Making the Perfect UFO Burgers: A Step-by-Step Guide

Today on Street Food with Senpai, we're going to make the famous UFO burgers from the South Korean fast food chain. These three different versions include fire chicken, cheeseburger, and my personal favorite, the Korean barbecue. To start, let's combine 200 grams of water and 40 grams of bread flour over medium heat to create a tangzhong, which helps the bread retain moisture to stay fresher longer.

In a stand mixer, we'll combine 300 grams of bread flour, five grams of milk powder, five grams of delicious active dry yeast, 40 grams of sugar, seven grams of salt, and 130 grams of milk. Add in the cooled down tangzhong, attach the pirate arm, and mix for 10 to 12 minutes. Honestly, you can skip the tangzhong if you want to, and the result's still going to be great. Give it the old windowpane test to see how much it stretches without tearing. It should be pretty smooth and elastic.

Cover it up, put it somewhere warm for an hour, where it should, in theory, double in size. Ole! Punch it down like two 16 times to release any large gas bubbles and plop it out. Divide the dough into 140-gram balls using a bench scraper. Then make a claw, press down slightly, and roll the dough within your claw. All that man-handling is going to get you a super smooth dough ball.

Oil a sheet tray, position the balls, and smush them down. You're going to need them flat for the UFO-ification. Top with a sheet tray and let that rise for another hour. For the egg wash, blend one egg with a splash of water and brush onto those fluffy buns. Bake it 400 for around 15 minutes for some pretty yummy bread.

Let's make our first burger, the buldak or Korean fire chicken. Combine four tablespoons of brown sugar, one whole tablespoon of cayenne, two tablespoons of Korean chili flakes, and a pinch of salt. Mix in 80 grams of marinated beef, sliced into thin strips. Add in some chopped green onions and toasted sesame seeds for garnish.

Heat up a pan with a little bit of oil over medium-high heat and sear the beef until caramelized. Serve it on a toasted bun with some kimchi slaw and cilantro. This buldak chicken would be a great recipe over rice or stuffed into a burrito, too. I do wish I put a bunch of cheese in here, though.

Now we move on to the cheeseburger UFO. Take 80/20 ground chuck and form it into two to three-ounce patties and set aside. For our umami sauce, combine two tablespoons of soy sauce, one tablespoon of sugar, quarter cup of Worcestershire sauce, and half a cup of ketchup. That's it. Tor the burgers, get a pan piping hot and then sear burgers with salt and pepper, put some American cheese on there, and torch those boys.

Dude, I swear this is how they were doing it in the video. Then you're gonna sauce up your buns, add some lettuce, the burger, Kewpie mayo, chilies, and onions. Customize this however you want. Sriracha, bacon, peanut butter, whatever you feel like, dog.

Give that a secondary smashin' that easy bake oven. Cut this hot pocket in half and check out the cross-section. Yeah, boy! Still one of my favorite foods. We're just missing some french fries, maybe a Grimace milkshake.

Finally, let's make our last burger, the bulgogi or Korean marinated short ribs. Cut off any bones and then slice the meat thin, around one pound's worth, and set it aside. The marinade is a third cup of brown sugar, three cups of soy sauce, three tablespoons of mirin, two tablespoons of rice wine vinegar, two tablespoons of sesame oil, and a little extra because it's awesome.

Break up any large chunks and add the riblets with like half a teaspoon of salt and marinate that overnight. Just like with the chicken, heat up a little bit of oil over very high heat, trying to get some super nice caramelization. As much as I'd love to eat this with a bowl of rice and kimchi, we gotta stuff this into our baby UFO burgers.

You can't beat soy sauce and sesame oil. One dope thing about this is that I really like the crunch that the press adds. It's like a panini or a cubano. Got me thinking, maybe we should experiment with some stuffed grilled cheese. Hmm!

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: en- What's up, squadron?Today on Street Food with Senpai,we're gonna make the famous UFO burgersfrom the South Korean fast food chain.Three different versions, a fire chicken,a cheeseburger, and myfavorite, the Korean barbecue.We'll start off with some milk buns.Combine 200 grams of waterand 40 grams of bread flourover medium heat.This is called a tangzhongand it helps the breadretain moisture to stay fresher longer.Next, in a stand mixer, combine300 grams of bread flour,five grams milk powder,five grams of deliciousactive dry yeast, 40 grams ofsugar, seven grams of salt,and 130 grams of milk.Add in the cooled down tangzhong,attach the pirate arm, andmix for 10 to 12 minutes.Honestly, you can skip thetangzhong if you want toand the result's still gonna be great.Give it the old windowpanetest to see how muchit stretches without tearing.It should be pretty smooth and elastic.Cover it up, put itsomewhere warm for an hour,where it should, intheory, double in size.Ole!Punch it down like twoto 16 times to releaseany large gas bubbles and plop it out.You got this, buddy! Plop.Divide the dough into 140 gramballs using a bench scraper.Then make a claw, press down slightly,and roll the dough within your claw.All that man handling is gonna get youa super smooth dough ball.Oil a sheet tray, position theballs, and smush them down.You're gonna need themflat for the UFO-ification.Top with a sheet tray and letthat rise for another hour.For the egg wash, blend oneegg with a splash of waterand brush onto those fluffy buns.Bake it 400 for around 15 minutesfor some pretty yummy bread.Now let's make our firstburger, the buldak,or Korean fire chicken.Combine four tablespoons brown sugar,one whole tablespoon of cayenne,two tablespoons Korean chili flakes,five tablespoons soy sauce,and two tablespoons rice wine vinegar.Then two tablespoons of sesame oil,two tablespoons of ginger-garlic paste,and four tablespoons of gochujang.Mixy mixy, and then it's thigh time.Cut one pound of boneless chicken thighsinto 1.5 to two-inch chunks.Toss out with your salsa,a sprinkle of salt,and marinate that overnight.Chicken thighs are naturallysuper tender and forgiving,so you can skip that part if you want.Heat up two tablespoonsof oil over very high heatand then add the chicken.Top with half a poundof chopped green cabbageand a little bit moresalt for the cabbage,and a super extra but pretty fun stepis to torch the top like a maniac.They did it in the video,so I wanna do it too.You really want that sugarto char and caramelize'cause it adds a completelydifferent flavor,like Korean barbecue.Set that aside and we'll picklesome jalapenos real quick.In a pot or a pan, combineone cup of white vinegar,third cup of water, third cupof sugar, and a pinch of salt.When that comes up to a boil,pour it over two cups of jalapenos.I wouldn't get much spicier than thatif you value your life.Okey dokey, UFO time!Layer the bun with Kewpie mayo, onions,those pickled chilies.and a piece of lettuce.Carefully lay on like a quartercup of the chilled chicken,and let's try to UFO this thing.Big problem, though.While researching, we learnedthat the UFO burger pressthat they used was like 600 bucks.Probably not practicalfor your average home cookto spend $600 on a UFO maker,so here's a more reasonable method.We were thinking a double bowl attack,but the bun just weren't wide enough.F minus.We figured we'd give a ramekina chance, but double F minus.Next we tried an arepa maker,which was a pretty brilliant idea,but the bun was still too small,so we definitely didn'tpostpone our entire shootto make a wider bun.We also underbaked it this timeso it was a little bit more pliable.Get outta here!We followed the same building process,concentrating on the middle.Ideally, the holes in thisarepa maker would be deeper,but this was still likea 500% improvement.After cooking this for a few minutes,this little guy made it!We gave it a little trimmingto get that UFO shapeand it ended up looking pretty cute.After two days of failure, we cut into itand I was pretty happy with the result.It was definitely tiny,but like an adorable delicious snack.Like, maybe some you'dsee at a Korean 7-11.Worked much better, althoughwe couldn't overstuff it,because the edges wouldn't crimp and seal.Regardless of the effortit took, it tasted bomb,like a savory and raciallydiverse uncrustable.This buldak chicken wouldbe a great recipe over riceor stuffed into a burrito, too.I do wish I put a bunchof cheese in here, though.Now we move on to the cheeseburger UFO.Take 80/20 ground chuck and form that intotwo to three ounce patties and set aside.I don't know what I was doingwith those measuring cups,so don't worry about it.For our umami sauce. combinetwo tablespoons soy sauce,one tablespoon sugar,quarter cup Worchestershire,and half a cup of ketchup. That's it.Tor the burgers, get a pan pipin' hotand then sear burgerswith salt and pepper,put some American cheese onthere, and torch those boys.Dude, I swear this is how theywere doing it in the video.Then you're gonna sauce upyour buns, add some lettuce,the burger, Kewpie mayo,chilies, and onions.Customize this however you want.Sriracha, bacon, peanut butter,whatever you feel like, dog.Give that a secondary smashin that easy bake oven.Cut this hot pocket in half andcheck out the cross section.Yeah, boy! Still one of my favorite foods.We're just missing some french fries.Maybe a Grimace milkshake.(Kai imitating jet engine)No offense to the smashburger community,but this last one was my favorite.Bulgogi, or Korean marinated short ribs.Cut off any bones andthen slice the meat thin,around one pound'sworth, and set it aside.The marinade is a third cup brown sugar,third cup soy sauce,three tablespoons mirin,two tablespoons rice wine vinegar,two tablespoons sesame oil,and a little extra 'cause it's awesome,two tablespoons of ginger-garlic paste,break up any large chunks,add the ribblets with likehalf a teaspoon of salt andmarinate that overnight.Just like with the chicken,heat up a little bit of oilover very high heat, trying to getsome super nice caramelization.As much as I'd love to eatthis with a bowl of riceand kimchi, we gotta stuffthis into our baby UFO burgers.You can't beat soy sauce and sesame oil.One dope thing about thisis that I really likethe crunch that the press adds.It's like a panini or a cubano.Got me thinking, maybewe should experimentwith some stuffed grilled cheese. Hmm!(smooth music)\n"