Hi all! We decided to make a Korean style dish called Bo Ssam where the pork is usually steamed, thinly sliced and served alongside a number of sides and condiments. We thought it would be fun to add more flavor to the pork itself by brining and roasting the pork shoulder and glazing it with the sweet and deeply flavorful syrup.
Not only is this a fairly easy dish to make, despite the seemingly intimidating number of ingredients and components, it’s a great dish to serve for a get together with a naturally beautiful presentation. We took our photos and excitedly started eating our finished product. Bo Ssam is something that’s actually surprisingly light and refreshing despite the use of roasted pork. There are so many different layers of flavor in this dish from the sweet and salty pork, to the umami-ness of the perilla leaves.
The syrup really added a great touch of sweetness, against the salty brine, as well a a nice caramelized crust to the pork. We were pretty much eating that pork for days, with everything, and it was awesome. This dish is also super fun because of all the other added elements you can choose to pair with your pork. Most dishes that come to mind when we think of pork are rather heavy. This is actually lighter, and more refreshing. So go get all your cute small dishes out and make this!
Other Korean dishes you might like:
If you love Asian inspired food, check out our Asian Inspired recipe section:
Bo Ssam
INGREDIENTS
pork brine
- ½ cup kosher salt
- ⅓ cup granulated sugar
- ⅓ cup light brown sugar
- 2 tablespoons crystallized ginger, chopped
- 6 cups water
- 3 pounds Becker Lane Organic Farm Pork Shoulder
- ⅔ cup BLiS Bourbon Barrel Matured Maple Syrup
seasoned spinach
- 1 pound spinach
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 green onion, thinly sliced
- 1 tablespoon sesame oil
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce
- ½ teaspoon toasted sesame seeds
spicy shredded daikon
- 1 tablespoon distilled vinegar
- 2 teaspoons gochugaru (Korean chili powder)
- 2 teaspoons granulated sugar
- 1 garlic clove, minced
- 1 green onion, thinly sliced
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ daikon radish (about 10 ounces), coarsely shredded
- 1 ½ cups steamed rice
- 1 cup store bought kimchi, coarsely chopped
- ½ cup Ssamjang
- 1 tablespoons tiny salted and fermented shrimp (saeujeot)
- 40 perilla leaves
INSTRUCTIONS
- Place brine ingredients into a large container, except pork, and stir until the sugar dissolves.
- Place pork into the brine, cover and refrigerate for 6 hours.
- Remove the pork from the brine and rinse over cold water. Pat dry and place onto a roasting pan.
- Preheat oven to 425°F.
- Place pork into oven and roast for 15 minutes. Reduce heat to 325°F and cover roast with foil. Continue to cook for 1 ½ hours.
- Remove foil and baste with ½ the syrup. Place roast back into the oven and continue to bake for 30 minutes.
- Baste with remaining syrup. Raise heat back to 425°F and cook for 15 minutes.
- Remove from heat and allow roast to rest for 10 minutes.
- Bring a large pot of water up to a boil. Drop the spinach into the boiling water for 30 seconds.
- Drain spinach from water and squeeze out any excess water.
- Place remaining seasoned spinach ingredients into a mixing bowl and whisk together.
- Toss spinach into the seasoning mixture, cover and refrigerate for at least an hour.
- Place all ingredients for spicy seasoned daikon, except for daikon, into a mixing bowl.
- Pour mixture over daikon and mix together until completely combined.
- Cover and refrigerate for 2 hours, to allow the daikon to marinate.
- To serve: Thinly slice the pork and serve on a platter with kimchi. Place remaining sides/condiments into individual dishes and serve.
- This dish is meant to be eaten “taco style”, by wrapping a small amount of each component (pork, spinach, rice, kimchi, etc) into a perilla leaf before consuming it.