Bo ssam

Epicurean Exploits - Food and Recipes
61

Yeah, Bo ssam is a steamed pork which you wrap in garlic, jalapenos, kim chi in a red /green leaf lettuce.

62

bonless pork butt should be fine yah? or even just a big ass 10lb pork shoulder?

63

Bone-in theoretically yields better flavored and more tender meat.

64

Better flavored is conventional wisdom, but more tender is a new one to me. What do you base that on? TIA.

65

If I recall correctly, I read somewhere (perhaps Alton Brown) that the bone aids in cooking the meat internally and thus more effectively breaks up fibrous muscle strands. I’m imagining the bone reaching a higher temp than the internal meat and, thus, acting as an internal heat source? [dontknow.gif]

66

I’ll go with conventional wisdom here, better flavor. The tenderness arrives when the connective tissue has been sufficiently denatured, 190-200 degrees F. You can get to this temp with or without the bone.

Charlie, you should be fine with a 10 lb shoulder. The NYT recipe says cook until ’ yielding easily to the tines of a fork.’ To me that means pulled pork at an internal temp as above.

67

That would be my thinking, too.

According to food scientist Harold McGee (in On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen), collagen begins to denature at 140-145F, but doesn’t start converting to gelatin until you reach 155-160F. The conversion proceeds very, very slowly until you get north of 190F, then speeds up as you approach 212F.

68

I read the same thing. Since the bone is so porous there is no aid in heat conduction.

69

Got my ten pounder. Should I keep it tied up or let it free? I feel 6 hours might be a bit short as well.

I have my salt,sugar and bowl ready! :smiley:

70

Six should be very short, even at 300 deg F. I typically do these at 200-250 F and start the night before to be ready for supper. Err on the side of too muh time. If it’s done early turn the heat to 190, wrap the pork with foil, put a pan of water in the oven, and mop with something neutral like chicken broth every hour or so until serving time.

If you have not done these before don’t be surprised by the temperature plateau. It will take a long time to get from 150 to 170 F. All that energy is melting collagen then.

71

Free the Butt.

72

the butt has a some excessive baggage, if I don’t keep it tied up it’s kinda uneven in thickness unless i lay it out completely flat.

maybe i’ll do that. hum

73

First time trying this recipe. It was damn tasty and embarrassingly easy. The advice to tone down the salt is correct for my taste. Best wine pairing I tried was an '08 Chateau du Chorey Vignes Franches.
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74

Sorry to dredge up this oldie, but i’ve been making this a few times again lately. I’ve probably done 7 or so of these over the last couple years with all different sizes and cuts. Mostly shoulders, bone in and bone out.

This last time I followed Christine’s modifications, apart from the XL Ziploc which we did not have (see up thread - post 56) with a 9.5lb skin on, bone in picnic roast. This was by far superior. Not sure I would go back to any other cut at this point.

75

Every time I see someone bump an old thread from Victor I get a little misty eyed.

76

Bump. Anyone throw the pork on the grill for the 15 minutes at 500? I’ll use the suggestion up-thread to deglaze first but I have really poor ventilation and worry about smoking out the guests.

77

Victor is amongst us… watching. [whistle.gif]

George

78

the sugar will brown too fast over direct heat on a grill.
If you can offset away from the heat with a drip pan you have a chance

79

Before resorting to burning it on the grill, I’d try a lesser amount of the brown sugar rub at the end, bring it to 400 or so to let it melt/glaze over the pork. Or you could skip the last step altogether. It will still be plenty good.

80

Thanks Suzanne and Thomas. I did mean indirect on the grill, but I see the error of my ways!