Momofuko Bo Ssam -- rinse the salt/sugar off?

I just took it out of the oven. It is entirely too salty. I used sea salt. I would use less salt and also brush most of it off before cooking. I don’t think rinsing is necessary.

I guess so. I only brought the recipe to the store with me, and didn't really read the accompanying article **that** carefully until I was about half-way through the cooking process, when I was making the sauces and trying to figure out how to best serve everything. I saw this quote “Once that last bit of sugar and salt is on there and the meat is back in a hot oven,” Chang says, “you want to watch it carefully. You’re not looking for a color so much as for the moment when the fat and the skin begins to fluff up a little. It’s not so much about the sugar caramelizing as it is about the fat starting to bubble.” that made me think it was supposed to have skin on it. It was still super yummy, though, so I'm not complaining!

CarlaCooks -- your original post reminded me that I had wanted to try this recipe! Ours turned out pretty well. It was delicious and I liked the sauces. I realized about halfway through that our piece if pork didn't have the skin on and it was supposed to so we missed out on the "crackling effect" but it was still really good. I'd make it again (properly).

Great! Thanks! It's all covered with sugar and salt and sitting in the fridge. Looking forward to cooking it tomorrow.

I actually sent this question to Sam Sifton and here's his reply: "If there's visible salt on the pork, please brush it off. Otherwise, you are good to go after discarding the juices and placing the pork in a roasting pan."

Can't wait to hear how it turns out!

I also made this recipe last weekend and it was delicious! I discarded the liquid, and when I removed the plastic wrap, most of the salt and sugar came off with it. Whatever was left on the meat stayed on it as I cooked it in the oven. I hope you enjoy the recipe... super delicious for such easy work! If you need any ideas for leftovers (it's only my husband and me, so the 2.5 pounds of meat lasted quite a while), I wrote about a few here: http://www.food52.com/hotline/12337-need-leftover-ideas-for-bo-ssam. Cheers!

OK, cool. Thanks everyone. I'll follow the recipe, and it does sound like not all of it will end up adhered to the meat anyway. Hope you all have a great weekend!

I have only made the pork belly for the pork buns and you only use enough of the mixture to cover the meat. You end up with quite a bit of the salt/sugar left over. You drain the liquid that accumulated overnight so you really won't have much visible salt left on the meat when you put it in the oven.

I have not tried it, but I would trust Momofuku + NYTimes and follow it to the letter. The food at momofuku is certainly not afraid of salt so it sounds like it's probably correct to me.

I would brush off the meat as thoroughly as you can with your hands and paper towels, but don't rinse it -- the residual salt on the meat will season it.

Other Momofuku recipes specify using just a few tablespoons of salt and sugar to marinate the meat, which doesn't need to be rubbed off.