Roast Pork Belly Bossam with Three Sauces

Customize your perfect bite

Bossam is a Korean dish of spiced pork belly wrapped in a little vegetable package and served with a variety of sauces for dipping. The fresh greens, sour kimchi, succulent pork and salty-spicy sauces create a perfect balance of flavors and textures— it is such a joy to eat bossam!

This recipe is non-traditional, but the beauty of bossam is in the hundreds of different ways it can be prepared with equally delicious results. Traditional bossam recipes call for pork belly boiled in a spiced broth, marinated napa cabbage leaves, and ssam sauce. For my version, we’re going to roast the pork belly low and slow for several hours before finishing in a super hot oven for crispy edges. I’m also using romaine lettuce for the wraps because that’s what I had, mixing up a carrot-cucumber salad for banchan, and making a (totally-not-Korean) Chinese black vinegar sauce. This dish is great for spending a few hours puttering around the kitchen experimenting with different sauces and banchan while your pork roasts away.

Ingredients

For the belly

3lb pork belly

— For best results avoid those little 1-2 inch strips of belly and go for the larger slab-style pieces

4 cloves garlic minced

1 1/2 tablespoons of salt

1 tablespoon cracked black pepper

1 tablespoon brown sugar

1 tablespoon gochugaru

zest of 1 lime

olive oil

For the sauces

ssam sauce

1 tablespoon doenjang (Korean fermented soy paste)

1 tablespoon gochujang (Korean chili paste)

1/4 teaspoon rice vingear

1/8 teaspoon sesame oil

1 clove garlic, minced

pinch of roasted sesame seeds

soy-ginger-garlic sauce

2 green onions, chopped

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 tablespoon ginger, minced

soy sauce, enough to just cover the aromatics

black vinegar chili oil sauce

3 tablespoons Chinese black vinegar

2 tablespoons soy sauce

1 tablespoon sugar

1-2 tablespoons Sichuan chili oil

a splash of Chinese cooking wine

a touch of sesame oil

For the wraps

greens for wrapping

kimchi

carrot and cucumber, thinly sliced and marinated in rice vinegar and sesame oil (optional)

pickled ginger (optional)

Method

Preheat oven to 300F.

Combine all ingredients for the pork belly rub. Add a little oil and mix into a paste consistency. Rub all over exterior of the belly.

Place belly fat side up in a foil lined roasting dish and cover with foil.

Roast for about 2-3 hours, or until the belly is tender and gives very little resistance when tested with a fork. The time really varies oven to oven so just pull back the foil and check the belly every so often.

While the belly is roasting, mix up your sauces, prep your greens/banchan and make a pot of sushi rice to serve on the side.

Remove foil cover and drain juices from the pan.

Kick oven up to 450F.

Roast the belly for another 20-30 minutes or until the exterior is crisp and golden brown.

Let rest for 10-15 minutes before slicing into thin 2 inch strips. You want each piece to be easy to eat in about two bites.

Assemble wraps with pork on a bed of greens, topped with banchan, drizzled with sauce. Have fun experimenting and serve with rice!