After pilates class, I walk by a Whole Foods to get home and always stop in, even if I have absolutely no reason to do so! I just wander in and see if anything catches my eye or is on sale. Last week, I walked by the meat section and saw that short ribs were on sale for $5.99 a pound! That never happens, especially not at Whole Foods. And so, I grabbed a few slabs and walked back home happily envisioning the delicious warm galbitang that can warm up any cold Boston body.
So today, we’re going to make galbitang using the Instant Pot! Remember my frustrated attempt at sseoullungtang with the Instant Pot?! Well, the issue does not come up here because we simply are making stock which is perfect in a pressure cooker. No more boiling and simmering for 2+ hours to get tender beef with luscious stock. Now, we have the opposite problem of making sure the beef isn’t TOO fall off the bone so that we can have it prettily in tack on the bone. But, if it falls off, I think the eater will not mind.
What is galbitang?
Galbitang is a simple clear and hearty broth soup made from simmering beef short rib for the stock until the meat becomes tender to enjoy in the soup. The soup is often boiled and then simmered for about 2+ hours for a deep beef broth flavor. (But this will be shortened with the instant pot)
- Galbi = short rib
- Tang = soup
How do I enjoy it?
Galbitang is served as the main entree for a meal. A large bowl usually consists of a few slabs of meat on the bone and some slices of radish (that has been cooked with the stock). Optionally, many also enjoy it with a serving of Korean glass noodles (dangmyun) in the bowl which we often skip because DrJuh is not a huge fan of the noodles. In most restaurants, you will find it in the bowl! And then, of course it is served with a bowl of white rice! I like to enjoy the soup with the rice separate but my dad usually dumps the rice into the bowl of hot galbitang and enjoys it together. There’s no right or wrong way. BUT you must have good kimchi to go with this soup. A galbitang restaurant will not last long if they don’t have good kimchi to go with it!
The soup is also very lightly seasoned with soup soy sauce when cooking and then the rest of the seasoning is up to the person eating it! Salt, ground black pepper and chopped scallions are usually served tableside so everyone can season it as they wish! I personally usually go with a small dosage of salt, a heavier dash of ground pepper and lots of scallions! But to each their own! My dad will probably do many heavy dashes of ground pepper. See how you like it as you season! You’ll often see people taking a few slurps in the beginning of the meal and fiddling with the seasonings until they find their preference.
Ingredients
Main
- 1.75 lbs (800 g) beef short rib (galbi)
- 5 whole garlic cloves, peeled
- 1 medium onion, cut in half
- 2 scallions, cut in half
- ⅓ a small Korean radish (or daikon), 300 g
- ½ tsp whole black peppercorn
- 8 cups water
Seasoning
- 2 Tbsp soup soy sauce (국간장 guk ganjang)
- Salt and pepper to taste
- 2-3 scallions chopped for topping
Optional Addition
- 3 ounces dangmyeon (Korean glass noodles), soaked in warm water for 30 minutes
Instructions
1. Soak the ribs in cold water for at least 2 hours. Change the water 2-3 times.
*Traditionally, usually the meat is soaked for at least half a day or over night. Tip: Often, I’ll soak it overnight before I go to bed and stick the meat in the fridge and change the water once in the morning while I prep the other ingredients.
2. Bring a large pot of water to boil. Gently drop the ribs in and boil for about 8 minutes. This will help get rid of some of the meaty odor when making the broth.
3. Drain the ribs and wash them under running cold water. Make sure to clean the side of the bones for any residue. Remove any large pieces of fat.
*You can do this in the instant pot on saute or another pot. If you used the instant pot, make sure to wash it before step 4.
4. Put the parboiled cleaned ribs into the clean Instant Pot. Add in the other main ingredients – garlic, onion, scallions, Korean radish, whole black peppercorn and 8 cups of water.
5. Close and set the Instant Pot to Soup function or on Manual to High Pressure for 30 minutes.
6. Once it is done, allow for at least 10 minutes of natural release until you release the pressure.
7. Open the lid, and discard of all the ingredients except for the Korean radish and the ribs. Transfer the radish on to a cutting board and cut into bite size pieces. Skim the top of the stock and remove the fat with a spoon. Add the radish back into the pot.
8. Add in 2 Tbsp of soup soy sauce into the pot.
9. When you serve, make sure the stock is hot! If it’s cooled down, make sure to bring it back to a boil. In a serving bowl, place in the sliced radishes, a few pieces of the rib on bone and fill the bowl with hot soup. Top with scallions and serve with extra ground pepper and salt on the table for seasoning as you wish. Enjoy with a bowl of rice and kimchi!
10. ** Optional: if you are going to add the dangmyun, make sure you’ve softened it for at least 30 minutes in water. You can cook it in a separate pot of boiling water for about 5 minutes or if you serve with very hot stock, you can add the softened noodles to the bottom of the serving bowl and before the radish and the broth will cook it as well.
Instant Pot Galbitang (Korean Beef Short Rib Soup)
Ingredients
Main
- 1.75 lbs (800 g) beef short rib galbi
- 5 whole garlic cloves peeled
- 1 medium onion cut in half
- 2 scallions cut in half
- ⅓ a small Korean radish or daikon (about 300 g)
- ½ tsp whole black peppercorn
- 8 cups water
Seasoning
- 2 Tbsp soup soy sauce (guk ganjang) 국간장
- Salt and Pepper to taste
- 2-3 scallions chopped for topping
Optional Addition
- 3 ounces Korean glass noodles (dangmyeon) soaked in warm water for 30 minutes
Instructions
- Soak the ribs in cold water for at least 2 hours. Change the water 2-3 times. *Traditionally, usually the meat is soaked for at least half a day or over night. Tip: Often, I’ll soak it overnight before I go to bed and stick the meat in the fridge and change the water once in the morning while I prep the other ingredients.
- Initial Parboil: Bring a large pot of water to boil. Gently drop the ribs in and boil for about 8 minutes. This will help get rid of some of the meaty odor when making the broth.
- Drain the ribs and wash them under running cold water. Make sure to clean the side of the bones for any residue. Remove any large pieces of fat. *You can do this in the instant pot on saute or another pot. If you used the instant pot, make sure to wash it before step 4.
- Put the parboiled cleaned ribs into the clean Instant Pot. Add in the other main ingredients - garlic, onion, scallions, Korean radish, whole black peppercorn and 8 cups of water.
- Close and set the Instant Pot to Soup function or on Manual to High Pressure for 30 minutes.
- Once it is done, allow for at least 10 minutes of natural release until you release the pressure.
- Open the lid, and discard of all the ingredients except for the Korean radish and the ribs. Transfer the radish on to a cutting board and cut into bite size pieces. Skim the top of the stock and remove the fat with a spoon. Add the cut radish back into the pot.
- Add in 2 Tbsp of soup soy sauce into the pot.
- When you serve, make sure the stock is hot! If it’s cooled down, make sure to bring it back to a boil. In a serving bowl, place in the sliced radishes, a few pieces of the rib on bone and fill the bowl with hot soup. Top with scallions and serve with extra ground pepper and salt on the table for seasoning as you wish. Enjoy with a bowl of rice and kimchi!
- ** Optional: if you are going to add the dangmyun, make sure you’ve softened it for at least 30 minutes in water. You can cook it in a separate pot of boiling water for about 5 minutes or if you serve with very hot broth, you can add the softened noodles to the bottom of the serving bowl - the hot broth will cook it as well.
Does it matter if the beef short rib is boneless?
Hi Erin! I haven’t tried making this boneless. Often in the broths, the bones help to deepen the flavor and so I’d recommend trying to use ribs with the bone on but I think you could still try it boneless. Let me know how it goes!