Galbi-seasoned Sliders
From my early American experience with Korean cuisine, galbi was always equated with solely beef short ribs. However, in recent years I've been noticing "galbi-seasoned" just about everything, from chicken wings to corn chips. I personally have not explored that trend in my own cooking until I chose to make these galbi-seasoned sliders, and if this recipe taught me anything, it's that I should be jumping on that "galbi-flavored" bandwagon.
While the galbi-seasoned beef patties were the centerpiece of this endeavor, I needed to choose my toppers carefully and wisely. I landed on three items, the first being a kimchi mayonnaise. I was first introduced to this when trying out Kenji's Korean fried chicken sandwich and was blown away with how amazing just kimchi mixed with mayo tasted. I've been using this mayo since then in various meals with great success, so it seemed like a no brainer for these mini-burgers.
For a little touch of freshness and crunch, I went with cabbage. To be honest, cabbage is not a favorite of mine, but in the right scenario I admit it's the most fitting choice, and this seemed to be one of those times. I find that cabbage is much more acceptable to my palate when it's very finely shredded, so that's what I did here. The final topper I prepped, but isn't pictured, were finely sliced scallions.
To infuse the burgers with that hallmark savory and slightly sweet galbi flavor, I looked to my trusty galbi marinade recipe and deconstructed it into something that hit the right flavor notes, while being appropriate to mix into ground beef. Primarily this meant dialing back the liquids significantly, so where my marinade uses things like mirin and rice wine, those were cut to keep the beef burger-like. I also decided to drop the Asian pear due to moisture concerns, plus I've been told that pear is primarily used as meat tenderizer and ground beef doesn't require that. The key flavoring agents were still all present though—soy sauce, sugar, garlic, scallions, and black pepper.
Now I've been at recipe development for nearly twenty years, and, yes, I know these are not "sliders" technically speaking. But I've become more lax with the terminology because language and food both evolve, and at this point, the common lexicon is that any small burger will be called a "slider." So I formed my miniature patties, each weighing in around two ounces, into discs slighter larger than the buns to account for the fact that they will shrink up a bit once cooked.
And they did do that, but I also found that the shrinking wasn't that extreme when I was using a blazing hot fire. With a fresh batch of coals, these little fellows seared quickly, and remained a bit rosy inside, very quickly, and that short time also seemed to help them from scrunching up too dramatically.
As the patties were done, I moved them to the buns, which I had prepped before grilling with a spread of kimchi mayo on each side of the bun and a small mound of cabbage on the bottom half of each roll. After setting the patties in place, I topped them with a sprinkling of sesame seeds and scallions, which finished the galbi equation.
And indeed, these had a pretty great galbi character. The soy sauce gave them a rich salty and savory flavor, with the bite of garlic coming through well, along with the oniony scallions and a touch of sweetness. The kimchi mayo and cabbage were also both key in solidifying the experience because they brought in aspects of a larger Korean barbecue meal into this delicious small bite. One aspect I really liked about this recipe was that I was able to make the exact same thing for my vegetarian constituency by merely subbing out the ground beef for Impossible meat (I used vegan kimchi, so the mayo was already shellfish free). That meant no one in attendance this particular day couldn't partake in these sliders and learn how great a galbi seasoning can work outside of its ubiquitous short rib home.
