per 1 egg. It is easy to remember, right? Try it for your cooking too. Whisk the eggs well.
13. 13In a preheated 8 inch nonstick pan, add a tiny bit of oil and pour ⅓ of the egg mixture in the pan. Spread it out evenly and cook for about 10 seconds on medium. Flip the thin flat egg with your chopsticks like this and cook the other side for another 10 seconds. Do the same process 2 more times, then you will get 3 of these things. You could also use a bigger pan, just try to make the eggs thin and flat.
14. 14Let it cool a little bit, and then roll up all of the flat eggs together like this, and then, cut them into thin strips. Now we have a pretty looking egg topping.
15. 15Chop some green onions thinly. Put some salt, black pepper, and red hot pepper powder in these kinds of little serving dishes for later. By now, the noodles will be soft like this. Drain out the water.
16. 16Now, everything is prepared, so let’s assemble the meal. This is how I serve my GalBiTang. In a big soup bowl, put some cooked short grain rice. Or, if you want, you can serve your rice separately too.
17. 17In one side of the soup bowl, put 2-3 pieces of beef ribs and some shredded beef pieces if you have any. Put some noodles next to the meat. Then, put some radish pieces on top of the noodles. Pour some hot broth into the bowl.
18. 18Garnish the soup with some egg topping and chopped green onions. I like to sprinkle some black pepper and red pepper powder over it too. You need black pepper for this soup to be authentic, but red hot pepper powder is an optional trendy option these days.