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Meat jun is a Korean fusion steak recipe from Hawai’i, and it’s one of my favorite plate lunch entrees of all time. Marinate flank steak overnight in a sweet soy sauce mix, then batter and shallow fry. It’s easy and so delicious. *Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links.
When I was in high school in southern California, my friends and I would go eat $10 AYCE Korean barbecue every week. That’s right. EVERY. WEEK. We would stuff ourselves silly with cheap cuts of meat and all meet each other in the bathroom at school the next day for the consequences. If you know what I mean.
These days I am trying to each much less meat, BUT I make an exception for meat jun. This meat is SO SO GOOD. If you’ve never heard of meat jun before, keep on reading because it’s totally worth learning about!
What is Meat Jun?
Meat jun is a Korean influenced dish from Hawaii. It consists of a super thin steak that has been marinated in a sweet soy sauce mixture and then is battered and fried. Just that description alone should make you start salivating. It’s shallow fried, not deep fried, although you could if you’re feeling extra ambitious. And there’s no breading; just an egg batter. The end result is a sweet and salty thin steak with a tempura-like crust. You typically would cut it into strips like a katsu and serve it with rice.
What Cut of Meat for Meat Jun
When you buy meat jun in Hawai’i, it’s suuuuuper thin. Ideally, you would buy meat that’s presliced into these large, but thin pieces. I’ve been told that Asian markets in Hawai’i sell thinly sliced meat that is perfect for meat jun. However, after seriously decades of looking at mainland grocery stores in both California and Washington, I have almost never seen meat that works well.
Instead, everyone I know uses flank steak. Even then, flank steak isn’t always available at my local market.
Now, in order to still get your meat jun thin, my mom told me you need to ask the butcher at your grocery store to run the flank steak through their meat tenderizer machine two times. Unfortunately, my local grocery stores with butchers don’t always carry flank steak. I can usually find flank steak at Trader Joe’s, but since they don’t have a butcher, the photos in this blog post reflect a flank steak that was tenderized by hand by yours truly.
Randomly, I happened to be in a Safeway that had eye of beef round in super thin slices, so of course I jumped on it for meat jun. But seriously, I have looked for this cut at Safeways near my house, and it’s not there! So I guess if you’re mainland like me, you just have to be super lucky with your grocery stores.
Can I tell you a secret, though? I actually kind of like meat jun with flank steak… you get more meat and you don’t have to fry as many batches.
Notes on the Marinade
For the marinade, you can use either Japanese or Hawaiian soy sauce. Take your pick!
Also regarding the marinade, if you don’t have mirin, you could also substitute sake. If you don’t have either, you need to just invest the kitchen cabinet space for at least one of the two. Mirin and sake are used in my teriyaki recipes, my yakitori recipe, my sukiyaki recipe… If you like cooking Japanese and Hawaiian food, mirin and sake are must have ingredients. You can find mirin and sake in the aisle of the Asian market that also has soy sauce and other condiments. Or there’s always Amazon.
One last note about the marinade: people on social media are always asking me if they can decrease the sugar. Of course, absolutely, you can decrease the sugar to your tastes. However, I would say a hallmark of Hawaiian (and Japanese) cooking is the balance of sweet and savory. If you really want your food to taste like it does in Hawai’i, don’t skimp on the sugar
Okay, the REAL last note about the marinade – I recommend marinating overnight! But if you forget the night before, which I often do, you can scrape by with a minimum of 30 minutes.
Tips for Battering Steak
Unlike other fried meats popular in Hawai’i and Japan, meat jun does not have a panko breading. Instead, you dip the meat in flour, then an egg batter, and then you immediately fry.
Growing up, when my mom made this dish, she always had an issue of the fried batter falling off the meat right away. I found that patting the steak dry with a paper towel prior to dredging in flour helps the crust stick much better.
How to Serve Meat Jun
Meat jun is a great plate lunch food. Slice it into strips like katsu and serve over rice with a couple side dishes.
More Hawaiian Fusion Recipes
Looking for more Asian Hawaiian recipes? Check these out!
- Hawaiian Somen Salad
- Crispy Gau Gee (Deep Fried Wontons)
- Japanese Hawaiian Macaroni Salad
- Easy Homemade Mochi (Chi Chi Dango)
- Classic Hawaiian Butter Mochi
Meat Jun (Korean Marinated Steak from Hawai’i)
Meat jun is a Korean fusion dish from Hawai'i, consisting of marinated and battered steak perfect for plate lunches.
5 from 1 vote
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Prep Time 10 minutes mins
Cook Time 8 minutes mins
Marinating Time 30 minutes mins
Course Main Course
Cuisine Hawaiian
Servings 4 people
Ingredients
- 2 lbs flank steak tenderized, see notes
- 1 inch piece of ginger grated
- 1 clove garlic grated
- 1/2 cup Japanese or Hawaiian soy sauce
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1/4 cup mirin
- 1/2 cup all purpose flour
- 2 eggs
- 2 stalks green onion chopped
Instructions
Cut tenderized flank steak into four equal pieces.
In a dish large enough to fit your steak, mix grated ginger, garlic, soy sauce, sugar, and mirin. Place meat in the sauce and marinate at least 30 minutes and up to overnight.
When ready to cook, pour 1/2 to 1 inch layer of oil in a skillet with deep sides (cast iron works great for this). Heat oil on stovetop while you prepare your steak.
In a shallow dish, beat eggs until smooth and add green onions. Put flour in a separate shallow dish.
Use a paper towel to wipe off excess marinade from the flank steak. Then dredge each piece in flour and dip in the egg batter. Place immediately in the skillet with oil.
Fry battered meat for 1-2 minutes on each side. Remove cooked meat to a wire rack and let cool. Note: If your tenderized meat was thicker than 1/2 inch you may need to cook a minute or two longer per side.
When meat has cooled enough to handle, slice into strips (like katsu) and serve over rice.
Notes
- Proper meat jun should be super thin, which you can achieve by asking the butcher at your grocery store to run the steak through their tenderizer twice. If that’s not an option you can always tenderize the meat yourself at home. Aim to reach about 1/4 inch thickness maximum. I’ve heard that at some Asian markets, there are large pieces of thinly sliced beef that can be used for meat jun, but I haven’t found any near me. Most of the moms on the mainland I know use flank steak.
- You can substitute sake for the mirin.
- I always get questions about decreasing sugar. You can adjust the sugar to your tastes, but an equal ratio of soy sauce to sugar is a pretty common level of sweetness in Hawaiian foods.
- Patting your meat dry(ish) before dredging in flour helps the batter to stick to the meat better.
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