Name: Pressure Cooker Korean BBQ Pork Lettuce Wraps
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 1 h 15 min
Total time: 1 h 25 min
Cuisine: Asian
Ingredients: 3 pounds Pork Western Ribs; ½ teaspoon fine sea salt; ½ cup water; ½ cup soy sauce; 3 cloves garlic; 1 inch piece of ginger, cut in thin slices (each about the size of a quarter); 2 tablespoons Gochujang (Korean red pepper paste); Romaine hearts (or Bibb lettuce), separated into leaves; Cooked white rice; Korean Kimchi (Korean spicy pickled cabbage) or shredded cabbage; More Gochujang sauce for drizzling

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Lettuce wraps with shredded Korean pork, kimchi, and white rice on a red plate, with a plate of lettuce leaves in the background. — Pressure Cooker Korean BBQ Pork Lettuce Wraps

Pressure Cooker Korean BBQ Pork Lettuce Wraps - Pressure cooker pork, Korean style with gochujang sauce, wrapped in lettuce leaves.

When I first wrote about Gochujang, I had to shop at Asian specialty markets to get it. Now my family is addicted - and it looks like we're not the only ones. It went from a specialty ingredient to the international aisle of my grocery store, right next to the bottles of teriyaki sauce.

The big difference between specialty market gochujang and grocery store gochujang is the packaging - and the thickness of the paste. When I buy it at an Asian market, it comes in a rectangular tub with a texture like peanut butter. If I want to use it as a sauce, I have to thin it out, usually with soy sauce and water. When I buy it at my grocery store, it comes in a squeeze bottle, thin enough to squirt on a food - similar to ketchup. I’ve used both, and in recipes, they work about the same - I haven’t noticed a difference. But that squeeze bottle? That’s why my family is addicted. Every time we have an Asian meal - doesn’t have to be Korean - they want to squirt gochujang on the rice. It’s taken the place of sriracha as our favorite Asian hot sauce.

Lettuce wraps with shredded Korean pork, kimchi, and white rice on a red plate, with a plate of lettuce leaves and a bottle of gochujang in the background. — Lettuce wraps, ready to eat

As for this recipe - Pressure cooker Korean BBQ recipe is definitely a cheat. Authentic Korean BBQ is thin-sliced cuts of meat, marinated in soy sauce and gochujang, grilled over charcoal, and wrapped in lettuce. I’m taking inspiration from that meal, using the flavor profile, and converting it to the pressure cooker.

(I’m also assuming there are Korean BBQ purists, like there are Texas BBQ purists, and Carolina BBQ purists, and Memphis BBQ purists, and…well, you get the idea. I always have to fight off a swarm of “that’s nice…for a Yankee from Ohio” comments whenever I do a BBQ recipe; I’m assuming Korea is as passionate about their BBQ as everyone else, so I’ll start apologizing advance. Sorry about this, BBQ purists, no matter where you’re from.)

The only trick to this recipe, other than shopping for the Korean ingredients of Gochujang (spicy red pepper paste) and Kimchi (spicy pickled cabbage - detecting a spicy theme?), is the cut of pork. I buy “Pork Western Ribs” at my grocery store…which aren’t really ribs. They’re a pork shoulder roast, cut into 1.5 inch thick strips, roughly rib shaped. They are perfect for the pressure cooker - instead of having to cook an entire roast, the strips of pork cook through much quicker. If you can’t find Western ribs, cut up a pork shoulder yourself. (It’s what I do when the shoulder is on sale, but the Western ribs are not).

Video: How To Pressure Cook Korean BBQ Pork for Lettuce Wraps (1:32)

Pressure Cooker Korean BBQ Pork Lettuce Wraps - Time Lapse [YouTube.com]

Recipe: Pressure Cooker Korean BBQ Pork Lettuce Wraps