Bulgogi, Any Way You Slice It

From its origins in ancient Korea to kitchens across the diaspora today, this staple of Korean barbecue means something different to everyone.

In a decades-old spiral-bound police community cookbook, Songza Park’s recipe for “BUL KOGI (Barbecued Beef)” calls for two pounds of sirloin steak that you have to slice “very thin on the bias” before scoring each piece with an X. In 1965, when Ms. Park immigrated to the United States from South Korea, she had no access to Korean grocery stores, where today entire cases are dedicated to presliced meat often labeled “bulgogi beef.” “Back then, you couldn’t just buy bulgogi beef like you can now,” she said. “You got a chunk of meat and had the butcher slice it for you.” Or, if there wasn’t a butcher, you did it yourself. For Ms. Park, a forensic chemist for the New Jersey State Police who has since retired, bulgogi was a weeknight workhorse, even without the convenience of presliced meat. An adaptable staple of Korean cuisine, bulgogi is most often made from thin slices of marinated and grilled beef (though sometimes pork and less commonly chicken). If you grew up in a Korean household, then the dish wasn’t just occasional barbecue; it was dinner on the regular, a quick pan-fry on the stovetop.