Sunday, October 13th
5 to 9 p.m., $200 (feeds 4 to 6 people)
For one night only, Josselin’s Tapas Bar & Grill will present a Korean Bo Ssam dining experience. There will also be shochu, sake, and sake cocktails to complete the experience.
“Our regular nightly menu is also available,” says Andrew Ha, Josselin’s general manager and partner. “Jean-Marie got the idea from a restaurant called Momofuku and wanted to do that here on Kauai.
Call 808-742-7117 for reservations, which must be made in advance. Hubby and I already have reservations made with two other couples. This should be fun!
Special Ssam Menu includes the following
- Lacquered Pork Shoulder
- Bibb Lettuce
- Oysters
- Steamed Buns
- Rice Noodles
- Kimchee
- Ginger Scallion Sauce
- Spicy Garlic Sauce
- Ssam Sauce
For those of you who don’t know, here’s a description of bo saam, which was sent to me by Andrew Ha. He says he got it from an article in the NY Times.
A slow-roasted shoulder of pig, a meal that can be picked apart by a table of friends armed only with chopsticks and lettuce. A tight and salty caramel crust sits on top of the moist, fragrant collapse of meat, and juices run thick to pool beneath it, a kind of syrup, delicious in its intensity.
The dish is known in Korea as bo ssam — pork wrapped like a package in fresh greens, with rice and kimchi. Simply cook the food and serve it and watch as those at your table devour the meat in a kind of trance. The drill is simple. Buy a pork shoulder. Rinse and dry it with paper towels and cover it in a large bowl with salt and sugar, a dry brine that will begin to cure the meat. The next day, put the shoulder in a low oven for six hours, until the meat surrenders and becomes a kind of heap. Let it rest. Turn the oven on high. Slather on brown sugar and salt, and blast it into lacquer. Rest it again, then serve. (The skin at this point will have fused into a kind of caramel bark; you may need to use a pair of tongs to get at the meat.)
Ginger-Scallion sauce The brightness of the ginger in his version, as well as the zap of the scallions, is an excellent match for the pork.
You will need spice too, something with some heat to it, to provide contrast. Kochujang, a sweet Korean hot-pepper paste, is one possibility, as is its cousin ssamjang, a fiery soybean paste.
There should be rice on the table and clean, cold bibb lettuce in which to wrap everything up. raw oysters as well. “I like the textural contrast,” he says, “as well as the temperature contrast.” But these are not strictly necessary for the miracle to occur.
Now take a piece of lettuce to show others the way. Place into it a torn string of meat, a dab of rice, some hot sauce or kimchi or pickles. Fold and bite, fold and bite. Try it with an oyster.
