Reproduce Korean BBQ Pork Jerky

jerkykorean-cuisinepork

Costco sells a Korean BBQ Pork Jerky with the brand name Golden Island

It's delicious- it's soft but chewy, smokey, sesame-ey, moist with the sugars but obviously also dried enough to not need refrigeration.

I've tried making it myself with mixed results. The marinade is easy: ginger, sesame, brown sugar, etc. The flavor is good but my texture isn't quite right. I tried my normal jerky method which is to marinate and dehydrate. As you would expect, the sugars didn't caramelize correctly and the meat didn't take on the soft, chewy, candied texture that I crave.

The labeling and the texture imply that the meat is cooked. A Chinese pork "jerky" that I learned about from this question is only cooked. I want the meat to also be preserved so only roasting/grilling is insufficient.

There are several questions here:

Does this product represent a dish in Korean cuisine or is it a fusion variation? If I could find a name I could find a recipe.

How could I both cook and preserve my pork?
The options that come to mind are:

  • Smoking until dehydrated (requires much more effort as I think it would have to be a cool smoking over a long period of time)
  • Grilling briefly for flavor and then dehydrating until done. (does partially cooked meat still dehydrate?)

Is there some other method that I haven't thought of?

Best Answer

Does this product represent a dish in Korean cuisine or is it a fusion variation? If I could find a name I could find a recipe.

It does not appear to be a korean dish, rather a version of the chinese pork jerky, which has been seasoned with a korean bbq style.

How could I both cook and preserve my pork?

If you are trying to replicate the product, it doesn't appear to be a cooked and dried product. Unless you are trying to extend shelf life of your cooked meat.

The options that come to mind are:

Smoking until dehydrated (requires much more effort as I think it would have to be a cool smoking over a long period of time) Grilling briefly for flavor and then dehydrating until done. (does partially cooked meat still dehydrate?)

You could hot smoke the meat to be completely/partially cooked, before considering a preserving process.
Similarly grilling/broiling/roasting, before preserving. Of course you can dry/dehydrate most things that have water content.

Is there some other method that I haven't thought of?

If following the chinese jerky process I have seen, either:

  • Raw meat is cooked, then brined/marinated in a meat tumbler
  • Raw meat is brined/marinated, then cooked

You also need to consider whether you wish to have mince & reform the meat, or slice the meat thinly (eg meat slicer).