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This was an outstanding meal. It is extremely easy to make. Super H-mart indeed had the Ssamjang and Kimchi ( which I got with oysters since David Chang has shucked oysters as a side ). The recipe sounds like, 'why should you bother' but it is just one of those things that works.

For those that made the bo ssam, can someone please speak to the weight of pork used and the number of servings that it provided? Thanks!

Hi,

I have made this twice with pork shoulders/butt I have had on hand. Both were in the 3-4 pound range.

The time spent cooking it, which was at least four to six hours for these small pieces. I plan to go for an eight pound or more pork butt next time. This is like ham, where you find yourself picking at it later. You can freeze the leftovers to incorporate into future dishes.

For the Mardi Gras program yesterday, I slow cooked the pork on Friday until it was done. On Saturday, I reheated the pork at 300 degrees for about 25 minutes. My pan was already pretty dry, I added some water and tented the pork to avoid drying it out. I pulled it out, adjusted heat to 500 degrees, rubbed the brown sugar and blasted for 10 minutes or more.

As for serving, I thought this response related to BBQ pulled pork sandwiches: "Most folks figure 1/4 to 1/3 pound of cooked meat. I lean towards that 1/3 pound since I like a generous sandwich . So, for 30 people at 1/3 lb per serving is 10 lbs of cooked meat. A 50% yield is pretty typical for pork butts, so that means 20 lbs of raw weight. Unless you can find big butts, I would cook three 8 pounders and have leftovers."

I would go on the generous, because this pork dish really resonates with people. When you read this lump of meat was served at the end of a filling meal, yet people dug in with a hungry zest. You may find whatever you serve, it may not be enough.

Regards,

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Cathy2

"You'll be remembered long after you're dead if you make good gravy, mashed potatoes and biscuits." -- Nathalie Dupree
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I used a 10-pound pork shoulder. I cooked it for seven hours. Towards the last hour I lowered the heat from 350 to 325, and added a little water to the bottom of the pan to keep the sugars in the dry rub from burning.

I served it for five people who, I be.ieve, ate way more than 1/3 pound per person. We had plenty left over. So, I would say the meat I had would have served 10-12 people.

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Jyoti
A meal, with bread and wine, shared with friends and family is among the most essential and important of all human rituals.
Ruhlman

This meal is just as good with pork that had been chunked, frozen and reheated in foil with a little water to keep it moist.

Gearing up to cook the bo scam this weekend, and really appreciate all the tips in this thread. I have a related question: has anyone served vegetable side dishes, most likely from the Momofuku book, that paired especially nicely with the pork? I plan to do the recommended lettuce, ginger scallion sauce, ssamjang, rice, and some of his pickles, but would like to round out the offerings with a nice preparation of cauliflower or carrots or red cabbage or something? Thanks as always.

I served it with rice, lettuce, pickles, kimchee, and a daikon and carrot slaw. There did not appear to be a need for anything else. I should add that I served a miso soup while we were waiting for the pork to finish cooking. Enjoy your weekend dinner.

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Jyoti
A meal, with bread and wine, shared with friends and family is among the most essential and important of all human rituals.
Ruhlman

We did a bunch of banchan--sesame spinach, scallion salad, potato salad, jade tofu, pickled daikon and carrot, kimchi and the like. It seemed like the perfect accompaniment and most only took minutes to make. In particular, the greens and the scallion salad were both delicious and very pretty next to the pickles and kimchi. The pork is so rich that the tang of these sides provided a nice balance that I'm not sure a prepared veg dish would.

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“The problem with people who have no vices is that generally you can be pretty sure they’re going to have some pretty annoying virtues.” Elizabeth Taylor

After picking up a beautiful shoulder from Butcher & Larder, we enjoyed a tremendous feast. We served the ginger scallion sauce and ssamjang sauce and cucumber quick pickles, adding Chang's mustard sauce and his pickled shitakes (both of which we liked), Cathy2's recommended roasted garlic, and, following Boudreaulicious's idea, a slaw of red cabbage, napa cabbage, carrot, daikon, and spiced cashews (with lime ginger sesame vin). This was just so tasty and so much fun! A note on size, since variations have been discussed: we got a shoulder of about 6.75 lbs, which was bone-in (as recipe says) and skin on (which isn't specified one way or the other in recipe). The size shrinkage over the 5 hours of cook time (we adjusted by ratio from the 6 hours for 8-10lbs; and checked with a thermometer) was substantial; four adults ate very well with only a little pork leftover.