Pleased with the results of the chicken bibimbap in Trial #3, we decided to try our luck with pork. We also added some new ingredient twists and experimented with the gochujang recipe.

The new ingredients we used in this round were:

• Edamame
• Bitter melon
• Yellow bean sprouts
• Sunflower seeds
• Ground pork

Adjustments we made from Trial #3:

• Larger portions
• Asian sesame oil instead of the untoasted organic sesame oil
• Jujube instead of California dates in the gochujang

The edamame was boiled for one minute and marinated with sesame oil immediately. It brought a soft bite and its green color added brightness to the dish.

Bitter melon, which can be found in many Chinese dishes, was pickled with rice vinegar, salt, and sugar. Pickling reduced some of the bitterness while retaining the semi-sweet and sour flavor.

Yellow bean sprouts, an essential ingredient in traditional bibimbap, were blanched in a frying pan for 1 minute and drizzled with sesame oil right away. Heated bean sprouts absorbed the nutty flavor of sesame oil very well and provided a smooth bite to complement the grainy texture of the brown rice.

Pork is a very popular ingredient in Korean cuisine, but we hadn’t seen ground pork used with bibimbap. We took a quarter pound of ground pork and marinated it with chopped onion and garlic, sesame oil, honey, maple syrup, salt, black pepper, red pepper flakes, and grated ginger. The grated ginger infused spicy and sweet flavors to the meat and gave it a pleasant aroma.

For the rice, we decided to soak brown rice in water overnight. This led to a moist and sticky brown rice when we steamed it the next day, making it easier for us to mix with the other ingredients.

We used the same setup as last time in the assembly line style. After the ingredients were assembled in our plastic bowls, we sprinkled a combination of sunflower seeds, toasted sesame seeds, and walnuts to give the dish some nutty crunch. The sunflower seeds worked out very well and may be an excellent replacement for the more expensive pine nuts.

With beef, bison, chicken and pork now under our belts, we feel very good about the diversity of meats that can be used for tasty bibimbap. We’ll still continue to develop the product, but we’re eager to get back to drafting up our business plan.

Notes and plans for the next Trial:

• Find a bigger serving container for larger portions and easier mixing.
• Pickle the yellow bean sprouts and then add sesame oil.
• Practice serving individual dishes faster.
• Serve more people.

For our second trial, we decided to see how well our home-prepared bibimbap would survive a 25-minute delivery.

We used the following ingredients:

• barley
• kale
• shiitake mushrooms
• ground bison
• lentil sprouts
• parsnip
• spaghetti squash
• carrots
• toasted sesame seeds
• toasted pine nuts
• fried eggs

The ground bison was marinated for 48 hours in advance with sesame oil, red pepper flakes, salt, black pepper, and maple syrup.

Instead of spinach, we tried to see if kale could work as a replacement. We sautéed shredded kale for five minutes and then let it simmer in chicken broth for another seven minutes.

Also, in place of zucchini or yellow squash, we bought spaghetti squash. We drizzled extra virgin olive oil over the halved squash first, then poured 1 tablespoon of sesame oil in the middle of the squash, and seasoned each half with 1 pinch of sea salt. We oven-baked the squash in 375 degrees for forty minutes.

For lentil sprouts, we simply blanched them in boiling water for 20 seconds to rid them of their raw taste. We also slow-cooked shiitake mushrooms in six tablespoons of chicken broth on the stove.

Of all the ingredients, the fried egg demanded the most attention. The trick to having perfect fried eggs with runny yolk is to put the fire on low and let the egg sit on a thin layer of butter for five minutes. We succeeded with three very nice eggs.

In place of white rice this time, opted for barley, a healthier alternative. We soaked the barley in sesame oil for thirty minutes and cooked it on the stove with chicken broth, thyme, and bay leaves for thirty minutes.

For the all-important gochujang, we used a higher quality chili powder this time, which gave us spicier results. We followed the gochujang recipe from Trial #1 but added ¼ cup more of chili powder to the mix. We also let the mixture sit in the fridge for three days before putting it through the food processor.

We carefully assembled the completed ingredients in three round plastic containers. We stored the gochujang in a separate plastic container. We then stacked them on top of each other in a paper bag for transport. By the time we arrived at our destination, the containers had lost some heat, so we microwaved each for 30 seconds, which helped a great deal without altering any of the ingredients.

When we sat down to eat, we had a bit of trouble mixing because the gochujang had become too sticky. The taste of chicken broth was a bit overwhelming in some bites, especially in the kale and barley. The spaghetti squash also did not mix too well because they clumped together too easily. On the positive side, the variety of ingredients provided interesting flavors in each bite. The ratio of barley to toppings was spot on, and the bison turned out very successful in both taste and texture.

Overall, Trial #2 went very well, and it was especially encouraging to see the bibimbap hold up in transit. There is, of course, much room for improvement. Some things we hope to correct for the next trial:

1. avoid using chicken broth as it overwhelmed the flavor of other ingredients
2. avoid using ingredients that get too pulpy and bunch up too easily (i.e. spaghetti squash)
3. cut carrots and parsnip into shorter, thinner pieces
4. add some more water to make the gochujang less viscous (it was too sticky and hard to mix)
5. barley was a bit too dry; more water next time
6. add more sesame oil after preparing and assembling the ingredients

Next up: a round of more conventional bibimbap ingredients on a super-tight budget.

Big thanks to Reggie for handling this trial round entirely on his own.

We’ve been soaking up Barbara Kingsolver’s Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life and taking to heart her message of eating foods produced locally (also: 10 reasons to eat locally). So for our first trial run at making our own bibimbap, we decided to take a trip to the Union Square Greenmarket Farmer’s Market on a wet Saturday morning to gather some fresh ingredients.

We knew ahead of time that we wouldn’t find too much variety so early in the season, so we set our sights on finding three to four veggies. We decided on the following:

• sunflower sprouts
• Crunch Bean Mix (mung, lentil, and adzuki)
• baby bok choy leaves
• parsnip
• black radish

We tried our best to find meat at the market, but the only beef available was frozen, which would require a day to thaw. We went to Whole Foods and got ourselves a pound of pasture-fed ground beef.

The Gochujang

One of the central elements of a good bibimbap is the red chili paste, the gochujang. While tasty gochujang is easy to pick up at a Korean grocery store, we thought it would be healthier and a fun challenge to create one from scratch. After much tinkering, we came up with a result that tasted close to store-bought gochujang but with ingredients familiar to us. Here’s what we used:

• red chili pepper flakes (bought at a Korean grocery store)
• garlic
• onions
• organic wheat flour
• organic maple syrup
• sea salt
• organic pitted dates
• rice flour
• water

It’s best to have a very good food processor and a lot of patience. We adjusted the ingredient amounts several times before getting the potency of taste and heat that we felt was acceptable.

Tasty Meat

As we remarked in previous posts about bibimbap at other restaurants, meat is one area that often seems overlooked. We gave our ground beef some extra attention and used the following ingredients for seasoning:

• sea salt
• ground pepper
• sesame oil
• chopped onions
• chopped garlic
• organic maple syrup

After mixing and marinating, we tossed everything in a pan in high heat. The result was a subtle yet sweet-and-savory meat component.

Testing 1, 2, 3…

On our first endeavor, we took the following steps:

• put down a layer of brown rice
• added steamed baby bok choy leaves
• added a handful of the Crunchy Bean Mix
• added a handful of the sunflower sprouts
• added shaved parsnip
• added seasoned ground beef
• added fried organic egg
• drizzled a bit of sesame oil
• added a pinch of roasted sesame seeds
• added a few pinenuts
• added a spoonful of gochujang

The resulting mix was a bit bland. The gochujang definitely needed more salt and the overall bowl was overwhelmed by the raw taste of the Crunchy Bean Mix and the sunflower sprouts. Also, we cooked the egg for a bit too long, so it wasn’t as yolky. But overall, each bite tasted fresh and held some promise.

For round two, we made the following adjustments:

• added more salt and maple syrup to the gochujang
• took out the sunflower sprouts
• drizzled sesame oil directly on the rice
• used a runnier egg

The use of sesame oil directly on the rice made a big difference. It was easier to mix (the yolk also helped) and tasted better. Taking out the sunflower sprouts lessened the raw taste, but the Crunchy Bean Mix still masked other flavors from time to time. The gochujang tasted better, but it still lacked the kick.

For our final round of the day, we took a timeout and re-examined our ingredients. We felt that the Crunchy Bean Mix needed to be blanched so the raw taste would go away. Our worry was that the crunchy element would be greatly reduced as a result. We then realized that the parsnip, if cut into strips, could make up for the crunch, but not before some flavor was infused. Inspired by this David Chang video demonstration in which he pickles daikon and carrots, we gave it a try with the parsnip: rice wine vinegar, sugar, salt, and water. After a few hours, the result was magic - a crunchy, sweet-and-sour addition to our bibimbap. Here is how the full bowl rounded out:

• brown rice drizzled with sesame oil
• added blanched Crunchy Bean Mix and baby bok choy leaves
• added seasoned ground beef
• added pickled parsnip
• added fried egg
• added large spoonful of gochujang
• sprinkled roasted sesame seeds and pinenuts

This was by far our most successful bowl of the day. The pickled parsnip was a welcome flavor and the raw taste of the Crunchy Bean Mix was gone. The stronger gochujang finally brought us heat and sticky consistency (we added more rice flour). The egg in the photo looks a bit dirty because we cooked it on the same pan as the meat, but it tasted perfect. We were very pleased with our final result, and especially happy that we were able to incorporate some local, super-fresh in-season ingredients.

One area we’ll need to work on more as we continue is the rice. The brown rice we selected for this trial run came out too dry and flavorless. Hopefully we’ll get to test more rice in the coming weeks.

Feel free to try mixing yourself a bowl at home!