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Last night, kitchen lab with Karyn and Kim--one of our occasional evenings when we cook something together-ish that we’ve never done before with the understanding that pizza can always salvage our night.
I’d just gotten Thomas Keller’s “Ad Hoc at Home” and David Chang’s “Momofuku” and was torn between Keller’s fried chicken and Chang’s ramen. In the end, we went with neither. I was able to get all of the ingredients for the ramen broth, but I couldn’t find the 10 hours necessary to make it right, from start to chinois.
Instead, then, pork on pork night: pork belly buns and bo ssam (which I’m told means wrapped or enclosed).
 Mark at Holzkopf Meat Market got his hands on three three-pound pork bellies for me. He looked a little incredulous as I explained what I was going to do with them, and I was amazed at how inexpensive pork belly is--nine pounds for under $20, wow! And fairly easy to make for pork buns. Some high-heat roasting followed by slow-heat cooking (sort of like confit) in the oven--then wrap, chill to make slicing easier, and unleash the goodness of nature’s meat candy.
 The buns took the longest to make, and still they weren’t too difficult. In fact, the mixer did most of the work. A couple of risings, some rolling, 10 minutes in the steamer, and voila! They came out soft and fluffy and reminded me of a filipino pork bun called siopao that my mother made from time to time when I was child. We assembled the pork buns, each to his or her own, tucking strips of pork belly, slices of quick-pickled cucumbers, and hot sauce into the little white blankets. Three of those, and I was full. Then came Kim’s Korean pancakes with scallions, peppers, carrots, squid, and shrimp, yum!
 An hour later, we sat down to dinner: six pounds of pork shoulder roasted at 300 degrees for six hours and glazed just prior to serving with brown sugar. We each pulled chunks of the rich and tender meat from the roast and rolled the pork with sushi rice, pureed kim chee, ginger scallion sauce, and ssamjang in butter lettuce leaves. I’d like to say more about it, but by the time we sat down the thought of more food wasn’t all that exciting, regardless of how good it all tasted and looked.
If you’re on the fence about buying Chang’s recipe book, you should go for it! Not only is it a terrificly entertaining read--the recipes are accessible and they work. Next up, ramen Momofuku style, and possibly their brick chicken (which will require me to learn how to debone a bird and to get my hands on meat glue). Thomas Keller says in his foreword that one of the ways to become a better cook is to challenge yourself regularly. Self, the gauntlet has been thrown down!
Posted by Voltaire on 11/08/2009 at 04:48 PM
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