Uta’s “Chicken”

Grilling season is upon us, or is it?  Here in the Pacific Northwest, we always have a string of miserable rainy days in June, which tries to throw a wrench in our summer plans.  Weather be damned though – we grill on.  In honor of Father’s Day last Sunday (or so we thought as we celebrated it a week early), I decided to try my hand at making one of our favorite outdoor meals.

Technically, they’re Korean short ribs.  However, years and years ago when my dad made them for our longtime friends (shout-out to Gen), the youngest of Gen’s family, Uta, loved them so much, he asked Doug for “more of that chicken”.  That stuck with us, and we will forever call our Korean short ribs, ‘Uta’s Chicken’.

Anyway, ‘Uta’s chicken’ is incredible, and what makes it so good is the marinade, so here we go.  If you haven’t been marinating on the regular, you’ve been doing something wrong.  Get your priorities in order, people.

Side note: pears are an underrated fruit.  A good pear can be better than a good apple, and I prefer pears that are crisp in texture and subtle in flavor.  Almost like jicama, but less watery and more flavorful.  Within the pear universe, the obvious choice is always Asian pears.  Anyway, we take those pears and throw them into the Cuisinart with garlic and ginger, and then blitz the hell out of them.

Then we’re gonna add our liquids, and stir in scallions.  It’s that easy and that simple.

Next we’re gonna take our ribs…

And we literally just dump them in a huge Ziploc with the marinade.  This bad boy is gonna chill overnight in the fridge.  And then that diverse range of flavors is going to mingle like crazy.

This is what makes marinades one of the best cooking strategies, period.  You literally put it in the fridge and forget.  And while you’re relaxing, those flavors are working for you.

24 hours later, Doug helps me fire up the grill.  It’s a charcoal egg, so you can’t just turn it on the way you would a gas grill.  You essentially have to make a mini campfire in the belly of the grill and wait for it to get to an appropriate grilling temperature.  And while you’re grilling, you need to maintain that temperature by controlling the amount of air you let in.  It’s all very complex and scientific and I pretend to know what I’m doing, but I’m just trying not to burn the ribs.  Cut me some slack here, people.  Or should I say throw me a bone? Ba dum tss!

Normally grilling outside is an opportunity to show off summer fashion (or in my case, my blindingly white thighs), but not when it’s 55° and cloudy.  Hence the hoodie and sweatpants.

With a charcoal grill (that is to say, natural heat), some parts of the fire are hotter than others.  As such, when grilling, there are both “hot sides” and “cold sides”.  It is imperative that a grill master learns these when grilling.  Meat grilling on the “hot side” will obviously require less time on the grill, and one must be attentive to that.  Otherwise…

Oops. Fire in the hole! 

Sometimes marinade will drip off the ribs and fall onto the coals, which can really kick things up a notch.  But after some theatrical and dramatic grilling by yours truly, we’re ready to feast.

I encourage everyone with a grill to make these sometime.  The ribs are an explosion of flavor, and shockingly tender if you purchase the right cut of meat (flanken-style short ribs).  When served with a side of refreshingly crunchy kimchi, they’re hard to beat on a summer evening.  And if not for Uta’s flippant yet impactful comment, this recipe might have been forgotten years ago.

Speaking of the recipe, check it out below.  Ignore the scribbling, that’s what you get when you manage to hold on to a cookbook for 18 years.