An End of Summer Pool Party and BBQ

To celebrate Eid and to welcome in the cooler evenings of Dubai’s Fall, we had some friends around for a little pool/bbq fun this week. MEA and BA brought over a fantastic Nutella pie from Saladicious in Jumeirah and MNA and AA brought over a delicious chocolate cake. So glad that MKM and KM were able to swing by, post their family dinner for a drink and some Mint Shisha.

Dinner was planned to be casual, but I woke up that morning, adamant to get my hands on some ribs – not just any short ribs, but Gangam style ribs (erm..Korean style). In Toronto, I remember my neighbourhood Brunos (www.brunosfinefoods.com) having this spectacular, pre marinated, miami style beef rib (the rib was butchered in the typical Korean manner – what is called Kalbi or Galbi). This marinade resulted in a piece of meat that was sweet, sticky and usually resulted in my licking my fingers clean.

The way that Kalbi style ribs are butchered is different to the usual, long beef rib that one tends to picture, when thinking of a typical bbq’d beef rib.

Time for a little beef rib 101:

The usual beef rib that comes to mind is usually the texas style beef rib – available in Dubai at places like Tony Roma’s etc. These rack of ribs are left in their glorious entirety, and provide a robust, beefy (albeit, sometimes stringy if not cooked properly) chew. A picture of these kinds of ribs is below:

Kalbi is prepared by the butcher in a different way. How does this differ, you ask? This is my favourite way to eat beef ribs, FYI. Once the beef is broken down into its usual parts, and the rib rack is separated, to get Korean style ribs, the butcher cuts thin slices, horizontally, across the rib bone. What results is thin slices of gold – perfectly balanced strips that have both beef and fat, intermingled together – melt in your mouth tenderness. A picture of a raw Kalbi style beef rib is below (the picture below show a de-boned version of Kalbi).

This was available to my family and I at Korean BBQ restaurants – I was unable to find, after moving to Dubai, a butcher from whom to source this beef. I had done a tremendous amount of research on the internet, and finally, when I woke up the day of the BBQ, I thought I had located a supermarket that catered to the South East Asian community in Dubai – and, allegedly, they carried various meats also! I made my way over to A-1 Supermarket, near Safa Park, and WOW…..I cannot believe that this place has been here for the past few years, under my nose, and I didn’t know it existed. If you haven’t been – and you like asian ingredients – you need to go….now. They have a frozen and fresh meat section – fancy a Shabu Shabu? No problem – A1 has the thinly shaved ribeye for that Shabu Shabu. Bulgogi? No sweat – 3 different kinds of Bulgogi beef. Ribs – boneless and with bones. Pre marinated. No marinade. Bottled marinade.

KID.IN.A.CANDY.STORE.

I bought a pile of fresh ribs with bone, (didn’t want the pre marinated stuff, because I do like to tweak (read: not twerk), and had a couple of delicious recipes that I had downloaded and wanted to try) and made my way home. I couldn’t help but call B, who didn’t understand my excitement (she is not a rib person, and prefers what little beef she does eat to be ultra lean) – she did however instruct me to pick her up some wasabi peas and some seaweed snacks (Miso flavoured and Wasabi Flavoured) that she loves to nibble on.

So, I made my way home, and started to prep for the evening. The menu:

Grilled Whole Seabass Provencal, Drizzled with Warm EVOO Infused with Fresh Basil

Charcoal Grilled Sirloin Steak

Grilled Kalbi Ribs

Parmesan Truffle Fries

Garden Salad

Overall, everything turned out great – the friends loved the ribs – they came out beautifully. I think I will add some Sriracha style Thai hot sauce to the marinade next time, to add some spice to balance the sweetness/saltiness. The sea bass was tender and delicate and the EVOO drizzled on top made it even better – the charred, crispy skin, was a great contrast to the inside. The steak’s were cooked to medium well, as that is what many wanted to eat – a far cry from my and BA’s preference of medium rare! The truffle fries, if you haven’t tried them – you should. Delicious…..and the smell…….wow. Make some fries, once done, drizzle a little truffle infused olive oil on top, and some truffle salt. Shake and add some shredded parmesan cheese. RIDICULOUS.

Some pictures are below – thanks to all who came. Was a great evening!