Food
Kogi Taco Part I: BBQ Kalbi and Veggies
Lesson time 15:11 min
Roy is giving away the secrets to his famous Kogi taco—just not all at once. In Part I, Roy teaches you how to marinate and grill kalbi beef and vegetables.
Students give MasterClass an average rating of 4.7 out of 5 stars
Topics include: L.A.-Style Kalbi • Marinate Your Vegetables • Grill Your Short Ribs and Vegetables
Preview
ROY CHOI: Warning. This class contains some bad language. [MUSIC PLAYING] I'm going to teach you how to make a version of the Kogi taco, made with kalbi beef and gochugaru-infused slaw. A lot of people describe it as a Korean-Mexican mashup. But to me, it's just Los Angeles food. This is a multi-step process. Rome wasn't built in a day. But I promise, it's worth it. In the next chapter, you'll learn how to make our famous slaw and toppings. But don't jump ahead just yet. In this chapter, I'm going to teach you how to barbecue kalbi beef and use the same technique on vegetables for a vegan option. [MUSIC PLAYING] This is the chapter you've all been waiting for. This is barbecue. It's a little different than maybe what you have seen in another barbecue class, maybe with Aaron Franklin. Shout-out, Aaron. He's a good friend. That's southern barbecue. That's low and slow, big cuts of meat. I'm going to show you a Korean barbecue, both a short rib and a vegetable-style, that is really, really focused on the marinade. Thin cuts, really quick grill. This is where we start to have some fun. Not that we haven't had fun already. But barbecue is always fun, right? [MUSIC PLAYING] So let's start with the short rib and get that marinated. So we have what's called here flanking-cut short rib. And what it is is a cross-cut against the bone. You get the three bones. You get the thin cut here. Kind of a little bit of history of how this became what's called LA-style kalbi. If you get kalbi, or Korean short rib, in Korea, it's not cut this way. It's usually cut with the one bone and the flap of meat that extends out. But when the Koreans first started coming to Los Angeles, this was the only cut that was available. And it was kind of a butcher's cut, but it was also used a lot within the Jewish community here in Los Angeles. So this was readily available. It was affordable. And there was always a lot of it around. So this is what eventually became what's called LA kalbi. We're going to start with our marinade, Kalbi marinade, which was one of our mother sauces. And if you want to learn how to make this, just go back to that lesson. So the first thing you want to do is get this in the marinade. The enzymes are going to break down the meat here, and the protein, and make it more tender, and fill it with flavor. You can do this in the marinade-- literally, you could cook it right now. It's going to be delicious. You could also do it for about two hours, but you could also do it overnight. One thing to remember about marinades is you do want the marinade to have as much time as possible to be able to marinate whatever it is that you have. But you don't want to over-marinate. There is an expiration on marinades, which it will be too long, which it will start to break down whatever it is that you're marinating. And you'll end up with a bad result. So that expiration date is usually about two days,...
About the Instructor
Roy Choi wasn’t trying to start a revolution when he took tacos, kimchi, and more to the Los Angeles streets with the Kogi BBQ taco truck. He just wanted to make what he loved and knew by heart: immigrant-influenced all-American food. Now he’s teaching you his recipes, sauces, and techniques. Learn how to cook with your instincts using equipment you already have—and start adding your own twist to tried-and-true favorites.
Featured MasterClass Instructor
Roy Choi
Food truck “godfather” Roy Choi teaches you his signature recipes and mother sauces—then empowers you to make them your own.
Explore the Class