Bulgogi (Marinated Grilled Beef)

Bulgogi literally means "fire meat." The Encyclopedia of Korean Culture defines it as beef sliced thin and wide, marinated and grilled on a wire grill, and notes that it used to be called neobiani — a term used in the palace and in aristocratic Seoul households, meaning meat sliced broad. The encyclopedia's marinade is soy sauce, honey or sugar, chopped green onion, garlic, sesame salt and black pepper, and the meat is cooked over well-lit charcoal.

Korean writers often trace the dish back to maekjeok, a skewered, pre-seasoned roast associated with the ancient kingdom of Goguryeo, with the theory that once wire grills replaced skewers the meat became bulgogi. Food historians Lee Gyu-jin and Cho Mi-sook, in a 2021 history of Korean grilled meat summarized by the Kookje Sinmun, treat that lineage more carefully: the maekjeok link was first proposed by the scholar Choe Nam-seon, maekjeok may have been a whole roast rather than sliced meat, and while the accepted outline runs from maekjeok through the Goryeo-era seolyamyeok to neobiani and modern bulgogi, every step remains debated. The Korean Food Promotion Institute adds that neobiani was cut thicker than modern bulgogi and was less sweet, since sugar was scarce.

The word itself is modern. Lee and Cho report its earliest known appearance in Hyeon Jin-geon's short story Tarakja, published in the magazine Gaebyeok in 1922, where a face is compared to a lump of bulgogi on glowing charcoal. In their account, eating grilled beef out became common under Japanese rule as meat consumption rose in Seoul and Pyongyang, with Pyongyang especially famous for it; several words — neobiani, gungogi and others — were used loosely for this Pyongyang-style grilled beef.

After the Korean War a second style became popular: thin beef simmered with vegetables and broth on a domed brass pan, often called Seoul-style bulgogi. Lee and Cho suggest it suited a time of scarce, lower-grade meat that could be stretched with vegetables. Today both the grilled and broth styles go by the same name. See grilling gui and Korean BBQ culture.

• Protein and minerals: beef is a rich source of complete protein, zinc, iron and vitamin B12.
• Eaten with vegetables: bulgogi is traditionally wrapped in lettuce or perilla leaves and eaten with namul and kimchi, which balances a meat-centered meal. See the balanced Korean meal.
• Fruit in the marinade: grated pear adds sweetness and helps tenderize the meat, allowing a little less added sugar.

• Grilled (seokswae) bulgogi: thin marinated beef cooked over charcoal on a wire grill — closest to neobiani.
• Seoul-style (broth) bulgogi: beef, onion, mushrooms and glass noodles simmered in a shallow pool of broth on a domed brass pan; the juices are spooned over rice.
• Eonyang and Gwangyang bulgogi (Gyeongsang, Jeolla): regional styles of thinly cut or minced seasoned beef grilled over charcoal, known by their town names.
• Ttukbaegi bulgogi: bulgogi and broth cooked and served bubbling in an earthenware pot, a common lunch dish.
• Pork and other variations: spicy pork bulgogi (jeyuk-bokkeum) with gochujang, and chicken or duck versions, borrow the name.