ANGEL: We're going to do our signature dish at Anju.

That's our ssam board.

Ssam in Korean means like lettuce wraps.

So, at Anju, we do a boneless short ribs that we marinate for about one day, and then we grill it.

SETH: All right, so grilled marinated short rib sounds a lot like Korean barbecue.

ANGEL: Absolutely.

Yeah.

SETH: All right, and you're doing the actual work to grill it, so I can just sit back and enjoy it.

ANGEL: Absolutely, yeah.

SETH: All right, so how do you get started on this process?

ANGEL: So it starts off with a really delicious marinade.

So we're going to start, first of all, with some scallions, and then we have some aromatics, garlic and ginger that we pulse together.

Next, we have some toasted sesame seeds.

These are toasted and crushed, and you get a lot of nuttiness.

And, of course, it wouldn't be a marinade without a little bit of soy sauce.

I like to use light soy here because regular soy can be a little bit too heavy for this dish.

And then we have a little bit of mirin.

Mirin adds a little bit of sweetness to it.

This is, here, an onion puree with a little bit of garlic also.

Then we're going to add a little brown sugar to this dish.

SETH: Because, with a Korean barbecue, that sweetness is going to give it that nice kind of caramelized... ANGEL: It's that balance, right, where you want sweet and savory out of this dish.

And that extra molasses helps to get a little bit more depth to it.

Can you hand me the black pepper?

SETH: You got it, chef.

ANGEL: All right.

That adds a little bit of spice to it.

And, of course, some sesame oil.

Lastly, we're going to do a little bit of a lemon lime soda.

SETH: Just generic lemon lime soda?

ANGEL: Generic lemon lime soda.

That carbonation and citrus is going to punch through a little bit, and it'll also help tenderize the meat.

SETH: Nice, now, I feel like maybe we missed out on a sponsorship opportunity here.

We'll save that for the next episode.

ANGEL: Next time, right?

Yeah.

All right, now that we have the marinade, we're going to process some short ribs.

SETH: Oh, that looks like a nice cut of meat right there.

ANGEL: Yeah, so we're using Creekstone boneless short rib.

This is the prime cut.

So we're going to slice this in half.

You can really see all the marbling out of this.

SETH: Oh, that is beautiful.

ANGEL: Really, really beautiful.

And I'm going to do what's called a pocket cut.

So slide it open.

Cut.

Cut.

So, next, I'm just going to start doing some diamond scoring.

SETH: And this is really going to help the marinade absorb into the meat.

ANGEL: This is also a tenderizing process, too.

Doing this allows the marinade to penetrate through.

We're going to do it on both sides.

All right, so now this is scored and ready to go.

We're going to take that marinade that we just made and throw it in there.

We want to let this marinate for about one day, so you're going to get max flavor out of this dish.

Really, really delicious.

SETH: Max flavor.

I love it.

ANGEL: We have some that's already ready.

So, after one day, you can see the meat is very, very pliable and tender.

So, the next steps, we're going to take that marinated meat.

We're going to throw it on a very hot grill.

We're going to get a nice char on it, so we're going to cook it for about two minutes on one side, flip it, and then another three minutes on the other side.

And then we're going to throw it right into the oven for about three to four minutes.

Pull it out, let the meat rest, and then slice it.

So now we're going to assemble our ssam board.

We're going to take some toasted sesame oil and ssamjang, red leaf lettuce, perilla and some other accoutrements like roasted garlic, crispy shallots.

After that, we're ready to enjoy the ssam board.

SETH: All right, Angel, Danny, this looks incredible.

It looks like the drinks are a little far away from me though.

What's the story here?

DANNY: We wanted to kick things off with a Korean drinking game called "Titanic."

So what we're going to do is we start with this delicious Korean beer.

And then you just want to pour about halfway through, but, considering that Angel and I both think that you're going to lose, I might put a little bit more in.

SETH: Have you rigged this game so that I would lose?

DANNY: We'll see.

And then we're going to take a soju glass and then just float it.

And now what we're going to do is take turns pouring however much of soju you want into the soju glass.

SETH: Oh, boy.

All right.

I wonder what's going to happen.

And there we go.

ANGEL: Well done.

DANNY: Hey.

SETH: On an empty stomach, no less.

All right, so how do we start to attack this ssam board here?

DANNY: I think I'll make you my preferred way to doing it, so we're going to take a little leaf of lettuce.

We're going to stack the sesame leaf.

And then what I'd like to do is then first do a nice little paste of the ssamjang.

And then, on top of it, and, remember, this is a one-biter, we get a little bit of the garlic.

SETH: With the beef?

ANGEL: Yeah.

DANNY: Then we're going to take a couple pieces of the galbi.

SETH: There you go.

All right, double meat.

DANNY: Stick it right there.

And, I'll be gentle, I won't put rice in this one.

ANGEL: I think it'd be nice.

DANNY: Yeah.

Well, you know what we should do?

A little bit of kimchi.

SETH: Oh, yeah, there you go.

And so this one bite?

DANNY: Yes.

This is tiny.

ANGEL: That's a small one actually.

DANNY: Yeah, that's tiny.

So what you want to do is just roll it together and open your mouth as wide as you can and think that you're just like stuffing your whole fist into your mouth.

SETH: This is just obscene eating on "Signature Dish" today.

Oh, my God.

DANNY: It's doable.

It's a small one.

SETH: It doesn't seem doable, but I'm going to try.

DANNY: There are 90-pound Korean women that do this, and it's even... ANGEL: Bigger platter, yeah.

There you go.

DANNY: See?

ANGEL: You did it.

Yeah.

(laughter) Cut.

That's a wrap.

(mumbles) (mumbles) DANNY: We're not screwing with you.

You just did what you were supposed to do.

ANGEL: Yeah, legit, this is how we do it.

DANNY: Keep chewing.

CREW: This needs to be like part of the fun.

ANGEL: And then he passed out.

DANNY: Where did he go?

(laughter) "B" for effort.

ANGEL: You got it down.

There you go.

DANNY: Honorary Korean.

SETH: "B" for effort.

"D" for execution.

DANNY: No.

"A" for effort.

You went after it.

That was great.

SETH: But I have to say, as embarrassing as that bite was, the flavors are incredible.

The sweetness of the marinade has created such a nice crust and the vivaciousness of the leaf, the kimchi, just a lot of exciting flavors.

DANNY: Yeah.

I mean, for us, we think that's a hallmark of Korean cuisine.

Korean dining, it's okay for a dish to have just one note mainly because you have something pickled.

You have the freshest from the fruit.

You have the lettuce.

You have the bitterness and earthiness coming from the sesame leaf, and then you have the funk coming from the ssamjang, right?

And, altogether, it creates this beautiful harmony that is honestly so unique to Korean food.

ANGEL: Yeah.

It really encompasses what the beauty of Korean food is.

Normally, in Western cuisine, we want to fulfill everything in one box, while, in Korean food, you kind of build your own adventure.

You make food adjust to you.

SETH: Well, this place is fun.

The food is amazing.

I'm done with my bite now.

I'm ready to go in for a lot more.

Thank you guys so much.

DANNY: No.

Thank you.

ANGEL: Thanks for coming.

All right, now for some soju?

SETH: Let's do it.