I was in LA recently visiting a friend. We had been living it up for a few days and the budgets were skimpy… so we hit up the Trader Joe’s, got a bag of the bulgogi beef, and threw it on the grill… five minutes later we were in food paradise.
So does anybody know if Whole Foods or Sprouts have a similar 5 minute grill version?
I cannot wait until Trader Joe’s touches down in Austin. I lived in Cali and Boston and quite frankly, I miss TJ’s more than any other food store. Even Shaw’s.
Yeah, if anywhere’s going to have it, it would be Central Market.
Haven’t seen it in any of the Dallas area locations; I think the Korean communities in Texas aren’t as big as in California, so premarinated bulgogi probably wouldn’t sell well.
They do have pre-marinated chicken breasts and several kinds of pre-marinated fajita meat though. (get the pre-packaged HEB fajita meat; it’s actually better than the butcher case version)
You could try the giant headquarters Whole Foods on Lamar, but I doubt they’d have it either.
I like you, Hippy Hollow, but I’m not comfortable making a bunch of calls from Anaheim to Austin. But I went to Google and typed this into the search box:
yellow pages austin tx korean grocery stores
You might be able to find the right number to call from the results.
Have you tried Super H Mart in Carrollton? I’ve had absolutely no problems finding pre-marinated meat in the Houston or Dallas areas. You just have to know where to look. There’s also almost certainly some mom & pop Korean markets in the Dallas area that will do the trick. I will grant it is true that there are fewer Asian supermarkets in Texas than California.
For what it’s worth, my parents absolutely love the wider selection and lower prices at the Super H mart in Houston versus the small market they had to use in Memphis.
I’ve heard both Han Yang and New Oriental are ok in Austin, but I can’t confirm anything about either.
In general, trusting in the ethnic markets is a good idea. No offense to Central Market or Whole Foods, but I would be loath to trust any Kimchi or Korean style marinated meat I found there. In any city of reasonable size, it should be possible to find at least a mom & pop Korean market.
I was actually talking specifically about Central Market in particular; Super-H mart would certainly have it, I’m sure!
It depends on where you are; the part of Houston I grew up in (SW, Alief area) has quite a few asian markets of all kinds. I grew up a half-mile or so from the huge Hong Kong City Mall on Bellaire, as a matter of fact. (it was an open field until well after I was out of college though)
Not to put a kibosh on your hopes, but I doubt one will find prepared and premarinated short rib slices in an oriental market. You might find the ribs and all of the ingredients for the marinade, and then, only if it is a korean-centric oriental market, but vacuum packed and marinated? Probably not, too many self respecting Korean cooks out there with their own partiuclar marinades and tastes, and granny’s twist on it, to trust a store to do it right. I’m afraid just finding the right cut of meat might be a problem unless you have an accomadating butcher.
Bulgogi Marinade and some finely sliced Sirloin or ribeye, 10 minutes marinating time, and voila. Seems like bugolgi marinade is essentially just Korean teriyaki anyways, though… Soy sauce, sugar, garlic, sesame oil, spicy pepper.
I bought a bottle of bulgogi marinade at our local Asian market, but found I liked my own home-made stuff better, and it’s super easy. Not as easy as pre-marinated, I suppose, but…
My wife suggests you call Korea House restaurant on Anderson and ask them where they’d recommend, since it’s a fairly well known Korean restaurant. They may also sell it as well.