Celebrating the Olympics … this time with bulgogi!

As many of you already know, major events such as the Olympics provide us with an opportunity to locate and try out new recipes. Our Olympic tradition dates back to 2006 with the Torino games when we made baked ziti. Other examples include borscht in honor of the 2014 Sochi games and a pork and black bean stew to mark the 2016 Rio games.
With Pyeongchang games, we have been eager to try out some Korean recipes. We found a great Korean food blog site: Kimchimari that has provided a great start to our efforts. The first recipe we tried was bulgogi. I hope that you will consider trying this recipe as well.
First, let's take a look at South Korea and the 2018 Olympics:

1. PyeongChang is located in the Gangwon province of South Korea

2. The venues for the 2018 games are actually located across the area with most events held in the mountain region while others such as hockey and the skating events are being held in Gangneung which is on the country's east coast.

 3. Although PyeongChang is at about the same latitude as southern Utah, its geography makes it the coldest city on earth relative to its latitude. Those of us who have been following the Olympics have noted some of the delays in the skiing events because of the cold and wind.
4. The mascot of the 2018 Olympic Games is Soohorang, a white tiger. The white tiger is regarded as Korea's guardian animal. "Sooho" is the Korean word for protection, and "rang" comprises part of the Korean word for tiger.

Now, let's make some bulgogi!
Ingredients:
The marinade:
3 Tbs soy sauce
2 Tbs sugar
1 Tbs honey
1 Tbs sesame oil
2 Tbs minced garlic
1 tsp black pepper
2 tsp toasted sesame seeds
1 Tbs chopped green onion
2 Tbs pear puree - the pear serves as a tenderizer. We picked out an Asian pear at the grocery store. Chopped kiwi or pineapple also will serve as a tenderizer.

The meat
1 lb thinly sliced beef - we used top sirloin

Here's the chopped green onion and the pear puree

Here are all of the marinade ingredients stirred together

Now to cut up the meat. This picture gives you an idea as to how thinly we sliced ours:

Now, let's stir it all together and let it set for a few hours. Are you starting to imaging the amazing smells?

Bulgogi can be prepared with or without vegetables such as onions, peppers, or carrots. We elected to include some sliced onion in ours.

We used our wok to stir fry up our bulgogi. We added the onion first to get it nice and soft. 

When adding the meat, make sure that the pan is well heated so that the meat sizzles when it hits the surface. 

 Serve the bulgogi over rice and enjoy!

 What have been your favorite memories of the 2018 Winter Olympics?