 | |
| Alternative names | Grilled short rib patties |
|---|---|
| Type | Galbi,patty |
| Place of origin | Korea |
| Associatedcuisine | Korean cuisine,Korean royal court cuisine |
| Korean name | |
| Hangul | 떡갈비 |
| RR | tteokgalbi |
| MR | ttŏkkalbi |
| IPA | [t͈ʌk̚.k͈al.bi] |
Tteok-galbi (Korean: 떡갈비) orgrilled short rib patties is aKorean beef dish made with mincedbeefshort ribs.[1] Originally aroyal dish,tteok-galbi is now a local specialty ofGyeonggi Province in the central-west region andSouth Jeolla Province in the south-west region of theKorean Peninsula.
Tteok-galbi (떡갈비), literally translated to "cake ribs" astteok (떡) means "rice (or other grain) cake" andgalbi (갈비) means "rib". The name comes from the food's similarity in appearance totteok.[2] The process of kneading and shaping the meat is similar to the process of making arice cake.[3] The final dish is also soft and tender, much like a rice cake in texture.
The wordtteok-galbi has a relatively short history that starts in the late 1960s to early 1970s.[4] Before that, the dish was calledhyo-galbi (효갈비), meaning "filial piety ribs", orno-galbi (노갈비), meaning "elder ribs", as it was often a dish for older people whose teeth were too weak to bite off meat from the rib bones. The term may have been coined at the historic restaurantSinsikdang.[4] Both the termshyo-galbi andno-galbi were used during theJoseon era (1392–1897).[4]
Tteok-galbi was a beef dish inKorean royal court cuisine.[2] One story says the dish was created because it was not befitting for kings to gnaw ongalbi-gui (grilled short ribs).[2] Recipes fromGyeonggi Province that char-grill the beef are said to have been imparted from court ladies in the late Joseon era, while the recipes fromSouth Jeolla Province were reportedly passed on byscholarly-officials in exile.[2] TheDamyangtteok-galbi, passed on bySong Hŭigyŏng (1376–1446) is the most famous among them.[2]
In modern South Korea,tteok-galbi is also made with ingredients mixed with or other than beef, such aspork andduck.Tteok-galbi made with half beef and half pork was first created and sold by Choe Jeo-ja in the 1950s, inSongjeong,Gwangju, South Korea.[2] Now there is a "tteok-galbi street" specializing in the half beef and half pork dish in the Songjeong area.[2]Ori-tteok-galbi (오리떡갈비), made with duck meat, is a popular dish inGwangju.[5]
Meat is separated from beef short ribs, finely minced, and marinated with various seasonings and aromatics, such assalt, groundblack pepper,ginger juice,soy sauce, mincedgarlic, mincedonion,cheongju (rice wine),sugar, andsesame oil.[6] The marinade is boiled, sifted, and cooled beforehand.[6] The marinated meat is shaped and attached back to the rib bones using a small amount of wheat flour as glue, andchar-grilled over oak.[2][6] Once on thegridiron, the meat patty is brushed with the sauce while it is grilled.[6]
Songjeongtteok-galbi is made by shaping a mixture of beef and pork into rectangles and grilling. Pork is added to make it fattier since the beef is too dry by itself.[2] The recipe of Choe Jeo-ja calls for hand-kneading the meat for a long time in a seasoning made from nearly 20 ingredients includingdasima (kelp),pear andhoney.[2] The sauce is intermittently brushed on the meat while it is slowly grilled over charcoal.
Chopsticks are used to cuttteok-galbi.[7]
