Bulgogi means fire meat, and it is Korea's best loved way with beef: thin slices marinated in soy sauce, sugar, garlic and sesame oil, often with grated pear to tenderize them, then cooked fast over high heat until sweet, savory and lightly charred. Its ancestors go back a very long way, to a skewered meat called maekjeok in the Goguryeo kingdom, and in the Joseon era a version called neobiani was reserved largely for the wealthy. Today it is everywhere, from grand barbecue restaurants to supermarket kits, which is a fair measure of how far fire meat has come.

The magic is in the slicing and the pear. Partly freezing the beef lets you cut it almost transparently thin, and the pear's enzymes soften it while adding a gentle fruity sweetness. Cooking takes three minutes a batch. At the table, everyone wraps their own: a lettuce leaf, a spoon of rice, a few slices of beef, a smear of ssamjang, folded and eaten in one bite, which is the only correct number.

The marinated beef

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 pounds (680 g) boneless rib eye or top sirloin
• 1/2 Asian pear
• 1/2 small yellow onion
• 5 tablespoons soy sauce
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 2 tablespoons mirin
• 2 tablespoons garlic
• 1 teaspoon fresh ginger
• 2 tablespoons toasted sesame oil
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 3 scallions
• 1 tablespoon toasted sesame seeds
• 1 tablespoon neutral oil

For the table

Ingredients

• 1 head of soft lettuce
• 4 cups hot cooked short grain rice
• 1/4 cup (60 g) ssamjang
• 1 green chili or a few garlic cloves
• 1 cup kimchi

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