Myth Busters

Even little know that you can't eat raw meat without getting sick, right? WRONG! Aside from delicious Italian carpaccio, there are hundreds of delicacies from all around the work that serve up raw meat. I' m not talking about sushi, I'm talkin bright red flesh and bone, well maybe not the bone! I know this probably sounds (and looks) disgusting, but it really is spectacular. The lovely thin cuts of beef seen below come from none other than Pho Danh #4 (of course), and do actually lightly cook in the steaming hot bowl of pho. However, this side of meat is served to your table exactly like this. 

However, there are many dishes which involve no cooking at all. The dish below is an incredible Bim Bim Bop from Korea House, our only Korean restaurant in the city. This dish is served with raw beef that has been cured like ceviche, giving it a surprisingly light and refreshing flavor. The cut of meat is soft and easy to chew, not at all as gamey as I would have expected. I was a little on the fence about the whole raw meat thing before I dug in but this dish won me over.

All traditional Bim Bim Bop dishes come with a million types of Kimchee. For those who don't know, Kimchee is Korean pickled vegetables. Usually it is hard to find anything other than Korean pickled cabbage, but this came with all the appropriate fixins for a perfect Bim Bim Bop (my favorite Korean dish). They served pickled potatoes, cucumbers, carrots, radish, sprouts, and even black beans. Bim Bim Bob also is served with a raw egg on top. Usually, when this dish is accompanied by cooked meat, it is served in a hot clay pot that cooks all the ingredients together (including the raw egg). However, because we ordered the raw variation it was served cold... thereby keeping the egg raw as well. Interestingly, the raw egg creeped me out more than the beef. Too many years of my mother telling me I'd get salmonella if I licked the batter bowl!
If you are feeling adventurous definitely check out Korea House in Metairie and give it a shot! It's actually a perfectly tangy and light dish for the summer!