Bulgogi Beef Lettuce Wraps

Thinly sliced ribeye soaks in a soy-sesame-gochujang marinade, then sears fast in a screaming hot skillet for caramelized edges. Served in crisp butter lettuce cups with rice, pickled cucumber, and a glossy gochujang-sesame dipping sauce — this is interactive, mess-friendly eating at its best. This version scales down to 1 lb of beef for roughly 3 smaller servings.

Ingredients

• ribeye or sirloin steak, sliced as thin as possible against the grain (freeze for 20 minutes first to firm for easier slicing) – 1 lb
• soy sauce – 4 tablespoons
• light brown sugar, packed – 1½ tablespoons
• toasted sesame oil – 1½ tablespoons
• garlic, minced (about 5–6 cloves) – 2 tablespoons
• fresh ginger, grated – 1 teaspoon
• gochujang (Korean chili paste) – 1½ tablespoons
• Asian pear or Bosc pear, grated (enzymes help tenderize the beef; skip if unavailable) – ¼ cup loosely packed
• freshly ground black pepper – ½ teaspoon

• Persian or English cucumber, thinly sliced into rounds – 1 medium (about 1½ cups sliced)
• rice vinegar – 3 tablespoons
• granulated sugar – 1 teaspoon
• kosher salt – ½ teaspoon
• toasted sesame seeds – 1 teaspoon

• gochujang – 1 tablespoon
• soy sauce – 1 tablespoon
• toasted sesame oil – 1 teaspoon
• rice vinegar – 1 teaspoon
• honey – 1 teaspoon
• water – 1 tablespoon

• short-grain white rice (sushi or jasmine), cooked according to package directions – 2 cups dry
• neutral oil (vegetable or canola) – 1½ tablespoons
• scallions, white parts sliced thin (save green parts for garnish) – 4 scallions
• butter lettuce, leaves separated and washed (2 heads yields about 20 large cups) – 2 heads
• toasted sesame seeds, for garnish – 1 teaspoon
• scallion greens, thinly sliced (reserved from above) – —

Instructions

1. Freeze your steak for 20 minutes until just firm, then slice as thin as possible against the grain — ⅛ inch or thinner if you can manage it. Combine soy sauce, brown sugar, sesame oil, garlic, ginger, gochujang, grated pear, and black pepper in a large bowl and whisk until the sugar dissolves. Add the beef, toss to coat every slice thoroughly, and marinate at room temperature for 20 to 30 minutes, or cover and refrigerate up to 4 hours. Note: with 1 lb of beef you will need only 2–3 batches in the skillet rather than 4.
2. While the beef marinates, make the pickled cucumber: toss cucumber slices with rice vinegar, sugar, and salt in a small bowl. Let sit at room temperature for at least 15 minutes, then drain off most of the liquid and toss with sesame seeds. Make the dipping sauce by whisking together gochujang, soy sauce, sesame oil, rice vinegar, honey, and water until smooth. Set both aside.
3. Cook your rice according to package directions and keep warm. Separate the butter lettuce into individual cups — look for the largest, most bowl-shaped leaves, which will hold the filling without folding or tearing. Rinse and pat them dry, then arrange on a large platter.
4. Heat a large cast-iron or stainless skillet over high heat until it's genuinely smoking hot — at least 2 full minutes of preheating. Add about half the neutral oil and immediately add the beef in a single layer, cooking in 2–3 batches. Do not stir for the first 60 to 90 seconds; you want the sugars in the marinade to caramelize hard against the pan before you move anything. Once the underside is deeply browned, toss and cook another 30 to 45 seconds. Transfer to a plate and repeat with remaining oil and beef, wiping the pan between batches if the fond becomes too dark.
5. In the last batch, add the scallion whites to the pan for the final 30 seconds of cooking, tossing them in with the beef so they soften and pick up the caramelized bits from the pan.
6. To serve, set out the lettuce cups, beef, rice, pickled cucumber, dipping sauce, sliced scallion greens, and sesame seeds family-style. To build a wrap: nestle a small spoonful of rice into a lettuce cup, top with a few slices of beef, a pinch of pickled cucumber, a drizzle of dipping sauce, scallion greens, and a few sesame seeds. Fold and eat immediately.