Momofuku Bo Ssam

This is a wonderful Korean dish.  I was introduced to it by our friend, Gerald.  He made it for a Saints party and I devoured it.  I couldn’t wait to try making it myself.  It not hard to make, the most difficult part is to find the ingredients for the sauce at the Asian market.

Ingredients:

Pork Butt:

• 8 lb. bone-in Boston Butt Roast
• 1 C. sugar
• ½ C. kosher salt, plus 1 T.
• ½ C. brown sugar

Ginger-Scallion Sauce:

• 2 C. green onions, thinly sliced (green and white parts)
• ½ C. fresh ginger, minced
• ¼ C. grapeseed oil
• ½ T. soy sauce
• 1 t. rice vinegar

Ssam Sauce:

• 2 T. ssamjang (fermented bean and chili paste)
• 1 T. kochujang (chili paste)
• ½ C. rice vinegar
• ½ C. grapeseed oil

Accompaniments:

• 4 C. white rice, cooked
• 2 heads bibb lettuce, washed, drained, and leaves seperated
• Kimchi (not necessary)

Directions:

1. Rinse the Boston butt in cold water and dry with paper towels.
2. Place the pork in a large, shallow bowl and then combine the sugar and salt in another bowl. Rub the mixture all over the meat and then cover with plastic wrap.
3. Place in the refrigerator for at least 6 hours or overnight.
4. When you are ready to cook, preheat the oven to 300 degrees, remove the pork from the refrigerator and discard the juices.
5. Place the Boston Butt in a roasting pan, fat side up and bake for 6 hours, basting with the pan juices each hour. After 6 hours the roast should begin to collapse easily to the tines of a fork.  (the bone should become visible when this happens)
6. Remove the roast from the oven and allow to rest for up to one hour. Preheat the oven to 500 degrees.
7. While the roast is resting, make the Ginger-Scallion Sauce by mixing all of the ingredients in a medium size bowl.  Place a spoon in the bowl for serving.
8. Next, make the Ssam Sauce in a medium bowl and whisk together using an immersion blender.
9. Finally, mix the 1 T. of kosher salt with the brown sugar and rub this mixture all over the cooked pork.  Place in the oven for 10 – 15 minutes or until a dark caramel crust has developed on the meat. 
10. Remove the roast from the oven and shred the meat.
11. Serve with the accompaniments.

Tips and Tricks:

• Momofuku Bo Ssam is best when served as a lettuce wrap.  Take a leaf of lettuce and place some rice in the leaf, cover the rice with some pork, spoon some Ginger-Scallion Sauce over the pork, and finally pour some Ssam Sauce over that. Wrap it up and dig in.
• The ingredients for the sauces can be purchased at an Asian market.  I used Sambal Oelik ground chili paste and Wang brand ssamjang sauce.

Dill Pickle Dip

This is a quick fix dip for game watching or card playing.  It's tart and goes well the pretzel rods.  It's not bad with the Fritos, either.

Ingredients:

• 1 (8 oz.) cream cheese, softened to room temperature
• 1 ½ C. dill pickles, finely chopped
• ½ C. sweet onion, finely chopped
• 2 T. butter
• ¼ C. dill pickle juice
• 1 t. dill weed
• 1 t. Tony Chachere’s Creole Seasoning
  
  

Directions:

1. Sauté the onions in the butter over medium-low heat until soft, about 10 minutes.
2. Mix all of the ingredients together.
3. Place in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours before serving.
4. Serve with pretzel rods, pretzel crisps, or Fritos Scoops.

Tips and Tricks:

• I use the food processor to chop the pickles and the onions.
• I use Hamburger Dills for this recipe.
• I serve this dip with pretzel rods and Fritos Scoops.

Country Gravy and Biscuits Casserole

Country gravy isn’t big on our list of thing for breakfast here in New Orleans, but when we visit our daughter in Monroe, it is on most breakfast menus.  I found this recipe on Pinterest from a blog called “Miss Information”.  Now I’m ready with a great casserole for breakfast the next time the kids come to visit.

Ingredients:

• 1 can of biscuits
• 1 lb. of breakfast sausage
• 8 eggs
• 1/4 C. sour cream 
• 1 t. Tony Chachere’s Creole seasoning
• 2 C. Cheddar cheese, shredded
• 1 envelope of Peppered Country Gravy Mix
• 2 C. water

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. In a skillet over medium heat, cook the breakfast sausage for 10 minutes or until fully cooked and crumbled.
3. Remove from the skillet and allow draining on paper towels.
4. Spray a 13” x 9” baking pan with cooking spray.
5. Cut the biscuits into fourths and drop into the bottom of the pan.
6. Sprinkle the breakfast sausage on top.
7. In a bowl, scramble the eggs, sour cream, and Creole seasoning together.
8. Pour the eggs in and cover with the cheese.
9. In a small sauce pan, make the Country Gravy by combining the packet and the water and whisking over a medium heat for about 2 minutes or until thickened.
10. Pour the gravy over the casserole.
11. Bake for 35 – 45 minutes, or until browned and eggs are set.
12. Remove from the oven and allow to set for 5 minutes.
13. Cut into pieces and serve.

Tips and Tricks:

• I use an immersion blender to scramble the eggs with the milk.  They are light and fluffy this way.
• I use Jimmy Dean’s Hot pork sausage, Grands Jr. Flaky Layers Honey Butter biscuits, and Pioneer Country Gravy packet for this recipe.
• I cut this casserole into 16 pieces.

Deconstructed Cabbage Rolls

We go to St. Patrick’s Day parades on the Saturday and Sunday before St Patrick’s Day each year.  Last year, I made Cabbage Rolls (Lots of Work) with some of the cabbages we caught.  This year I wanted to make something less labor intensive and here it is.  I spent about 40 minutes prepping and then it bakes in the oven for 1 hour.  It is delicious!  Good enough for a dinner party with friends or family.

 Ingredients:

• 1 ½ heads of cabbage
• 1 lb. ground meat
• 1 ½ C. cooked rice
• ¼ C. olive oil
• 1 onion, medium, chopped
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• ½ t. thyme
• 1 (15 oz.) can of tomato sauce
• 1 can of Rotel tomatoes with green chilis
• ½ T. Worcestershire sauce
• ½ T. sugar
• 1 t. kosher salt
• ½ t. black pepper
• 1 t. Tony Chachere’s Creole Seasoning
• 2 C. Cheddar cheese, shredded

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. Remove the core of the cabbage and cut into bite size pieces.   Rinse under cold water and strain.
3. In a Dutch oven, heat half of the olive oil over medium heat and add the cabbage, stir well to cover the leaves with the oil and allow to cook for 15 minutes or until the leaves are wilted.
4. In a skillet, brown the ground meat until brown and then drain.  Reserve.
5. In the same skillet, sauté the onions with half of the olive oil over medium heat until soft.  Add the garlic and thyme for 1 minute.
6. Add the tomato sauce, Rotel, Worcestershire sauce, sugar, salt, pepper, Creole Seasoning and the ground meat and allow to simmer for 15 minutes.  Add the rice to mixture and stir until incorporated well.
7. Spray a 13’ x 9’ baking dish with cooking spray.
8. Place half of the cabbage in the baking dish cover with half of the meat/rice mixture, and then the other half of the cabbage and then the other half of the meat/rice mixture.
9. Seal the baking dish with foil.
10. Bake for 45 minutes and then remove the foil and cover with the cheese.
11. Bake for 15 minutes uncovered.
12. Allow to set for 10 minutes and then cut into squares to serve.

Tips and Tricks:

• This is great recipe for those St. Patrick’s Day cabbages.
• This tastes great the next day, but it does NOT freeze well, so eat up.