Kalbi in a Slow Cooker

By Katie Barreira
For Cooking Newbie, a blog for beginner cooks

Traditionally, kalbi, Korean bbq’d short ribs, is prepared on the grill with a foot-long strip of rib beef that has been sliced across the bone, leaving the tips of the rib bones along the top. It’s not the most accessible cut of meat, so when I get a kalbi craving, I like to use the classic sweet and savory Korean marinade as a braising liquid for individual beef short ribs, a cut that is widely available and perfect for the slow cooker.

Slow Cooker Kalbi
Think of this dish as the Korean version of tacos. Meltingly tender rib meat stands in for ground beef, white rice replaces beans, and instead of corn shells, lettuce leaves are the vehicle for getting all that goodness from plate to mouth. The fixins are distinctly Asian, but use them just as you would salsa, shredded cheese and sour cream.

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A Good Date Meal

By Jess Ziman
A new video for Video Friday

A few months ago, a friend of mine told me a story of a near disastrous first date she went on. The whole date sounded dreamy – a dashing man had invited her to his home to cook her a romantic candlelit meal for two. She was all smiles and ready to be swept away by his gesture.

However, her face quickly fell when she found out what the meal was: boiled vegetables (from a frozen packet) and quinoa. His humdrum fare frankly muffled any mojo that may have been between them that night.

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Weathering Frankenstorm Sandy

Enjoy music while you cook. You can win a Logitech z515 wireless speaker for smartphones and tablets. Just tell us how long you take to cook dinner and you’ll be entered in our sweepstakes. Good luck!

By Lori Powell

I am hoping that all of our Special Fork audience is safe and sound and hunkered down, weathering the aftermath of this storm with good eats and good company!

As mentioned in prior blog posts, I keep a well-stocked larder and have an upright freezer that is usually at least halfway filled with edible gold. So, to insure the freezer stuff, I am one of the fortunate ones who owns a generator.

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Last Suppers

Enjoy music while you cook. You can win a Logitech z515 wireless speaker for smartphones and tablets. Just tell us how long you take to cook dinner and you’ll be entered in our sweepstakes. Good luck!

By Katie Barreira

Are you home, hunkered down for Hurricane Sandy? Find yourself doing a whole lot of eating?

You’re not alone.

After a late breakfast of braised lamb, a second cup of coffee with cider donuts for dunking and a couple pieces of the forlorn Halloween candy, we broke out the Ben & Jerry’s (in case of power failure, freezer items would be first to go, so really, it was a precautionary measure.)

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Trick-or-Treating Pasta Party

By Marilyn Hunter

On a night like Halloween, the last thing you’re thinking about is dinner. Luckily, my boys love pasta … all shapes and sizes. It’s one of their favorite dinners as long as there’s plenty of Parmesan cheese. Andrew calls them “Parm junkies!”

I figure things could be worse. I care more that they’ll eat lots of goodies that are good for them, especially on this night of goblins.

Before setting out for a marathon night of trick or treating, fuel your little ones with a pasta party fit for an athlete (Ben is James Harden on the Thunder) or a hungry gangster (Nick is Al Capone). Setting up a carb-loading pasta bar pleases everyone, gives them the energy they need and cuts your workload in half.

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