The Korean beef short rib dish marinated in sweet soy sauce is galbi. Also called galbi-gui, it is a grilled rib dish whose name literally means “ribs” in Korean.
Beef galbi is commonly marinated with soy sauce, sugar, garlic, scallions, ginger, sesame oil, and black pepper. Korean pear juice may also be used to help tenderize the meat. The ribs are often scored so the seasoning can penetrate before they are grilled over charcoal or a tabletop barbecue.
Galbi is easy to confuse with bulgogi, but bulgogi usually consists of thinly sliced marinated beef, while galbi is defined by its rib cut. Galbi-jjim is another related dish: it consists of braised short ribs rather than grilled ones. Diners often eat grilled galbi in lettuce or perilla-leaf wraps with rice, garlic, and ssamjang.
A well-known variation is LA galbi, cut across the bones in a flanken style. This cut became associated with Korean American cooking in Los Angeles and is now widely served in Korean restaurants and markets.