Bao Buns
Vivian Chan-Tam
86 ratings with an average rating of 4 out of 5 stars
86
2 hours 25 minutes
Han Oak Galbijjim
- Total Time
- 2 hours
- Rating
- Notes
- Read community notes
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Ingredients
Yield:6 servings
- 3pounds mixed root vegetables, such as carrots, parsnips, onions and sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1-inch pieces
- 5tablespoons neutral oil, like canola or vegetable oil
- Kosher salt
- Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- 4pounds bone-in short ribs, cut by a butcher into 2-inch pieces
- 2medium-size Asian pears, peeled, cored and diced
- 1large red onion, peeled and diced
- 12cloves garlic, peeled and roughly chopped
- 2tablespoons roughly chopped ginger
- 3cups chicken stock
- 112-ounce can Coca-Cola
- ¼cup honey
- ½cup soy sauce
- ¼cup rice-wine vinegar
- 2tablespoons gochugaru (Korean chile flakes), or to taste
- 4cups roughly chopped kale, optional
- 1pound Korean rice cakes, optional
- 1tablespoon toasted sesame oil
- 3scallions, trimmed and both white and green parts thinly sliced
- 3radishes, trimmed and thinly sliced
- Sesame seeds, to taste
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (6 servings)
1984 calories; 128 grams fat; 50 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 61 grams monounsaturated fat; 8 grams polyunsaturated fat; 148 grams carbohydrates; 14 grams dietary fiber; 36 grams sugars; 60 grams protein; 2226 milligrams sodium
Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
Powered byPreparation
- Step 1
Heat oven to 425. Toss the root vegetables in a large bowl with 2 tablespoons of oil, and season with an aggressive amount of salt and pepper. Turn the vegetables onto a sheet pan. Put the short ribs in the same bowl, and toss with 1 tablespoon of oil and a lot of salt and pepper, then put the ribs on another sheet pan, bone sides down. Place both pans in the oven and roast, turning the pans once or twice, until the vegetables are soft and caramelized and the ribs are well browned, approximately 40 minutes. Set the pans aside until ready to use.
- Step 2
While the vegetables and ribs cook, place a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat, and swirl into it the remaining 2 tablespoons of oil. When it shimmers, add the pears, onion, garlic and ginger and cook, stirring occasionally, until they are softened and browning, approximately 15 minutes.
- Step 3
Turn heat to high, add the stock, Coca-Cola, honey, soy sauce, rice-wine vinegar and gochugaru, and bring the mixture to a lively simmer. Cook until pears are tender, approximately 20 minutes. Transfer to a blender or food processor, and purée the sauce until smooth, then return it to the pot.
- Step 4
Add the cooked short ribs and whatever fat has rendered from them to the pot, cover it and cook over medium-low heat for approximately 90 minutes, or until very tender.
- Step 5
When the meat can be flaked from the bone, add the roasted vegetables to the pot, along with the rice cakes. Cook until the vegetables are hot and the rice cakes (if using) are sticky, then add the greens, and stir them around until they have just started to turn tender.
- Step 6
Drizzle with the sesame oil, top with the scallions, radishes and sesame seeds to taste. Serve immediately.
Private Notes
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Cooking Notes
Jason Goldstein
I plan to eat this WITH a Coke. Seriously folks. It’s 12oz of Coke against 4lbs of fatty meet, a whole ton of salt (including half a cup of soy sauce!), and you’re worried about the Coke? Sure. Substitute away. Or, better yet, skip the whole recipe and make some dry Salmon and steamed broccoli. Enjoy life a little. Or not.
C Kim
To all those who are aghast and offended at the idea of cooking with Coke...a very well respected professional chef incorporated this as an ingredient to rave reviews-get over yourselves. And all the questions about substitutions...try the recipe as written first.
Bryan
A good coca-cola substitute would be Pepsi. Uncanny resemblance, really
Jung
I’m korean and grew up eating this. Pretty much the same ingredients, but I’m certain that it doesn’t have rice vinegar, but rather rice cooking wine (aji mirin). Also my mom added peeled whole chestnuts, regular russet potatoes, shiitake mushrooms, pine nuts, korean green hot peppers & dried jujube red dates.
Liz
Oh, for heaven’s sake, what’s wrong with using a can of Coke in this fabulous-sounding recipe. Just do it!
Alix Wall
It's not often that everyone is stunned into silence at how good a dish is. It happened with this. But...it needed at least an hour more of cooking time. I used sweet potatoes and turnips as my veggies and used the kale and the Korean rice cakes. I wouldn't change a thing, but I was mystified that the recipe didn't have you skim the fat out. Since we were eating it the same day, I used a fat separator to get rid of it before cooking the ribs for an additional hour.
Jung
I’m thinking the chef fries the rice cakes (ovalettes) in a bit of oil to partially cook them and to give it texture & a bit of a toasted rice flavor as they are made of rice. Hope that helps! That’s my guess being korean and growing up eating these rice cakes & cooking with them in different applications.
Marie
Honestly, people, the whole point of the article and recipe is that the secret ingredient is Coca-Cola. Which is mostly water with some sugar and caramel coloring, plus of course it's natural flavors that make it Coke! Yes, it's not healthy to drink tons of it on a daily basis, but putting some in a recipe to give it that certain "something" is not going to kill you! And if you don't want to, I, for one, don't need to know about it.
Wendy
I'm sorry, but I don't like Coca Cola or kale. And I can't find rice cakes or gochugaru or Asian pears. And I'm not particularly fond of parsnips or sweet potatoes. And nobody has ever heard of rice-wine vinegar. And short ribs? Really? So I just ate a Big Mac instead.
Christopher
Prime example of a likely delicious dish photoed the most unapetizing way possible. I know it’s trendy now to style food against electric colors & busy patterns and skewing settings to look like bad printing from 70s magazines. But here, hot pink & posterized contrast make this stew look greasy, burnt—repellent. Stop freakin about Coke tho. Or try this substitute. In measuring cup, add 2 tbl molasiss or sorghum, 1 tsp lemon juice, dash of nutmeg, pinch instant coffee, top with water until 12oz
GreenInLA
I made this last night with a bottle of Mexican Coke and red pepper flakes I had on hand for the heat. Both gave the dish incredible flavor! I only live 15 minutes away from our Koreatown here in Los Angeles so I went on a scavenger hunt to get the rice cakes and I glad I'm glad I did. They added a chewy element to the dish that was really unexpected and unique. Next time I'll go the whole 90 minutes on cooking the ribs, use less honey, and only add the cakes 2 minutes out from the end. Delish!
Martin R.
Interesting factoid about Asian pears. They have enzymes that tenderize the meat. European pears do not have this enzyme. Korean cuisine uses these pears as meat tenderizers, not so much for any flavor they might impart to the dish. So, I am wondering for folks who needed to increase the cooking time until the short ribs were tender, 60 minutes ought to be sufficient if using real Asian pears.
Allie
Just make the recipe as it is or don't make it at all. *eyeroll* What's the problem with coca cola?? It sounds wonderful. The best part about Korean food is all the flavors! Sweet, sour, salty, spicy. I can't wait to make this :) Loved the article too. Thank you, Sam!
CD
Can I use boneless short ribs?
Aeryn
Korean rice cakes (tteok) are not like the dry rice cakes we eat as a snack. They are sold raw and need to be cooked, are sliced about 1/4” thick and the size of a quarter. When I asked for them at a Korean store the word they used sounded like “duck”. Hope this helps.
Stephen Martin
Josh misses the point: is it good? Worth making again? Every single Korean cook makes it differently. And it’s almost impossible to find authentic ethnic food in American restaurants. Chinese is a prime example. Ours bears little resemblance to food in China, but can be absolutely delicious, which is the point! I ordered sweet sour pork in Shanghai and was told “that not Chinese. That American.”
Katelynjo
I wish I could attach my photos- I've made this at least 5 times since I first read it in the paper and it is always beautiful and eaten quickly even though I rarely have more than 4 people around to consume it. I have used regular coke, Mexican coke and all natural cola - always turns out tasty. I have switched up the fall veggies between Asian pumpkin and sweet potatoes or conventional western. The only change that I didn't like was switching the pears to European ones.
Es
Absurdly delicious. I used bison short ribs, which don't ever get to the shredding stage but do get tender. Cooked for a long time and the sauce became very thick (by the way, use an immersion blender to puree the sauce) so I added more chicken stock when I reheated(it had sat overnight) before adding cooked Thai white rice noodles and kale. Flavor was fantastic; sliced rainbow radish and scallions made it a gorgeous mess. Be it the coke, the pear, whatever, that sauce was to die for.
Jess
I made recipe as shown except I only used half the honey. Next time I will skip the honey all together. I might also use an extra tablespoon of freshly grated ginger. Served with rice as we didn't have rice cakes. Delicious!
Ann
Have made this several times, as written and with various modifications (based on what was available at the grocery store). Have done stew meat instead of short ribs. Pineapple instead of Asian pear. All manner of root veg. Root beer instead of Coke. Super forgiving and flexible recipe. Delicious!
zicra
I made this with a bunch of modifications due to ingredient availability and time constraints and it still came out bomb! (I did not skip the Coke.) Can't wait to make it according to the actual recipe. I was fortunate enough to eat at Han Oak pre-pandemic and it was one of the best meals I've had in a long time. Really grateful to be able to recreate some of the flavors at home!
worldcurious
Made this tonight during a FL frost and it was a huge hit with us and our guests, very satisfying with a breadth and depth of flavor unmatched by most stews. Next time I will halve the honey. I didn’t have gochugaru, so simply added some red pepper flakes, didn’t have the Korean rice cakes (small city) so served over brown rice, and omitted the kale because I forgot to buy it. This is a total keeper of a recipe!
Annabelle S.
I absolutely love this stew! I did defat the sauce and cut the honey to 2TB, but otherwise followed the recipe as written. I think the Coca-Cola really makes it, adding some acidity as well as sweetness. I left out the kale, but added the optional rice cakes and it was a perfect one-bowl dinner.
Annabelle S.
I have kind of a funny question before I start making this. What's the difference between "an aggressive amount of salt and pepper" and "a lot of salt and pepper"? Is "a lot" less than "an aggressive amount"? The same?
david
way too hot an oven for the root veg. try 375
Chuck Slack
Love short ribs and plan on making this. I cook with coke making pulled pork in my Instant Pot. You can find coke made with cane sugar in some Latin markets. It is really good with rum and lime also.
Sue
This was great— a good afternoon cooking project. Super intense flavor. Short ribs where I live were like $10/lb— I used them but I think you could sub cheaper stew meat and get the same effect. Really good!!!
Frosty
Super fun to plop a pile of onions and pears into a pot and brown them! I’m not that acquainted with cooking Korean at home. Definitely not the last time I’ll try out a dish with these flavors - so fun! for our household. For those just trying out Korean dishes, check out that Gilgeori Toast recipe.
Annabelle S.
I love that Gilgeori Toast! Lots of adaptations :)
Diana
So I don't usually buy coke, so rather than coke, I used 1 tablespoon of brown sugar and added in a bit more chicken stock. For soy sauce, I only added around 1/4 cup. Still tasted absolutely delicious!
terry94705
Oddly, I have a block of tamarind on hand, but no Coca Cola. Don’t want to go back to the store so I’m going to test my theory that tamarind is a big flavor component of coke. (Plus sugar, of course.) Will report back!
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