A Joyful Holiday Dinner
December 15, 2022
When a meal is really enjoyable, I find a group of people eating together can achieve true well-being. This is that kind of holiday meal, an adaptation of Bo Saam, a roast pork dinner David Chang does, but I have slightly changed things to reduce overhead and because I love using Japanese rice with vinegar dressing and adding Pickled daikon which is available at Asian markets. I also include cilantro chili-garlic sauce, which can be made as hot or as mild as you like. I do include Chang’s ginger scallion relish which is a wonderful condiment. When you eat these things together, you combine them rolled up in lettuce leaves. It is delicious and fun to share. Bowls get passed up and down the table and it simply seems to elicit joy. I like to use Boston lettuce, but the photos are from when I recently cooked this dinner in Vermont. For some reason I can never find Boston lettuce in Vermont, so I used green leaf lettuce. You can use any lettuce or leaf as long as it is soft enough to roll around the ingredients and sturdy enough to hold together. It might be nice to try using steamed collard greens or steaming the softer version of Kale called Black, or lacinato kale.
The day before your dinner, fill a large pot with water and add enough salt to make it taste like the ocean. Heat it if you need to in order to fully dissolve the salt and let it cool. Then put the pork into the brine and place it in the refrigerator to rest overnight.
The following day, make a sauce for roasting the pork. Roasting will take up to 3 hours depending on your oven so start early enough. Use 1 c. soy sauce, ¼ c. brown sugar and 1 ½ T. finely grated ginger. Heat to dissolve the sugar and meld everything together. Cool and brush the pork on all sides with the sauce. When you put the pork in the preheated oven to roast use a baking pan with sides to catch the juices. You can make the other ingredients while it cooks.
To make the cucumber red onion salad, soak the sliced red onion in a bowl of cool water with a few ice cubes in it for at least 15 minutes. This will keep the onion crisp. Then peel and slice the small cucumbers. I like Kirby pickling cucumbers or the small Persian cucumbers for this.
In a food processor, combine 3–4 Tablespoons of Vietnamese chili garlic sauce with 2 bunches of well washed cilantro, a teaspoon of Dijon mustard, ¼ c. sherry vinegar and ¼ c. neutral oil. Add salt to taste.
To make the rice, rinse Japanese sushi rice, and put it in a pot with water to cover it by about 1 inch. The ratio for a good texture of cooked rice is 1 c. rice to 1 ½ c. water. In this case I made 3 c. rice with 4 ½ c. water plus 2 teaspoons of salt. Bring it to a boil and stir it well, then turn it down to very low simmer and cover the pot, lining the lid with paper towel to catch the steam. 30 minutes later you will have excellent cooked rice. Then, off the heat, stir in the vinegar dressing which is a combination of Japanese rice vinegar and mirin.
And last, wash and dry separate lettuce leaves using the larger leaves to fill a serving plate.
Recipe: BO SAAM — slow roasted pork
Pork
1 whole pork roast (6 to 8 pounds)
Sauce for pork
¼ cup brown sugar
¼ cup soy sauce
2 T. grated ginger
Ginger-Scallion Sauce
2 c. thinly sliced scallions, both green and white parts , roots removed as well as an outer layer that is not in good shape
1 c. peeled, minced fresh ginger
¼ c. neutral oil (I like grapeseed)
1½ t. soy sauce
1 ½ t. sherry vinegar
½ t. kosher salt, or to taste
Dipping or Spreading sauce
3–4 T. Vietnamese garlic chili sauce
2 bunches of cilantro, washed well. You can swish it around in a pot full of water. Change the water and repeat, if it is particularly sandy)
1 t. mustard
¼ c. sherry vinegar
¼ c. grapeseed oil
1 ½ t salt. Taste to adjust if necessary
Cucumber Salad:
8–10 kirby cucumbers
1 small red onion
½ c. seasoned rice vinegar
Lettuce:
2–3 heads Boston or firm but pliable lettuce of your choice, leaves separated, washed and dried — green leaf, red leaf or steamed collard greens or kale could also work.
Japanese pickled radish
Vinegar Dressing for Rice
For each 2 c. cooked rice:
¼ c. seasoned rice vinegar
1 ½ t. mirin (Japanese sweet rice wine)
Rice:
Use 3 cups rice and 4 ½ c. water. Add 1 T. salt. When cooked, stir the vinegar dressing into the rice.
Make the sauce for roasting the pork. In a small saucepan, combine the brown sugar, soy sauce and 2 T. of grated ginger. Heat to dissolve the sugar and let it cool.
To make the pork: The night before the dinner, wash and dry the pork and place it in a pot of water salted until it tastes like sea water. You can heat the water to dissolve the salt and then let it cool before placing the washed and dried meat in the brine. Leave it overnight in the refrigerator until you are ready to cook for at least a few hours, or overnight. When you are ready to cook, heat oven to 325º. Remove pork from refrigerator and dry off the brine with paper towel. Place the pork, fat side up, in a roasting pan or baking sheet with sides, lined with foil and baking parchment. Coat the meat on all sides with the sauce and loosely cover with more parchment. Set the meat in the preheated oven to cook for approximately 3 hours. then remove the cover and if it isn’t yet brown, Turn the heat up to 475º and continue cooking until well browned on top 15–30 minutes more.
While the meat roasts, make the ginger scallion relish, the dipping or spreading sauce, the cucumber salad, wash and dry the lettuce, and set out the pickled daikon. Then start the rice.
Ginger Scallion relish: Combine chopped ginger and scallions with oil, sherry vinegar and salt
Make the cucumber salad: Halve and thinly slice the red onion and put it into ice water to crisp while you prepare the cucumbers.
Peel and thinly slice the cucumbers into about ¼ inch thick slices. Drain and combine the red onion with the cucumber and dress with ½ cup seasoned rice vinegar to coat and flavor it. Then refrigerate the salad until serving.
To make the Dipping or Spreading Sauce: Place the cilantro and other ingredient into a food processor and process until smooth. Taste to see if you need a little more salt.
Lettuce: Wash and dry separate leaves and put them on a serving plate
Japanese Pickled radish: Drain and place in a bowl.
Prepare the vinegar dressing: For each 2 c. cooked rice, I used the above amounts of seasoned rice vinegar and mirin. Which meant about 4 times the proportions above, that is: 1 c. seasoned rice vinegar and 1 T. mirin
To make the rice: Rinse Japanese sushi rice and put it in a pot with water. The ratio for a good texture of cooked rice is 1 c. rice to 1 ½ c. water. In this case I made 3 c. rice with 4 ½ c. water with 2 teaspoons of salt. Bring it to a boil and stir it well, then turn it down to very low simmer and cover the pot, lining the lid with paper towel to catch the steam. 30 minutes later you will have excellent cooked rice. Then, off the heat, stir in the vinegar dressing. Taste to see if you might want more dressing but this quantity is a good starting point.
When the pork is done, take it out of the oven, let it rest 10 minutes and then carve it into slices. Place the sliced pork in a wide bowl and pour some of the broth over the meat.
Serve hot, with the rice, lettuce leaves, ginger scallion relish, fresh cucumber salad, pickled daikon and cilantro chili garlic sauce as accompaniments.
