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MOMOFUKU BO SSAM

Delicious slow-roasted pork served with traditional Korean sides, kimchi, ssamjang, rice, and wrapped in lettuce leaves
Prep Time45 minutes
Cook Time7 hours
Course: Main Course
Cuisine: Fusion, Korean
Keyword: Bo Ssam, Slow Roasted Pork

Ingredients

Pork Roast

  • 8 to 10 pounds 1 piece pork butt, ideally bone-in with some fat ok lots of fat
  • 1 cup granulated sugar
  • 1 cup coarse Kosher salt preferably Diamond

Topping

  • 1 Tbsp coarse kosher salt
  • 7 Tbsp brown sugar
  • 2 tsp apple cider vinegar

Sides:

  • 1 dozen raw oysters shucked optional
  • 1 cup Napa Cabbage Kimchi plus 1 cup puréed
  • 1 cup Ginger Scallion Sauce see link in post
  • Ssämjang
  • Cooked Short-Grain Rice Count on a bowl of cooked rice per person
  • 3 to 4 heads Bibb lettuce leaves separated, well washed, and spun dry
  • Maldon or other high-quality coarse sea salt

Instructions

  • Place the pork in a roasting pan or baking dish. It should fit snugly. Combine 1 cup of sugar and 1 cup of the salt in a bowl and mix them well. Rub the mixture all over the meat. Cover it with plastic wrap then refrigerate it at least 6 hours or overnight. discard an excess sugar salt mix.
  • Heat the oven to 300 F. Cover the roasting pan with cooking foil. Wrap it around at least twice covering all the gaps. Remove the pork from the fridge and discard any juice. Leave the rub on the pork.
  • Place the pork in a roasting pan (fatty side up), set in the oven and cook it for about 6 hours. (This can vary depending on the size of the pork. See note below) Once cooked, the pork should be very easy to pull apart with tongs and forks. Remove the pork from the oven.
  • Combine the remaining salt, brown sugar and vinegar in a small bowl. Mix well. Gently rub the mixture all over the cooked pork (mainly the top of the pork). Use the back of a spoon to rub paste on pork since the roast will be pretty hot.
  • Turn the oven to 500 F. Place the pork in the oven and cook it until a dark caramel crust develops on the meat. It takes 5 to 10 mins. Serve hot, with the accompaniments.
  • When you first pull off the pork, it’s very moist and tender, but it dries out fairly fast (like within 20 mins)! So serve immediately and eat up. It still tastes good though!
  • For an easy ssam sauce, buy the ssamjang tub instead of making it from scratch. Add a couple of drops of sesame oil and a sprinkle of sesame seeds to the ssamjang if you like.

Notes

If you’re using a smaller piece of pork, reduce the rub ingredients (e.g. sugar, salt) and the cooking time. As a guideline it takes about 4 hours to 4.5 hours to roast 2 kg / 4.4 pounds bone-in pork shoulder.