Hana Makes Gochujang Sloppy Joes (Korean-Style)

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I'm making my Gochujang Sloppy Joes

and it's one of the most popular recipes on ba.com

From last month.

Growing up, I ate a lot of kind of American foods

to try to fit in.

This is my homage to a childhood favorite,

but like slightly different,

but will still please your palate.

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We'll start with this one, your standard yellow onion.

This recipe wants you to make it.

It's not looking for obstacles.

Shout out to the green bell pepper.

It doesn't get much love, but it has earthiness.

Sometimes can be floral, not overly sweet.

Everything is going in the same bowl

because they're all entering the pan at the same time.

Now we have the garlic.

I called for micro planning

because I think I like the garlic

to just like melt away into the sauce.

We have all our aromatics and we're going to make our sauce.

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First, we're gonna start with the gochujang.

When you open gochujang, you'll often see this little layer

and it's there to protect your gochujang

because it will otherwise kind of oxidize.

If you keep this refrigerated, it will last.

I'm not gonna say forever more,

but it will be in the fridge happily for a long time.

Gochujang, it's a Korean fermented chili paste

and it's often fermented soybeans.

That's what gives it kind of the body.

Next is ketchup. Good old Heinz.

More than tomato flavor,

it brings that like nice tart sweetness.

One tablespoon of the soy sauce.

Brown sugar.

The dark has that deep, molasses-y quality

that will just add to the sauce.

Worcestershire sauce.

This is such a complex, amazing, umami-boosting ingredient.

Good old yellow mustard.

It's just gonna cut through that sweetness, that spice.

Just give it a good mix

to make sure everything's homogenized.

This looks good. We are ready to get cooking.

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We're just going to heat up a neutral oil

because it has a high smoke point.

You want a neutral oil that won't interfere with flavor

like maybe an olive oil one.

Today I'm using ground beef.

It's 80-20, which just means that it's extra juicy

because it's 20% fat.

You don't need like a pancake,

but just spread it out as much as you can.

I would say maybe like up to a teaspoon of salt

at this stage,

a little bit of pepper, and don't touch it.

You'll soon see in a couple of minutes

that there's a light brown crust that develops

from caramelizing the meat.

That crust adds both texture and flavor.

We're not going crazy.

I'm just gonna flip and then we can start mashing.

Okay, so you can see that most of the pink has disappeared.

A lot of the fat of the meat has rendered out.

You can just use the residual fat

that is coming out of your meat to cook your aromatics.

Season every step of the way.

Ultimately, they will get combined,

but for now, we just need to give the veg a little bit

of space to cook and caramelize on their own.

Just give everything a quick toss

in that meat juice and fat.

So it's been a few minutes.

The onions have turned a little translucent.

They've softened.

This is a great point to mix the meat and veg together now.

We are going to introduce the sauce

and because there's a lot of sugar,

you just wanna make sure that you ratchet your heat down.

You don't want the sugar to burn

before everything else has had a chance

to get to know each other.

So we're mixing the sauce with all of the meat

and vegetables and then we will add in the tomato.

But first, you wanna make sure everyone's well-coated.

We are going to add a 15-ounce can of tomato sauce.

I like to pour it against a spatula or spoon

so it's not splattering all over the place.

And I'm gonna be a little bit of a grandma about this.

I call for a 1/4 cup of water

'cause we're gonna need to thin this out and simmer.

But if I were at home, I would just put it in the can

and give it a little rinse

because there's always a little residual tomato in the can.

We're gonna let this cook about 10 minutes

and then we will come back to it.

You can tell the tomato sauce if you drag the wooden spoon,

first of all, you can see it's kind of caramelized

at the bottom.

The oil is kind of seeping out of the tomato sauce.

This is all good stuff.

At this point, I think it's ready.

We're going to finish with a little bit of balsamic vinegar.

It will just round out the sauce in a really nice way.

It's vinegar so it does have a little bit of sharpness,

but there's an inherent sweetness

that will just go really well with the sauce.

Now it's looking more like a a sloppy joe sauce

and you can put it in between buns

and it won't completely just dribble out.

A little dribble is okay though.

Sweet, tangy, spice in the back.

But we're good on the salt. We're good on the spice.

This is ready for plating. Let's go.

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We are using a soft potato bun today.

They're a little bit sweeter.

They pair so well

with our very spicy Gochujang Sloppy Joes.

This recipe will make enough for four servings

so I really want you to get sloppy.

It's a sloppy joe. Be generous with your servings.

Oh, it's so fragrant.

And this is totally giving me

elementary school cafeteria vibes.

I probably wouldn't have eaten it as spicy back then.

Maybe a little bit, but not too much.

I'm just gonna load up the rest of my plate potato chips.

It has to be Ruffles today.

It sends me back to the nineties.

And the great thing is

if some of your sloppy joe meat falls off the bun,

you can just scoop up any remnants with the chips.

Next is a cold dill pickle.

Bright, crunchy, also acidic

and it just breaks up this kind of warm,

comforting vibe nicely.

This is my Gochujang Sloppy Joe.

1, 2, 3.

It's it's heavy. Ooh. Ooh.

Mm wow. Everything you love about a sloppy joe.

It's just taken up two more levels

with the spice coming from the gochujang.

It really hits on that really comforting, familiar flavor

that you know and love, that sweet tomato sauce,

soft ground meat.

There's a little bit of soy sauce in there,

Worcestershire, the balsamic vinegar.

These are all ingredients helping

to really create a bit more complexity.

Scoop it up with your chips.

I'm gonna finish this off camera.

It's just getting a little too sloppy in here.

Hope you'll make this at home.

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