Cook: Bo Ssäm
The first time I had bo ssäm was in Koreatown in LA with some friends. It was instantly one of the most memorable things I’ve ever tried. My Korean friends that took me were well versed in what to order and what to do and for me, as a first timer, it was incredible! The picture to the right is a photo of the meal. At the restaurant Kobawoo House, where we ate, they serve it with the traditional pork belly slices. This process involves boiling pork belly with various ingredients and thinly slicing it. You then eat it wrapped in thinly sliced daikon sheets or cabbage and it comes with a delicious variety of toppings. I wanted to try to make it but am honestly not a huge fan of pork belly (it’s a little too fatty for me). So, I found this recipe in David Chang’s Momofuku cookbook where he uses pork butt. The recipe below pretty much follows his cookbook version but with a few modifications. For example, I didn’t service it with oysters, as he does at his restaurant in NYC.
It’s really the perfect recipe for serving a group, and it’s incredibly easy in terms of prep and cooking. You can also repurpose the leftover meat for salads, taco filling, quesadilla filling, or just eat it with some rice and a fried egg.
Serves: 8 or more
Prep Time: 15 minutes, plus 6 to 12 hours marinating time, Total Time: 2 days (slow roasted for up to 6 hours after marination)
Ingredients:
1 whole 8-10 lb Boston pork butt (bone in preferred but if it’s boneless it’ll work fine). I originally made this with a 20 lb pork butt and it fed over 10 people with an ample amount of leftovers.
1/2 cup of sugar
1/2 cup of salt (plus more if necessary) - as a side note, I cut down the amount of salt and sugar bc it provided a lot of waste at the end. The original recipe calls for 1 whole cup of both sugar and salt.
4-5 tbsp of light brown sugar
Toppings:
Kimchi
Ginger scallion sauce (my recipe here, this is a must!)
Ssam sauce (my recipe here)
2 cups of cooked white rice (my instructions for perfectly cooked rice here)
1/2 head of cabbage (rinsed and dried and cut into small pieces) or a few heads of Bibb lettuce (well washed, spun dry and separated) - these greens will form the wrappers, you can also used thinly sliced pickled daikon if you prefer, this is my preference
Oysters (if you have them and want to shuck them)
Directions:
Set the pork butt in a large roasting pan. One that fits the meat and is a little snug.
Mix all the white sugar and salt in a bowl. Rub this mixture into the meat as best you can, throw any of the leftover out.
Cover the pan with plastic wrap and let it sit in the fridge for a minimum of 6 hours or overnight.
In the morning, heat the oven to 300°F. Take the meat from the fridge and throw away any juices in the pan. Place the pork into the oven and cook for 6 hours.
Baste the meat with the fat and pan juices each hour if possible. Once you can pull the meat away with a fork, it should be ready. Let it rest at room temperature for an hour, or serve right away.
Heat the oven to 500° - Once it’s ready to be served, mix 1 tbsp salt and the brown sugar. Rub this on top of the pork - cook for only 10-15 minutes until a nice crust has formed. You can omit this part if you don’t want a crust on top of the pork - I didn’t do this the first time I made the recipe and it still tasted great.
Serve on a platter with all the toppings listed.
Pork is prepped and ready to sit in the fridge overnight. Simple rub of salt and sugar only. Those fatty pieces are the most delicious!
Here’s what she looks like after 6.5 hours of slow roasting.
All wrapped up in some lettuce with magic green sauce on top.