Beef-rib soup. Kalbi by itself means ribs. This is an incredibly popular Korean food dish, served in most authentic Korean restaurants. You can tell it's not authentic by if they don't serve kimchi, bi bim bop, and/or kalbi tang ... usually. Contents include, but are not limited/required to:
- Kalbi: Duh. It's usually customary to keep the meat on the rib in this soup. I've personally never had one without, although I usually end up taking the meat off the bone.
- Beef soup base: Made using the meat and some seasonings. A little bit of salt never hurts either. In fact, (IMHO) the salt threshold of this soup is quite high. Load the sodium up to your desired taste!
- Noodles: thin and clear rice noodles are preferred. The fat and thick ones are not.
- Chives, green onion, maybe even a little egg: Just to add a hint of flavor and texture.
- Pap: (cooked rice) is usually a must-have with all Korean foods. Can be used as a traditional complementary/side dish. A nice touch even when added into the soup with noodles or without; of course added after both have been cooked. I personally like to dump all of my rice into my kalbi tang and go from there.
- Other assorted side dishes: includes kimchi, bean sprouts, spinach, and other Korean Vegetables
Grab a pair of chopsticks and ENJOY!