Instant Pot Korean Beef Dips BECAUSE WE CAN

It's the holiday season and I have decided to take off the last couple of weeks leading up to Christmas so that I can get back in my own kitchen and just cook for my family after a busy year of cooking for other people. My family, understandably, is thrilled. The cobbler's family has no shoes syndrome is real.

One of the first things I tried last week was the Instant Pot Beef Dip from Amy and Jacky at pressure cook recipes . Their methods are so well tested and always work like a charm, and this one was fabulous, as expected.

Looking for something with a bit more kick, I used their recipe as a jumping off point to make this Korean Beef Dip. I often make really sloppy, delicious grilled cheese sandwiches out of my Korean Meatloaf and immediately thought that I would LOVE to make a Korean Beef Dip - all the same flavours in the meatloaf grilled cheese with with a spicy jus to dip the sandwich in?
YES PLEASE

This sandwich is perfect - sharp cheddar and kimchi/gochujang are meant to be together although, I also ate some of the beef and sauce over rice, with scallions and sesame seeds and that was delicious too.

Two things to mention:

Number one - I will say, upfront, this is not one of the simplest Instant Pot recipes but, doing this in the oven would take twice as long and although I am not always a fan of searing meat when pressure cooking, if you have the time, sear the meat. At the very least, it adds all that delicious fond on the bottom of the pot and that is a flavour bomb.

*Regarding searing meat:
the super high heat involved in pressure cooking means that the maillard reaction (the chemical reaction between reducing sugars and amino acids that gives browned foods it's distinctive flavour) occurs without browning so you get the depth of flavour without the "look" of seared meat. This means that almost across the board, searing meat doesn't add all that much to a pressure cooked dish.

Number two - I realize that this recipe requires a bunch of Korean ingredients that can't really be substituted but they are great ingredients to add to your food and if you like spicy food, you will have fun experimenting with them.

I add gochujang to all sorts of soups and stews, sauces etc to add some funky, sweet heat and the bean paste works much like miso paste and adds umami, salt and a deeper depth of flavour to foods. The ssamjang is great on any sandwich, is great in grilled cheese, on a burger - you name it. Think of it as spicy, funky ketchup. There are quite a few recipes on my site that use these ingredients too, like

 Spicy Korean Baked Chicken

Instant Pot Spicy Korean Chicken Stew

Instant Pot Korean Pulled Pork

Bi Bim Bap Sopes

Korean Beef Dip

makes 6 sandwiches

Beef and au jus:

3 lbs or about 1400g pot roast, cross rib roast or blade roast
kosher salt and pepper
3 tbls oil - canola, grapeseed or other flavourless oil
5 cloves garlic, chopped
2" piece of ginger, peeled and rasped
3 onions, sliced
1 cup of mushroom or chicken broth (I use Campbell's mushroom broth)
1/3 cup of dried mushrooms or 5 or 6 Chinese dried mushroom caps
1 asian pear, peeled and shredded or finely chopped
2 tbls soy sauce
1 tbls fish sauce
1 tbls sesame oil
1 tbls mirin
2 tbls Korean bean paste (Doenjang)
2 tbls Korean fermented hot pepper paste (Gochujang)
1 to 2 tbls of Korean Chili Powder (Gochugaru)

Sprinkle generous amount of kosher salt and grind black pepper on all sides of the beef.
Heat the mushroom broth or chicken broth and throw in the dried mushrooms and set aside
Heat up the Instant Pot on saute until the machine says "hot"
Add in 2 tbls oil and then sear the beef for 10 minutes per side
Remove the beef and set aside
Add in another tbls of oil and saute the onions for about 5 minutes, add in the garlic and ginger and saute another minute.
Pour in the broth and the dried mushrooms and deglaze the pot, making sure you scrape up all the good bits that are stuck on the bottom of the pot.
Add the asian pear,  soy sauce, fish sauce, sesame oil, mirin, doenjan, gochujang and gochugaru and stir well before adding the beef back in and pushing down, submerging the meat as much as possible.

Hit cancel and then program to cook at high pressure for 45 minutes. When the time is up, let the pressure release naturally.

Open the lid and remove the meat to a bowl. Hit cancel and then hit saute again and bring the jus to a boil while you shred the beef with two forks or your fingers. After the mixture has reduced a bit - let it boil for three or four minutes- pour the juice through a strainer and add all of the solids in with the shredded meat and mix it in with the beef.

Set the meat and jus aside.

Sandwiches:
shredded beef
au jus

two french sticks or six crusty buns
ssamjang (korean dipping sauce/paste)
approx 3 cups shredded shard cheddar (you can use more or less, to your taste)
3\4 cup kimchi, chopped if needed
2 scallions, sliced thinly
6 tbls sesame seeds
Kewpie or other brand mayonnaise
handful of fresh cilantro, leaves picked off


Preheat the broiler

Cut each french stick into three sections and then cut in half lengthwise. If using buns, cut in half. Spread the bottom with ssamjang and pile 1/4 to 1/2 cup of cheese on each bottom. Put the bottoms under the broiler until the cheese starts to melt and remove from the oven.

Pile each sandwich with a generous amount of the shredded beef/onion, add about 2 tbls of kimchi on top of the beef. Now scatter 1/6th of the scallion, 1 tbls sesame seeds and either squirt some Kewpie mayo on top, or spread some mayo on the top of the bun. Add a few leaves of cilantro and cap it with the top of the bun/bread.

Serve each sandwich with a small bowl of the au jus for dipping.