Cookbooks
The Cult 'New York Times' Dish I Make for Friends (& Myself!) Week After Week
This slow-roasted, crispy-chewy pork shoulder gives and gives and gives.
I came across this bo ssäm recipe while testing hundreds of others for our co-founder Amanda Hesser’s forthcoming 10th-anniversary update to The Essential New York Times Cookbook. The process is straightforward, if not requiring a little patience: Coat pork shoulder in a one-to-one mixture of sugar and salt. Let rest overnight. Stick into an oven. Twiddle thumbs as pork-scented air wafts around you for six hours. Baste hourly, if you want, but really just let the roast baste itself until shreddy and covered in a glossy bark.
A few days after I tested the dish for the first time, Amanda texted, asking if I could remake the bo ssäm for a dinner party, and then a few weeks after that dinner party, the request got truncated to: Dinner, 6, Friday, the pork again?
Now, “dinner party” and "Sifton’s Momofuku bo ssäm" are so synonymous for me that all anyone needs to do is throw up the bat pork signal, and I’m there with an eight-pound pork shoulder, a box of Diamond Crystal, and a bag of granulated sugar. Needless to say, the recipe did make it into the revised cookbook.
This is not to say, however, that the low-and-slow pork shoulder only comes out to play at these dinner parties. There have been many Sunday afternoons when I’ve been uninspired, faced with meal prep for the week, and after staring at fridge condiments for a long while, biked straight to the butcher shop in search of what’s fresh (and on sale). I’ve substituted in a lamb shoulder. A lamb neck. A forgotten nub of pork belly. All this to say: The recipe is very forgiving. Any slow-cooking meat will take to it well—and each iteration will emerge so very unctuous, encased by a chewy-crisp bark.
| 1 | whole bone-in, skin-on pork butt or picnic ham, 8 to 10 pounds |
| 1 | cup granulated sugar |
| 1 | cup plus 1 tablespoon kosher salt |
| 7 | tablespoons brown sugar |
| 1 | whole bone-in, skin-on pork butt or picnic ham, 8 to 10 pounds |
| 1 | cup granulated sugar |
| 1 | cup plus 1 tablespoon kosher salt |
| 7 | tablespoons brown sugar |
| 2 1/2 | cups thinly sliced scallions, both green and white parts |
| 1/2 | cup minced fresh ginger |
| 1/4 | cup neutral oil, such as canola or grapeseed |
| 1 1/2 | teaspoons light soy sauce |
| 1 | scant teaspoon sherry vinegar |
| 1/2 | teaspoon kosher salt, or to taste |
| For the ssäm sauce | |
| 2 | tablespoons ssamjang fermented bean-and-chile paste (available in many Asian markets and online) |
| 1 | tablespoon gochujang chile paste (available in many Asian markets and online) |
| 1/2 | cup sherry vinegar |
| 1/2 | cup neutral oil, such as canola or grapeseed |
| Accompaniments | |
| 2 | cups plain white rice, cooked |
| 3 | heads Bibb lettuce, leaves separated, washed and dried |
| Kimchi, if you can find it at the market |
| 2 1/2 | cups thinly sliced scallions, both green and white parts |
| 1/2 | cup minced fresh ginger |
| 1/4 | cup neutral oil, such as canola or grapeseed |
| 1 1/2 | teaspoons light soy sauce |
| 1 | scant teaspoon sherry vinegar |
| 1/2 | teaspoon kosher salt, or to taste |
| For the ssäm sauce | |
| 2 | tablespoons ssamjang fermented bean-and-chile paste (available in many Asian markets and online) |
| 1 | tablespoon gochujang chile paste (available in many Asian markets and online) |
| 1/2 | cup sherry vinegar |
| 1/2 | cup neutral oil, such as canola or grapeseed |
| Accompaniments | |
| 2 | cups plain white rice, cooked |
| 3 | heads Bibb lettuce, leaves separated, washed and dried |
| Kimchi, if you can find it at the market |
Because the sugar-salt cure is so simple, the meat—whether you go pork or not—ends up tasting like nothing but the best version of itself. How you dress her up is up to you. The New York Times Food Editor Sam Sifton goes the way of bo ssäm (literally “wrapped”) with watery-crisp lettuces, kimchi, scallion-ginger sauce, and ssämjang (a funky, salty-sweet paste of fermented peppers and soybeans). With the pork belly, I went the al-desko-carnitas-tacos route with some chopped onion and cilantro; with the lamb shoulder, I made Christmas breakfast sisig. (The lamb neck, my partner Trevor and I ate straight from the pan.)
This recipe is just one of many other ingenious recipes (First-Night Pasta! Trini-Chinese Chicken! Pasta with Parsnips and Bacon!) you can’t—but will try to—take credit for, from Sam Sifton’s new book, See You on Sunday.
Sifton reminds us to entertain, to do it often, and to not take it too seriously. "The purpose of cooking regularly for friends and family is simply to do it," he writes, "and to make better the lives of all involved in the process of eating the meal.” The resultant recipes are decidedly unfancy, come together effortlessly, and are meant to be shared.
Written by: Coral Lee
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15 Comments
But, if you have some extra time, pickled daikon is a very welcome contrasting component.
I also did it with st louis ribs once.
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