Bo Ssäm Korean style pork butt

Wally1158

First time poster.  Just got a large BGE in December and have been using it regularly since.  My sister out in Oakland suggested I try Bo Ssäm whic I'm going to do this weekend, and I figured I'd share the recipe (note that the web link has some nice photos and links to associated recipes):

http://cltampa.com/dailyloaf/archives/2010/03/03/momofukus-bo-ssandaumlm-recipe#.TybEKYHD5oZ

Bo Ssäm (adapted from Momofuku)

Ingredients
1 (8- to 10-pound) bone-in pork shoulder or pork butt
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup plus 1 tablespoon coarse salt
7 tablespoons light-brown sugar
12 oysters, shucked, for serving
1 cup Napa Cabbage Kimchi, for serving
1 cup Napa Cabbage Kimchi, pureed, for serving
1 cup Ginger-Scallion Sauce, for serving
1 cup Ssam Sauce, for serving
2 cups steamed short-grain white rice, for serving
3 to 4 heads Bibb lettuce, leaves separated, washed well, and spun dry
Sea salt
Directions
Place pork in a large bowl or roasting pan. In a medium bowl, mix together granulated sugar and 1 cup coarse salt. Rub sugar mixture all over pork and cover bowl with plastic wrap; transfer to refrigerator for at least 6 hours and up to overnight.
Preheat oven to 300 degrees.
Transfer pork to a large roasting pan, discarding any accumulated juices (or drain accumulated juices from roasting pan that pork is in). Transfer roasting pan to oven and cook, basting every hour with rendered fat in roasting pan, until meat is tender and easily shredded with a fork, about 6 hours.
Meanwhile, in a small bowl, mix together remaining tablespoon coarse salt and brown sugar; rub mixture all over pork.
Increase oven temperature to 500 degrees. Return pork to oven until sugar has melted into a crisp crust, 10 to 15 minutes. Serve hot with oysters, kimchis, ginger-scallion sauce, ssam sauce, rice, lettuce, and sea salt.

Napa Cabbage Kimchi
Ingredients
1 small to medium head napa cabbage, halved crosswise, halves sliced lengthwise into 1-inch-thick pieces
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons coarse salt
20 cloves garlic, peeled
20 slices peeled ginger
1/2 cup Korean chile powder
1/4 cup fish sauce
1/4 cup soy sauce
2 teaspoons salted shrimp
1/2 cup (1-inch) scallion pieces
1/2 cup julienned carrot pieces
Directions
Place cabbage in a large bowl and sprinkle 2 teaspoons sugar and salt over it. Transfer bowl to refrigerator; refrigerate overnight.
Place garlic and ginger in the bowl of a small food processor; pulse until finely chopped. Transfer garlic and ginger to a large bowl, along with chile powder, fish sauce, soy sauce, shrimp, and remaining 1/2 cup sugar; stir to combine. Mixture should resemble the texture of a creamy salad dressing. If mixture is too thick, stir in 1/3 cup of water.

Ginger-Scallion Sauce
Ingredients
2 1/2 cups thinly sliced scallions (from 1 to 2 large bunches)
1/2 cup finely minced peeled fresh ginger
1/4 cup grapeseed oil
1 1/2 teaspoons soy sauce
3/4 teaspoons sherry-wine vinegar
3/4 teaspoons coarse salt
Directions
Mix all ingredients together in a medium bowl; let stand 15 to 20 minutes before using. Sauce may be kept covered in the refrigerator for up to 2 days.

Ssam Sauce
Ingredients
1 tablespoon ssamjang (soybean and chile-pepper paste)
1 1/2 teaspoons kochujang (Korean chile-pepper paste)
1/4 cup sherry-wine vinegar
1/4 cup grapeseed oil
Directions
Mix all ingredients together in a medium bowl. Sauce may be kept covered in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.

Little Steven

Sounds wonderful! Do you follow Maangchi?

Wally1158

No, but just checked it out.  Looks good.  

My experience with Korean food is pretty much limited to Korean barbecue joints I checked out in Hawaii while working there in the 80s.

Little Steven

She is pretty good. Done quite a few of  her recipes.

Wally1158

I made this recipe last week.  Cooked the butt for 18 hours and it came out nice and tender, but the bark was too salty and the brown sugar never turned into a glaze.  It was still great. The kim chee, two sauces, rice and pork wrapped in lettuce has great texture and flavors.  I left out the oysters since I don't have a decent source locally (I
live in north Georgia), but don't think the dish suffered because of
this.

However, I think it needs a little tweaking to work well on the BGE.  First, I'd rinse the brine off the butt before cooking to reduce saltiness of the bark.  Second, I'd wrap the cooked butt in foil after final rubdown with brown sugar and glazing of the roast.  This is quite a departure from good ole southern pulled pork, but it's worth a try.

Cowdogs

I've run across this recipe in a few different forums in past couple of weeks. Looks like a great way to change up the pork butt. I will be trying it.

Ragtop99

I have Korean friends that want me to cook this on the egg. The recipe states "Transfer roasting pan to oven and cook, basting every hour with rendered
fat in roasting pan, until meat is tender and easily shredded with a
fork, about 6 hours."  Did you baste every hour or can I skip that since the Egg isn't going to dry it out? 

John Ross

I'm pretty sure my wife follows her on YouTube. She was showing me one of her vidsthe other day. She's really good, and seems so comfortable in front of the camera...

Ragtop99

I did this today.  Had Korean friends coming over bring the sauces and side dishes.

It was an 8lb butt and it cooked at 275 - 310* dome for just under 9
hrs.   The first hour was probably at 225 - 250* before it crept up to
310* and I slowly got it back down to around 290*.  The only rub was a
sugar and salt combo (75%/25%). I reduced the amount of  salt by half based upon Wally's findings.  I I didn't use any smoking wood. Bark
is pretty minimal as it is just the reddish color of a smoked meat.  No
burning even with the sugar rub.  Came off early so I wrapped it in foil and stuck it in a pre-warmed cooler. 




I then proceeded with brown sugar and salt rub.  Again I cut the amount of salt in half.  I had a difficult time get the mixture to stick to the cooked butt.  By mixing in a little fat that had collected in the foil, I achieved some success, but it wasn't a lot on the sides.  The top I didn't use any fixture mixture and if I ever make this again I will mix some of the fat in and coat it like a paste.  Just enough liquid fat to give it a heavy paste consistency.  The fat when it heats it cooks the sugar on.  Here it is coated with brown sugar:



Getting the BGE up to 500* took some time.  I had left it running at 250* and ended up removing the DW and fully opening the bottom grate for 15 minutes or so to get it up over 450*.  I left the bottom grate wide open and put the DW back on to hold it at 500*.  I put the the meat on for about 12 minutes.  The only parts that weren't crystalized was where there was lots of brown sugar and no fat on the top.

The final product:


It was good for a change, but if you want a classic pulled pork sandwich, this isn't what you are hungry for.  With no spice rub and no snmoking wood, the meat was tender but had no special flavor.  The bark wasn't thick and it was sweet.  Mixed in with Korean chili paste, rice and rolled in a piece of lettuce and the combo works well.  A couple times a year will be good.  The rest of the time I want my mesquite, rub, and a shiner bock.