Yukhoe — Raw Beef Korean Style (육회)

Yukhoe appears in Joseon-era royal court records as a prestige dish; its preparation is documented in 19th-century Korean household texts. Royal court versions used Hanwoo beef specifically

Yukhoe (육회) is Korean raw beef — fine-julienned top round or sirloin (홍두깨살, the eye of round — a tight-grained, low-fat cut that julliennes cleanly without shredding) dressed with ganjang, sesame oil, garlic, sugar, and topped with a raw egg yolk. Unlike steak tartare's ground format, yukhoe demands precise julienne cuts that require specific technique: the beef is cut along the grain into 5cm strips then julienned across the grain into 3mm threads. This produces a springy, chewy texture rather than the soft paste of ground meat. A julienne of Asian pear (배, bae) mixed with the beef adds sweetness and the pear's natural enzyme tenderises the beef slightly.

• Parallels French steak tartare, Japanese beef tataki (lightly seared or raw), and Italian carpaccio — all traditions of raw or minimally processed high-quality beef dressed with seasoning — but yukhoe's julienne format and Asian pear-egg yolk combination are distinctly Korean

Yukhoe's clean, slightly sweet raw beef flavour with the fragrance of sesame oil and the crunch of julienned pear is one of Korean cuisine's most refined preparations — it demands both excellent beef and precise cutting technique, and rewards both with a dish that has no international equivalent in format or flavour.