Momofuku’s Bo

Ssam
Recipe from David Chang and
Peter Meehan
Adapted by Sam Sifton

Time 7 hours, plus 6 hours’

seasoning
Rating (7182) Marcus Nilsson for The New York Times. Food stylist: Brian Preston-Campbell. Prop
stylist: PJ Mehaffey.

This is a recipe to win the dinner party sweepstakes, and at very low stakes: slow-roasted pork
shoulder served with lettuce, rice and a raft of condiments. The chef David Chang serves the dish,
known by its Korean name, bo ssam, at his Momofuku restaurant in the East Village and
elsewhere. He shared the recipe with The Times in 2012. Mr. Chang is known as a kitchen
innovator, but his bo ssam is a remarkably straightforward way to achieve high-level excellence
with little more than ingredients and time. Simply cure the pork overnight beneath a shower of salt
and some sugar, then roast it in a low oven until it collapses. Apply some brown sugar and a little
more salt, then roast the skin a while longer until it takes on the quality of glistening bark.
Meanwhile, make condiments – hot sauces and kimchi, rice, some oysters if you wish. Then tear
meat off the bone and wrap it in lettuce, and keep at that until everything’s gone. —Sam Sifton

INGREDIENTS PREPARATION

Yield: 6 to 10 servings Step 1

Pork Butt
1 whole bone-in pork butt or picnic
ham (8 to 10 pounds)
1 cup white sugar
1 cup plus 1 tablespoon kosher salt
7 tablespoons brown sugar
Ginger-scallion Sauce
2½ cups thinly sliced scallions,
both green and white parts
½ cup peeled, minced fresh ginger
¼ cup neutral oil (like grapeseed)
Place the pork in a large, shallow bowl. Mix the white sugar
and 1 cup of the salt together in another bowl, then rub the
mixture all over the meat. Cover it with plastic wrap and place
in the refrigerator for at least 6 hours, or overnight.
Step 2
When you’re ready to cook, heat oven to 300. Remove pork
from refrigerator, brush any excess sugar mixture off the fat
cap and discard any juices. Place the pork in a roasting pan and
set in the oven and cook for approximately 6 hours, or until it
collapses, yielding easily to the tines of a fork. (After the first
hour, baste hourly with pan juices.) At this point, you may
remove the meat from the oven and allow it to rest for up to an
hour.
Step 3
1½ teaspoons light soy sauce Meanwhile, make the ginger-scallion sauce. In a large bowl,

1 scant teaspoon sherry vinegar combine the scallions with the rest of the ingredients. Mix well
and taste, adding salt if needed.
½ teaspoon kosher salt, or to taste
Step 4
Ssam Sauce
Make the ssam sauce. In a medium bowl, combine the chili
2 tablespoons fermented bean-
pastes with the vinegar and oil, and mix well.
and-chili paste (ssamjang, available
in many Asian markets, and online) Step 5
1 tablespoon chili paste Prepare rice, wash lettuce and, if using, shuck the oysters. Put
(kochujang, available in many Asian kimchi and sauces into serving bowls.
markets, and online)
Step 6
½ cup sherry vinegar
When your accompaniments are prepared and you are ready to
½ cup neutral oil (like grapeseed)
serve the food, turn oven to 500. In a small bowl, stir together
the remaining tablespoon of salt with the brown sugar. Rub this
Accompaniments mixture all over the cooked pork. Place in oven for
approximately 10 to 15 minutes, or until a dark caramel crust
2 cups plain white rice, cooked
has developed on the meat. Serve hot, with the
3 heads bibb lettuce, leaves accompaniments.
separated, washed and dried
1 dozen or more fresh oysters
(optional)
Kimchi (available in many Asian
markets, and online)

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