Remember when I told you that we lived and taught in Korea a few years back? And how much we loved, loved, loved a dish called galbi, which is essentially uber-flavorful meat grilled in the center of your table, and lovingly wrapped in lettuce leaves with a variety of condiments? And how Korean food is generally amazing?

Ok…well…

Now let me tell you about the other side of being a foreigner in Korea. Especially a foreigner who comes from one of the most ethnically and deliciously diverse cities in America. And how sometimes, as a foreigner, you just needed to eat something from home, something very non-Korean, and how you would go to ridiculous lengths to do so.

Lengths like this: We would travel forty-five minutes by train, plus a ten-minute walk for good Indian food. We went ten months without a decent taco until we finally discovered the restaurant Tiger Tiger. To get to Tiger Tiger meant winding through some crazy-narrow back alleys to find this literal hole-in-the-wall, not unlike a mouse in a maze, frantically seeking a piece of cheese.

And speaking of cheese, our friend Lauren would take a two-hour bus ride to get to a decent chunk of cheddar. Two hours. That’s dedication.

Dedication to what, you might ask. Taco Tuesdays.

Friends and family back home would send over taco seasoning packets which were absolutely impossible to find there (much like other festive favorites like limes and cilantro). We had packets upon packets. So we instituted Taco Tuesdays, wherein we would gather with a few other ex-pats, who would potluck-ily provide the fixins’ like the aforementioned two-hour cheese, and shells, and unbelievably expensive salsa, and we would feast on tacos, once a week.

So that’s why it’s funny to me that we made Korean tacos. They taste like Korea, but in a taco, and they were amazing. This irony is not lost on me.

I don’t think I say this too often on this blog, but YOU HAVE TO TRY THESE TACOS. Eric gave them an official “Top-Five-Dishes-You’ve-Ever-Made” status, and I have to admit, I can’t wait to try them again. Please don’t be intimidated by beef ribs or what looks like a long ingredient list. They are worth it, and I promise you, if you make them, you will eat most of the meat before your guests ever arrive, and you may sneak out of bed to finish the leftover slaw in the middle of the night because it’s that good.

The meat in these tacos is super tender and bursting with honest-to-goodness Korean flavor thanks to the Korean standbys like soy sauce, ginger, garlic, brown sugar, and rice vinegar. The slaw is more “Asian” than “Korean,” per se, with the addition of cilantro and lime, but the sweetened onions mixed with the bite of rice vinegar, carrots, sesame oil, and the slight crunch of toasted sesame seeds made a highly flavorful and tangy slaw that couldn’t pair better with the meat.

Even though we started with six pounds of beef ribs, by the time the fat cooked off and the bones were removed, this didn’t yield as much as you’d expect. So we served a simple rice pilaf alongside of it to make the meal a little more filling.

I truly hope you try these tacos, no matter where you live or what foreign food you’re craving. Taco Tuesdays just got Koreanized.