LA Galbi (Cross-Cut Soy-Marinated Ribs)

LA galbi lives or dies before it ever touches the grill. The butcher's saw gives you that beautiful cross-cut rib, meat and little ovals of bone in every strip, but it also leaves bone dust. Rinse it away. Soak briefly. Drain well. My teacher would have watched that part longer than the grilling, because carelessness at the sink follows you all the way to the table.

This is celebration food, but not stiff food. It belongs at a family table where someone is turning ribs at the stove, someone is washing lettuce, and someone has already stolen the first browned end with chopsticks. The marinade should taste of beef, soy, pear, garlic, and sesame, not sugar with a bone attached. Korean pear softens the meat and gives a cleaner sweetness, so we measure it and let it do its work.

Do not marinate these thin ribs overnight unless the cut is thick and stubborn. Six hours is enough for most LA galbi, and twelve is the upper edge. After that, soy takes over and the meat loses itself. 손맛 is real. I still measure it, so it can be handed on.