Who's Made Momofuku Bo Ssam at Home?
There's an episode of No Reservations where Anthony Bourdain visits Ssam and dives into the bo ssam, which features a gorgeously caramelized pork butt as the centerpiece. If you haven't seen it--you are missing out on some incredible food porn! Silly me! It's called the Food Porn episode.
So, I've been fixating on that pork butt ever since. I want to make it during my family vacation. I know it'll be a huge hit. I know how to make the traditional Korean version of bo ssam and I have a few ideas of my own to tweak the original. AND, I found a recipe from David Chang, himself, on Martha Stewart's site (she's a huge fan of his, too--she was practically gushing during the intro...well, as much as proper MS can gush).
Has anyone tried the recipe on Martha's site? How did it go? What would you do differently? Have you actually tried the bo ssam at Ssam? How did the recipe compare to the restaurant dish?
Ed? Are you out there? You've raved about Chang's bo ssam in the past. Care to give me any tips or advice on this?
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11 Comments:
Haha, this isn't going to come as a surprise but I've tried it. Just the pork butt, not the kimchi sauce, oysters, etc.
It was quite good, but I can't really compare because i haven't had the REAL bo ssam. I used a recipe I found by googling Bo Ssam recipe.
I also recently made the Blueberry and Cream cookies from Milk Bar. $20 worth of ingredients later I had my own Blueberry and Cream cookies!! The recipe itself wasn't that hard or as time consuming as I expected (the milk crumbs don't take that long, and you can prepare the other ingredients while they bake in the oven).
ag3208 at 9:18AM on 08/09/09
@ag3208--Turns out there's another recipe for the bo ssam using a brine versus the dry cure on Martha's site. Do you recall which recipe you used?
wookie at 11:55AM on 08/09/09
I used the dry cure. I can't remember where I got the recipe, perhaps Epicurious? I like the dry cure because it takes less room in my already packed fridge.
ag3208 at 12:07PM on 08/09/09
@ag3208--there were some comments that the results were way too salty. Did you have any problems with that and was there enough liquid for basting during cooking?
wookie at 4:14PM on 08/09/09
@Wookie: I didn't have any complaints about it being too salty nor did I find it salty myself. I'm trying to remember what kind of salt I used. I think coarse sea salt.
The cookies however I found kind of salty, maybe I put too much salt.
ag3208 at 5:46PM on 08/09/09
The premise is a pretty traditional Taiwanese dish, so yes, it can be done well at home.
Just braise some good, fatty pork belly in a base of soy sauce, anise, five spice, sugar, scallions and ginger until its meltingly tender. No nonsense about any fancy brines or what not.
Chill to let it set up and make it easier to slice.
Serve with chopped sweet/sour pickled Chinese mustard greens (I like to briefly stir fry the pickled greens with a bit of ginger, not enough to color the greens or to wither them, just enough to get rid of some of the raw astringency and to warm it through).
Sprinkle with peanuts crushed fine with some sugar and sandwich the whole thing in those bifurcated ssam buns (gua bao, find it in most Chinese markets).
fuuchan at 8:04PM on 08/09/09
No! But I made his pork belly sandwiches! They were not as good as the real thing, but pretty damn good and satisfied my cravings.
Also, the Bo Ssam is amazing. We went there for my friend's birthday--8 of us--and still had leftovers. And it was gooood. I still dream about it.
inothernews at 11:22AM on 08/10/09
@fuuchan--ssam is the common Korean practice of wrapping lettuce leaves around any variety of meats, rice and condiments. The Korean bo ssam uses braised pork belly like your traditional Taiwanese dish, but without the soy based-braise...all the flavor comes from the variety of condiments usually served with the bo ssam.
What I'm wondering is if anyone had tried Chang's recipe, which he calls a meeting of Korean ssam and American bbq. Your braising liquid is more along the lines of what I had in mind. Though I will likely add sesame oil and leave out the 5 spice to keep it more Korean. Or not, don't know which way I'm going with this quite yet.
wookie at 11:39AM on 08/10/09
@fuuchan--you speak of gua bao which is more like Momofuku's steamed pork belly buns wrapped in a fluffy white lily pad bun (like mantou).
The bo ssam at Momofuku Ssam Bar is a braised pork shoulder butt (not belly, the shoulder) wrapped in lettuce. Both signature dishes, but not the same.
kathryn at 12:18PM on 08/10/09
there was a post about this last winter, Zach Brooks from midtownlunch made it himself when they sold out, it was the Martha Stewart recipe
http://newyork.seriouseats.com/2009/02/momofukus-diy-bo-ssam-package-nyc-david-chang.html
allot at 2:30PM on 08/10/09
thanks, allot, (teehee)I didn't see it during my search.
wookie at 9:21PM on 08/10/09