Spicy Korean Pork
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Ingredients
3 lbs of pork, sliced as thin as possible.
Please note: If you have access to a Korean or other Asian supermarket, they often sell meats for shabu-shabu, hot pot, or dishes that use very thinly sliced meats. Those are ideal for this application.
If you cannot find pre-sliced pork (I cannot easily where I am), buy a pork loin with fatty parts attached. Freeze it for 45 minutes, then slice it as thin as possible. This recipe really only works texture wise if you have each slice of pork only a few millimeters thick at most.
Marinade
1 asian pear
1/2 small onion
1” ginger, peeled
6 cloves of garlic, peeled
3 tbsp honey
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup spicy gochujang (this can be found in the international aisle, but better gochujang is sold in tubs at Asian markets)
2 tbsp sesame oil
Method
For best flavor, make the marinade the morning of when you will make the dish. To start, peel, core, and rough chop the asian pear and place it in a blender. Add all other marinade ingredients to the blender. The size of the pear, onion, garlic, and ginger is not important as long as they have been peeled well. Blend on medium for 15-20 seconds, until thoroughly combined. Place the marinade in a large bowl in the fridge for several hours - this allows the flavors to marry and mellow.
About an hour before you will begin cooking, add the pork slices to the marinade. Thoroughly mix to ensure every slice is well coated in the marinade. Set a wide, non-stick pan to medium-high heat. Cook the meat in batches, ensuring there is room around each piece of pork. During cooking, use paper towels held in tongs to mop up extra juices. The goal is to get the pan dry enough that the pork pieces can brown and char while cooking. The pork should be sliced thin enough that overcooking is not a big deal. Flip the pork over at least once during cooking, then reserve to a bowl. Continue cooking the pork in batches until it is all done.
Serve the pork with rice, kimchi, quick pickled cucumbers, and scallion salad. For the quick pickled cucumbers, I like to slice cucumbers then toss with seasoned rice wine vinegar and black pepper.
