Bossam
Boiled pork wraps
Bossam (보쌈): pork belly boiled with doenjang and aromatics, wrapped in cabbage with fresh radish kimchi
Bossam started as the dish Korean families made on kimjang day in November, when the whole street gathered to make the winter's kimchi: a slab of pork belly was boiled while everyone worked, sliced and wrapped in the salted cabbage leaves with the fresh, spicy radish filling. Today Seoul's bossam restaurants around Jangchung-dong serve it all year, and it is a favourite takeaway. This is a pork dish, and pork belly is rich, so it is not a low-calorie choice: about 450 kcal a portion. Boiling the pork in water with doenjang, onion, garlic and ginger renders out much of the fat and leaves it tender with no smell. The most common mistake is slicing it hot; rest it for 10 minutes or it falls apart. Chef's tip: let the pork cool in the broth for 10 minutes before lifting it out; it stays much juicier.
- Total time
- 90 min
- Difficulty
- medium
- Serves
- 6
Ingredients
For the pork
- 1 ¾ lb pork bellyskin on or off, in one piece
- 8 ¼ cups water
- 1 onionhalved
- 1 ⅛ in fresh gingersliced
- 1 tsp black peppercorns
For the radish salad (musaengchae)
- 10 ½ oz Korean radish (mu) or daikoncut into thin matchsticks
- ½ tsp salt
- 1 ½ tbsp gochugaru (Korean chilli flakes)
- 1 tbsp fish sauce
- 1 tsp sugar
- 1 tbsp rice vinegar
- 1 garlic cloveminced
To wrap
- 12 napa cabbage leaves or lettucesoft inner leaves
- 4 tbsp ssamjang (optional)
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Method
0/5 doneStep 1: Bring 8 ¼ cups water to the boil in a large pot and stir in 2 tbsp doenjang (Korean soybean paste) until dissolved. Add 1 onion, 6 garlic cloves, 1 ⅛ in fresh ginger, 3 spring onions and 1 tsp black peppercorns.
8 minStep 2: Add 1 ¾ lb pork belly, bring back to the boil, skim, then simmer partly covered on a medium-low heat for 50–60 minutes, until a chopstick slides in easily and the centre reaches at least 160°F.
60 minStep 3: Meanwhile, toss 10 ½ oz Korean radish (mu) or daikon with ½ tsp salt and leave for 10 minutes. Squeeze out the water, then mix with 1 ½ tbsp gochugaru (Korean chilli flakes), 1 tbsp fish sauce, 1 tsp sugar, 1 tbsp rice vinegar and 1 garlic clove until red. Chill.
12 minStep 4: Turn off the heat and leave the pork in the broth for 10 minutes, then lift it out and rest for 10 minutes more on a board.
20 minStep 5: Slice the pork thinly, about 5 mm, and arrange on a platter with the radish salad, 12 napa cabbage leaves or lettuce and 4 tbsp ssamjang. To eat, wrap a slice of pork and a little radish in a leaf.
Nutrition per serving
- Calories
- 450 kcal
- Protein
- 26 g
- Carbs
- 12 g
- Fat
- 33 g
- Fibre
- 3 g
Nutrition values are estimates.
KrazyBadal
Good to know
- How long does bossam take?
- About 90 minutes in total: 20 minutes to prepare and 70 minutes to cook.
- How many people does it serve?
- 6 as written. Change the servings above the ingredients and every amount scales to match.
- What can I use instead of onion?
- 2 shallots per onion.
- What can I use instead of garlic cloves?
- ½ tsp garlic paste or ⅛ tsp garlic powder per clove.
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