bo ssäm with starry kimchi

happy 2022 friends!

the new year for me is off to a great start because i got to have merman’s caviar egg yolk jam toast on day 1 and on day 2-6, i flew over to san francisco to have a quick family trip. this type of family trip was new to me because we were traveling with my sister’s three kids (ages 5, 3, 1) and we had to make plans according to making sure the kids and adults all had a good time. new challenges and adult things.

i personally think i had the most fun though because i got to experience san francisco, a city i used to live in for 2 years, with the kids and through their eyes. if you saw a grown woman shrieking in excitement with her hands up going up and down the hills in a cable car, that was……definitely me.

anyways, back to the bo ssäm. i always thought that it was a complicated dish to make because it’s so. good. merman told me that it’s not supposed to be complicated because this dish should be pretty low maintenance as it was born out of koreans boiling meat to eat while in the process of making kimchi (kim jang). hence, why bo ssäm is typically served with pickled napa cabbage, salted baby shrimp (saewoojut), and freshly dressed radish kimchi (mu saeng chae). wait. i’m laughing at the words freshly dressed radish kimchi. there’s no other way to describe it because as you would dress a salad in dressing, you dress radish kimchi in kimchi paste. i can’t not imagine a hype radish dripping in kimchi swag streetwear. fresh to death dressed radish kimchi. ok i’ll stop lol.

iiiii’m going off topic. so back to talking about bo ssäm and kim jang. another thing that merman told me is that the boiled pork belly (aka suyuk) is literally thrown into a pot with the building blocks of kimchi (onions, garlic, ginger, green onion) with seasonings like dwoenjang and cooking wine. there’s definitely fancier and much more refined ways of preparing suyuk, but i tried to make suyuk in where the lowest amount of effort still yields delicious results. with that, you’ll have remaining energy to do other things like punch out star shapes from radish or whatever else is on your agenda for the day. merman declines to comment about the radish stars.

you’re going to laugh at how easy all of it is once you scroll down to the recipe section. anyways, hope you enjoy!!

xo, christine

Bo ssäm with starry kimchi

4 servings

ingredients

suyuk (boiled pork belly)

10 cups of water

2 pounds pork belly

1 medium onion cut in half with the peel on

1 thumb of ginger unpeeled

1 bulb of garlic with peel on cut horizontally

2 stalks of green onion cut in half

+

1 tablespoon whole black peppercorn

4 tablespoons dwoenjang (i used red bean dwoenjang for my soy allergies!)

2 tablespoons mirin or cooking wine

radish kimchi

1 medium mu (korean radish)

1 tablespoon korean gochugaru

1 tablespoon granulated sugar

1 tsp fish sauce

1/2 tablespoon saewoojut

1 tablespoon minced scallion greens

2 tablespoons minced garlic

bo ssäm cabbage

1/4 napa cabbage

1/2 cup kosher salt

2 cups water

bossam wrap building blocks

fresh perilla leaves

julienned green onions (can be store bought)

5-6 cloves of sliced garlic cloves

1.5 tablespoons saewoojut

notes

bossam cabbage prep

• in medium sized bowl, sprinkle salt in between leaves of cabbage. submerge in water and set aside

suyuk prep

• in a large pot, bring 10 cups of water up to a boil

• rinse onion, garlic, ginger, and green onions, cut in half unpeeled, and toss into boiling water with black peppercorns and boil for 5 minutes. the peels, according to merman and his mom, collect the gamey meat flavors from the meat.

• lower heat down to a simmer, stir in dwoenjang and mirim.

• submerge pork belly into the pot, cover, and boil for 45 minutes.

radish kimchi

• peel and slice mu radish into disks, you can stamp star shapes or cut the radish into matchsticks

• kimchi paste: combine gochugaru, sugar, fish sauce, saewoojut, minced garlic, and scallions into a medium bowl

• coat radish in kimchi paste and set aside

bo ssäm assembly

• in separate bowls, arrange perilla leaves, julienned green onions, sliced garlic cloves, and saewoo jut

• bossam cabbage: after 45 minutes, the cabbage leaves should have softened from the salt. rinse under cold water, squeeze as much water out, and set out on a plate

• suyuk: turn off heat, remove pork belly from the pot, slice and arrange on a platter. optional to pat the pork belly dry and sear on a pan if you like a little crispiness!

• serve with radish kimchi and enjoy!