What does Bo Ssam mean in Korean?

[po.s͈am] Bossam is a popular dish in South Korea, often served as anju (i.e. food accompanying alcoholic drinks). To eat, the meat and side dishes are wrapped together in ssam vegetables, hence the literal meaning of bossam: "wrapped" or "packaged" .

How do you eat bo ssam?

To eat, each person should dip a piece of pork in the saewoo jeot, then set it on a cabbage leaf. Add a sliver of garlic, a dab of ssamjang, and a few pieces of the mu malaengi; if you like, add a slice of green chile too. Wrap the cabbage around it all and eat it in one big delicious bite.

Bossam (Korean Boiled Pork Belly Wraps) This Bossam recipe highlights Korean boiled pork belly, slow-cooked and served wrapped in napa cabbage leaves with various side dishes. It's a healthy and delicious Korean meal .

Does boiling pork belly make it tender?

The idea is that by boiling the fatty pork belly, it not only renders out some of the fat, it also tenderizes the meat . Because the boiling time is so short it's debatable how tender it makes the meat, but what it does do is prime the fat for high-heat cooking.

What goes well with Bo ssam?

The shrimp sauce is unskippable, not only because it goes well with the pork, but it helps digest it well, too. If you are really pressed for time and need to leave something out, it can be the oyster salad and the pickled cabbage. Just serve pork, shrimp sauce, kimchi and rice, and maybe some lettuce.

What is the difference between ssam and Ssambap?

Ssambap are Korean lettuce wraps made of boldly-flavored seasoned meat, rice, a zingy sauce called ssamjang, and crisp vegetables. Ssam means "wrap" in Korean, and bap means "rice." Besides the rice and the wrap (lettuce most of the time), many variations exist when it comes to the filling of this tasty pocket.

What does SSAM sauce taste like?

Spicy, intensely savory, slightly sweet, and wholly umami , the paste cuts through the richness of food much like kimchi provides welcome acidity to everything from stews to mac and cheese. Ssamjang's potency means a little goes a long way.

What does ssam mean in Korean?

Ssam (쌈), meaning “ wrapped ”, refers to a dish in Korean cuisine in which, usually, leafy vegetables are used to wrap a piece of meat such as pork or other filling.

What is ssam in Korean culture?

Korean ssam use numerous vegetables from the land to the sea . These include the broad leaves of kkaennip (perilla), pumpkin and cabbages from the fields, and miyeok (sea mustard) and dasima (kelp) from the ocean. But of all the wraps, sangchu ssam, or lettuce wraps, are the most popular with Koreans.

What is ssamjang in Korean language?

Ssamjang (Korean: 쌈장 ) is a thick, spicy paste used with food wrapped in a leaf in Korean cuisine. The sauce is made of fermented soy beans (doenjang), red chili paste (gochujang), sesame oil, onion, garlic, green onions, and optionally brown sugar.

What is SSAM BAP in Korean?

Ssambap are Korean lettuce wraps made of boldly-flavored seasoned meat, rice, a zingy sauce called ssamjang, and crisp vegetables. Ssam means "wrap" in Korean, and bap means "rice." Besides the rice and the wrap (lettuce most of the time), many variations exist when it comes to the filling of this tasty pocket.

Momof*cku’s Bo Ssam Recipe (2024)

Recipe from David Chang and Peter Meehan

Adapted by Sam Sifton

Total Time: 7 hours, plus 6 hours’ seasoning
Rating: 5(8,448)
Notes: Read community notes

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 Momof*cku 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

Featured in: The Bo Ssam Miracle

or to save this recipe.
Subscriber benefit: give recipes to anyone
As a subscriber, you have

10 gift recipes to give each month. Anyone can view them - even nonsubscribers.

Learn more.
Subscribe
Print Options
Include recipe photo

Advertisem*nt

Ingredients

Yield:6 to 10 servings

Pork Butt

1whole bone-in pork butt or picnic ham (8 to 10 pounds)
1cup white sugar
1cup plus 1 tablespoon kosher salt
7tablespoons brown sugar

Ginger-scallion Sauce

2½cups thinly sliced scallions, both green and white parts
½cup peeled, minced fresh ginger
¼cup neutral oil (like grapeseed)
1½teaspoons light soy sauce
1scant teaspoon sherry vinegar
½teaspoon kosher salt, or to taste

Ssam Sauce

2tablespoons fermented bean-and-chili paste (ssamjang, available in many Asian markets, and online)
1tablespoon chili paste (kochujang, available in many Asian markets, and online)
½cup sherry vinegar
½cup neutral oil (like grapeseed)

Accompaniments

2cups plain white rice, cooked
3heads bibb lettuce, leaves separated, washed and dried
1dozen or more fresh oysters (optional)
Kimchi (available in many Asian markets, and online)

Ingredient Substitution Guide

Nutritional analysis per serving (8 servings)

1176 calories; 71 grams fat; 19 grams saturated fat; 1 gram trans fat; 34 grams monounsaturated fat; 13 grams polyunsaturated fat; 54 grams carbohydrates; 2 grams dietary fiber; 34 grams sugars; 78 grams protein; 1858 milligrams sodium

Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.

Preparation

Step
1
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
See Also
Easy Cheesy Cauliflower Rice Recipe 21 Ramen Recipes to Build a Perfect Bowl at Home Best Pad Thai Recipe, Authentic Bangkok Street Vendor Style Vegan Honey Butter Chicken Recipe
3
Meanwhile, make the ginger-scallion sauce. In a large bowl, combine the scallions with the rest of the ingredients. Mix well and taste, adding salt if needed.
Step
4
Make the ssam sauce. In a medium bowl, combine the chili pastes with the vinegar and oil, and mix well.
Step
5
Prepare rice, wash lettuce and, if using, shuck the oysters. Put kimchi and sauces into serving bowls.
Step
6
When your accompaniments are prepared and you are ready to serve the food, turn oven to 500. In a small bowl, stir together the remaining tablespoon of salt with the brown sugar. Rub this mixture all over the cooked pork. Place in oven for approximately 10 to 15 minutes, or until a dark caramel crust has developed on the meat. Serve hot, with the accompaniments.

Ratings

out of 5

8,448

user ratings

Your rating

or to rate this recipe.

Have you cooked this?

or to mark this recipe as cooked.

Private Notes

Leave a Private Note on this recipe and see it here.

Cooking Notes

Ben Cripps6 years ago

I have made this numerous times. Everyone loves it.

I found that the salt/sugar mixture at the final stage, tended to fall off of the roast. Basically I would have small patches of sugar with the rest ending up on the bottom of the roasting pan.

I experimented a bit and now I add a small amount of cider vinegar to the salt/sugar combo. It forms a nice paste that stays in place and forms a nice lacquer. I also used water and various liquors but landed on the vinegar as the best.

RK6 years ago

The one cup of white sugar and one cup of kosher salt that you cure the meat with for 6 hours, do you leave it on the meat or wipe it off before baking at 300 degrees?

Randall6 years ago

I prepared thanksgiving for the Girlfriends family. All twenty-three of them. Yes there was turkey and the green bean casserole, I couldn't help but throw this in the mix along with crab Rangoon. They like me now.