Life in lock down has sometimes felt hard, and and has often felt long, but it hasn't been without its merits. Who would have imagined at the turn of the year that being on a work conference call in your dressing gown while eating cheese on toast for breakfast (don't worry, my camera was off...) would be seen as acceptable behaviour.
One of the highlights has been #cookbookchallenge (it seems at least I picked the right year to do something that's pretty much based around being at home), which has proved a comforting certainty in stormy times. Although it has also seen my cookery book collection grow exponentially at a time that most other people are having a clear out (in my defence, my new 'office' features my laptop balanced on a pile of cookery books....).
Another highlight has been our Saturday treks, through the woods and up the hill to our local butchers (which may sound idyllic, but that hill hurts after a Friday night drinking Too Much Beer). While our visits are usually to buy supplies for #cookbookchallenge, sometimes it's just for the Marmite sausages. A guaranteed hangover cure.
These visits are often supplemented with a visit to the allotment on the way home, to pick up some greens and further cement or slow metamorphoses into Tom and Barbara Good (although the Ewing won't really be satisfied until we have a goat munching on the lawn, a brood of hens laying eggs and a cockerel to annoy the neighbours).
And this week's challenge - David Chang's celebrated bo ssam pork shoulder that currently has over 3 and a half thousand (mostly) positive reviews on the NY Times website - perfectly combines meat and veg. The shredded Korean-style pork being wrapped in the Ewing's home grown lettuce leaves, something that eagle-eyed readers (hello Mrs P) might remember also turned up in the Hawksmoor kimchi burgers a couple of weeks ago.
While the dish is traditionally served with slices of cold steamed pork belly, here a whole shoulder, or boston butt, is marinated overnight in a rub of salt and sugar and then slow roasted until the meat pulls away from the bone. A sprinkle more of sugar is then rubbed into the skin and it's put in a hot oven for a final blast. The result being tender shreds of meat with a crisp carapace of lacquered skin.
I'm usually firmly of the belief that more is more, but here I stuck ridgedly to the recipe, seasoning with only salt and sugar, and the results were fabulous. Helped, no doubt, by a very fine piece of free range pork with plenty of creamy fat. Not cheap, but very much worth it.
Alongside we also served, steamed white rice (Uncle Ben's finest), quick pink pickled onions - a thinly sliced red onion mixed with the juice of half a lime, a couple of tbsp of cider vinegar, a tsp of sugar and a tsp of salt and left to marinate for an hour or so - and the never-ending kimchi from the aforementioned burgers.
A bit of heat to counteract the sweet-saltiness of the pork came from a jar of Indonesian sambal olek chilli sauce. Most chilli sauces would work well here, such as sriracha or, most authentically, gochujang, and the spice also helps cut through the richness.
Bo ssam - adapted from David Chang's Momofuku
2.5 kg bone in pork shoulder
100g caster sugar
100g sea salt
50g light brown sugar
Place the pork in a dish (I used a shallow roasting tin I cooked the pork in the next day). Mix the caster sugar and the salt together in another bowl, then rub the mixture all over the meat.
Cover it with cling film and place in the refrigerator for at least 6 hours, or overnight.
When you're ready to cook, heat oven to 150C.
Remove pork from refrigerator, brush off any excess sugar mixture and discard any juices. Place the pork in a roasting tin (if not already) place in the oven and cook for approximately 4 hours.
When the meat is starting to fall off the bones, take the pork out the oven, uncover if you have wrapped in foil, and sprinkle the brown sugar onto the meat.
Turn the oven to 180, place the pork back in and cook for another 20 minutes, or until the skin is crisp and sticky. Be careful not to let the sugar burn.
Leave the pork to rest for at least a hour.
When ready to serve, carefully remove the skin, which should be crackly and crisp and the perfect pre-dinner snack, before shredding the meat and placing on a serving dish.
Serve with your chosen accompaniments.
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