The Fo Ssam - A Tribute in Dinner Party Form - Worshipping at the Altar of Pork and Chang

Oh boy...I realize as I write this that I never posted about eating the Bo Ssam at Momofuku. Weird. If you read this, you know that I not only love pork, but I love Chef Chang. So, the fact that I neglected to lay praise on both something pork and David Chang is rather extraordinary! Thus, you probably need some sort of evidence that I loved the Bo Ssam. Therefore, I present to you my tribute - "The Fo Ssam Dinner Party"I'm not going to sugar coat it (although I do love coating things in sugar) and tell you dinner parties are a piece of cake, because frankly they're not. But, I love hosting them and find all the work well worth the effort. The good thing about this menu is that most of it can be made in advance and the main event cooks itself without asking for much attention.

Appetizers:

Because I love nothing more than to start with a prosecco or champagne, Karen and I mixed up a pomegranate prosecco cocktail from Cooking Light. This was easy to make, quite delicious, and a nice way to welcome guests and get them in a festive mood.

Dates wrapped in bacon are a great appetizer and easy to make, but they made my place a bit smokey. Oh and I would recommend that unlike me, you use tongs to remove them from the pan rather than burning your fingertip in bacon grease. I wrapped the dates a few hours before the party, so I could just throw them in the oven when people arrived. To make dates wrapped in bacon, buy pitted dates, bacon, and toothpicks. Cut a slice of bacon in half and wrap it around a date and secure it with a toothpick. Heat the oven to 400 or 425 and put the dates on a aluminum foil lined baking sheet in the oven for about 6-7 minutes, then flip them to crisp the bacon on the other side and cook for another 6 or 7 minutes until the bacon is crisped to your liking. Make sure you don't crowd the pan too much with the dates, otherwise the pan will fill up with too much grease and the bacon won't crisp as well. Drain the dates on paper towels and cool for a couple of minutes. The salty, crisp bacon and soft, sweet dates are a match made in heaven and a great kick-off to a party.

"Devils on Horseback" - Though I see no evil in these

My sister picked up some cheeses - an aged gouda and two cheeses that feature truffles. My family pretty much doesn't have a meal without having some cheese and crackers first. And if I had to bet on it, I would put down $100 that my parents have an aged gouda in their fridge as you read this.


I make nuts pretty much everytime I have people over...mostly because they're really easy to make and always manage to wow people. For the Fo Ssam, I made two types of nuts. The first were candied walnuts and pecans - take one egg white and beat it a bit until its frothy, add a tbsp of water, then add about a pound of nuts, and then you can pretty much add whatever you want. If you want candied sweet nuts, add 1/3 cup brown sugar, 2/3 cup of white sugar, a tsp salt, a pinch of cayenne, a tsp of cinnamon and a dash of nutmeg. If you want to make more savory nuts, add a few tbsps of brown sugar, some rosemary, thyme, salt, and a pinch of cayenne (I've done garam masala also and this turns out nicely). Put the nut mixture on a baking sheet lined with aluminum and bake at 300 for about 30 minutes, stirring after 15 minutes. Remove and let cool, stirring occasionally to separate the nuts.



The other nuts I made are inspired by Buttermilk Channel in Brooklyn and their maple bacon almonds. I make mine differently with the same sort of principal - maple, bacon, and nuts. My best friend and I love these so much and have dubbed them Breakfast nuts. The recipe is as follows:



Fo's Breakfast Nuts:

• 1 lb nuts - I use mostly pecans with some walnuts
• 1/2lb bacon
• 1/2 c REAL maple syrup
• 1 tbsp mustard powder
• 1-2 tbsp brown sugar
• pinch cayenne

1. Using kitchen shears cut bacon into 3/4 inch size pieces. Cook bacon in large skillet until its crispy.
2. Heat oven to 300
3. Add the nuts to the pan of bacon and stir (don't drain the bacon grease!). Add remaining ingredients
4. Pour the mixture onto an aluminum lined baking sheet and cook in oven for about 25-30 minutes, stirring occasionally. When the nuts are done it'll look sugary and bubbly. Let cool and stir occasionally.

Main:

I made kimchi the weekend before the Fo Ssam. I found most of the ingredients at the Asian market M2M on the east side (including the salt shrimp in the refrigerator section), but I was an idiot and forgot the korean chile powder. So, I used american chile powder and learned the hard way that wasn't the best substitute in the world. The "fo" kimchi was a bastardized version, but there was something addictive about it in a non-kimchi way. It was saltier and smokier tasting. Oh well, next time I'll remember the korean chile powder!

I also made the buns the weekend before and froze them. I had made the buns previously when I made Chang's pork belly buns at home (so delicious and another recipe worth trying out). These aren't hard to make, but they are time consuming. Chang actually outsources these instead of making them at his restaurants. I find bread making therapeutic and I LOVE the taste of these homemade buns so much that I don't mind making them in the slightest. They taste a lot like soft white bread and you can wrap pretty much anything in them. The buns cook by being steamed, and its easiest if you have a bamboo steamer because its flat and large enough to steam a few at a time. Once made, I cool the buns and freeze them in ziploc bags. The recipe makes 50, which is a lot more then you'll need for the dinner party and might just be the incentive you need to make the pork belly buns sometime soon! Individually, the buns heat in 30 seconds in the microwave, but when you're thawing a lot at a time it takes a bit longer.

50 little buns rising on my counter

For the 8lb bone-in pork shoulder, I went to Agata & Valentina on the UES, which provided me with a truly beautiful pork shoulder. I also bought a cheap 4.5lb pork shoulder in an experiment of high level butcher vs regular grocery. That, and because I was slightly afraid that my 8 guests would plow through 8lbs in 8 minutes. The price difference between Agata and my regular grocer was about $3.50 a pound but the results were overwhelmingly in favor of the more expensive Berkshire pork from Agata.


Now, my obsession with David Chang has nothing on Martha Stewart's adoration. You can find the full recipe for the Bo Ssam and the sauces on her website. As per the recipe, I rubbed the pork the night before with the sugar and salt mixture and let it sit in the fridge. I also made the scallion ginger sauce and the Ssam sauce that night. These are both very easy to make and well worth it. I made double of both and we ended up using all of each! The ssam sauce is a vinagary chile sauce that goes really nicely with the pork. I added a bit more soy sauce to my scallion ginger sauce and a dash of sesame oil and hot sauce.

Two Little Piggies covered in salt and sugar

The next morning I put the pork in around 10:45 to slow roast for 6 hours. As per the recipe, I meticulously basted it in its own juices every hour it slow roasted. I can't begin to describe to you how delicious my apartment and frankly my entire building smelled from this masterpiece. After it was done, I tented it with foil, and when the guests arrived I rubbed it with the brown sugar mixture and finished it in the oven. My pork only took about 10 minutes for this final step, though the recipe suggests longer.

The Pork Masterpiece...I know - You stopped reading and you're on your way to Agata to get a 8lb pork shoulder

I have to tell you the pork tasted heavenly. It was moist, delicious, sweet and salty. I seriously couldn't have been happier with how it tasted. When put on a bun and topped with ssam or scallion sauce and rice, it made me wonder why I don't do this every Sunday! The smaller pork was a bit on the saltier side and a little less moist, so I would highly recommend making an 8lb one and "splurging" on the pork (pork shoulder is cheap even good pork shoulder is only about $5 a lb).

As a side, we also had rice. To make is as easy as possible, I made the rice in a rice cooker just as people arrived. That way, I could just start it and let it keep itself warm.

The plate - the pork, bibb lettuce, bun with pork and ssam sauce, and kimchi

Dessert:

Since this dinner party had a very Momofuku-ish theme to it, I decided (with some nudging from my older sister) that I would make Momofuku Milk Bar's Crack Pie. This is not the easiest of pies to make. You start by making an oatmeal cookie dough, spreading it thinly on a sheet tray, and baking it until its crisped. Once this cools, you crumble it up with some butter and sugar to make the crust. I have to tell you that I've made the crust a few times now and find that its much easier to combine the crust ingredients in a food processor. I also have a hard time making enough crust for two pies (even when I don't sneak tastes of the cookie dough). The filling is a really easy custard to mix up, which makes up for the hard work on the crust. I find that my filling takes a bit longer in the oven for the center to set then the recipe calls for. Crack pie is, as the name claims, addictive! I find myself in the vicinity of Milk Bar and its pies and cookies a bit too often and I have a hard time not getting a slice of crack pie.

Well you can't very well just serve pie. Which means that I put my trusty ice cream maker to use and made my go-to ben & jerry's coconut ice cream. This is such an easy ice cream to make and because of the can of coconut cream it has a superb coconut flavor. I always use the sweet cream base #2 and in the final few minutes of churning I add a cup of chocolate chips. Karen proclaimed this last time that I should switch to mini-chips and I think that's a great idea!

Sweet ending - Crack Pie and Coconut Chocolate Chip Ice Cream

And that's how I paid homage to pork and David Chang,

Oui for Ouest!

Karen and I had gone to eat at Ouest a few years ago. We both recalled that we really enjoyed our meal. I'm sure we would have returned after our first visit had either of us lived on the UWS or if we had occasion to be in the neighborhood. But the truth is, neither of us find ourselves there often. So, when I received a coupon for a free bottle of wine with the ordering of an entree each, we took it as our cue to find ourselves in the area and revisit Ouest.

With the opening of Ouest in 2001, Chef Thomas Valenti is largely credited with reviving the food scene on the UWS...making it a neighborhood that people actually go out of their way to visit for a nice meal. Our meal Friday left us with no doubt that we'll travel to eat here again.

The dining room at Ouest has a modern French feel to it with dark wood and red booths that make the place rather cozy. The tables on the side we sat were a tad bit too close for my liking. This proximity coupled with the acoustics sometimes left me straining to listen to Karen rather than a potentially more interesting date conversation a table away (hmmm...I wonder what date number they're on) . But, I thought, hopefully the food would speak louder.

Having our handy little coupon for a bottle of wine under $60 for free, we selected a red wine just below this price point, a Gamay - Herve Souhaut Vin de Pays 2007. Neither of us remembers ever having a Gamay, so we figured we'd try something new. It was a fruity red that was smooth and quite delicious. Something we agreed we'd have again.

Shortly after we sat down, a tall wire basket of baguettes arrived with a ramekin of pureed chickpeas, tahini, and olive oil. The look of the bread was terribly deceiving. It looked like a crusty, unmoist baguette. But when I tore a piece off, I found I needed much less force then I thought I would. The bread was warm and soft with a oh-so-slight perfectly crisp crust. And that chickpea dip was marvelous...we cleaned our first bowl so well that they brought us another that fared equally.

We were all set to order the bone marrow appetizer, when the waiter arrived and described the special appetizer of the evening. We couldn't resist the special hamachi with a soy vinaigrette with chili flakes, minced lemon, and baby greens. They kindly split this between two plates for us (each plate being what I would expect from one appetizer portion!). This was SO amazingly delicious that we both wavered between completely devouring it and trying to make it last as long as possible. The hamachi was beautifully fresh and buttery and the soy vinaigrette had the slight kick from the chili with the tang of the lemon and soy. A gorgeous raw fish plate with multiple layers of flavor that was one of the best I've had in a while.

True to form, I ordered the pork dish - bacon wrapped pork tenderloin with grilled pork belly, braised celery and sauce soubise (an onion based white sauce). There were two large pieces of pork belly and four medium-cooked pork loin medallions wrapped in bacon. The pork tenderloin was perhaps one of the most tender/moist pieces of pork I've had in a very long time. It had a strong pork flavor that reminded me of the pork chops my grandma used to make. I used every last drop of the onion sauce that just complemented the pork so well and made it even more reminiscent of grandmas. The rich, grilled pork belly melts in your mouth leaving you in salty pork euphoria. I will say that I think the plate would've been just as good with one less piece of pork belly (or two smaller pieces), because the pork belly made the dish much heavier and diverted my attention away from the pork tenderloin. But should I really complain about too much of a good thing?

Karen had what we both agreed was possibly the most perfectly cooked piece of fish either of us has ever had...fork tender Cod with black truffle custard, cauliflower puree, asparagus, and enoki (those long thin white mushrooms). The cod split into these gorgeous flakes of buttery fish. The custard looked like a flan. So at first glance, we were both terrified that the texture would ruin our love of all things truffle. But, the texture was smooth and coupled with the fish beautifully leaving a slight truffle backdrop. The crunch of the asparagus added a nice texture to the plate. In ultimate testiment to how delicious our meals were, we both finished our plates.

Having had such extraordinary success up until this point, we figured why stop when we're on a roll?! For dessert, we ordered the iced cappuccino sundae with espresso semifreddo and housemade caramel sauce with a sugary tuile and biscotti crumbles. And because we're both secretly 60 years old (complete with early weekend curfews), we each had a glass of Grahams 10 year Tawny port. When we dug in, the sundae oozed over the sides of the dish (like every good sundae should). The housemade caramel was salty and sweet and the semifreddo and biscotti crumbles were great adult twists on a childhood classic. I thought the sundae was good, but next time I would try one of the other desserts.

This meal left me plotting reasons to be on the UWS for dinner, and left Karen and I with more reasons to return then a free bottle of wine.


And that's how the Ouest was won

Maple Walnut Cake

The smell of maple just sings breakfast to me. Whether it be maple bacon, maple syrup on top of pancakes, or maple frosted donuts, maple means breakfast. When I saw this month's Bon Appetit and the Maple Walnut Cake, I just knew I had to make it. How better to make having cake for breakfast acceptable?!

When I read the recipe, I imagined and hoped that the cake would taste something like a pancake. I was not disappointed. The cake did indeed have this fantastic breakfasty flavor to it. Part of me of course rejoiced knowing that it made it more forgivable when I had a piece before noon. It's sort of like that Bill Cosby skit in which he feeds his kids chocolate cake as the perfect breakfast (arguing that the ingredients include milk, eggs, and wheat ~ viola breakfast!). I love all foods breakfast. Perhaps I love breakfast, because I'm such a morning person and no one else is up as early as I am. So, the only thing I have to do until everyone else finally decides to greet the day is eat!

The recipe is a little bit of a riff on a standard cake recipe. The big difference is that the sweetener for the cake is maple syrup and thus all liquid. I left the toasted walnuts for the cake batter in medium sized pieces (like the size of a chocolate chip), because I wanted a little crunch along with the walnut flavor. The frosting also has a good deal of maple syrup (don't even think about using anything but real maple syrup); and if you're looking for another reason it's okay for breakfast, it has a good amount of cream cheese too!

All in all, I liked that this cake is not your same old yellow, white or chocolate cake. It's a dense cake with a really tasty frosting. The texture was heavier then a pancake, but there was certainly something about the cake and its flavor that shouted "pancake" to me. It's certainly a cake I'd make again...even if I didn't need an excuse for cake at breakfast!

This cake is good any time of day...rise and shine and eat some cake,

Bread...

Out of interest, the other day I took a look at the ingredient list on my pack of english muffins that I usually have for breakfast. As is typical when I look at these lists, I'm floored by how much is in my food and how much I just don't want there (seriously...do they really need caramel coloring?!). So, my new endeavor is to make my own bread/pastry for my breakfasts so that I know what I'm eating. I know, I know this may be a bit ambitious. But, bread freezes well and most recipes make two loaves. And, as luck would have it, my parents bought me The Bread Bible for christmas. Plus, working with dough and kneading it can be pretty darn therapeutic.

I picked the Cinnamon Raisin Bread for my first week of knowing what I eat. It was a pretty easy bread to make. Yes, it takes a long time and there are a lot of rising periods, but the actual active time is pretty short. Beranbaum starts this bread with a yeast, water, honey, and flour sponge and sprinkles the remaining flour over this. This is left to rise for about an hour or so and then the kneading begins. I used my kitchenaid for the kneading. The kitchenaid kneading can be a bit tricky, because with a bread dough the kitchenaid tends to stroll across the counter when its kneading. Hence, you really have to keep your eye on it to make sure it doesn't walk its way off your counter. After it's risen, Beranbaum chills it in the fridge for a little while so that its easier to roll out. When its rolled out, its brushed with egg white and covered with cinnamon sugar and rolled up.

Rolled and ready for the cinnamon sugar

I was astonished by how amazing this bread came out. It was soft, sweet and tasted on par with some of the best cinnamon raisin bread I've had from bakeries. So exciting! And I have two loaves of it for my breakfasts! I'll take that over English Muffins anyday.

My new and improved breakfast - begging to be toasted and topped with butter

Can't wait until breakfast!

A few spots I've stopped in lately...Fatty Crab and Mimi's Hummus

A few weeks ago I stopped into the downtown (original) location of Chef Pelaccio's Fatty Crab for dinner. The tables are a bit close to one another for my liking, and the place has difficult acoustics for holding conversations. But let's face it, sometimes it's just about the food. So, I squeezed into my seat and perused the menu. Something about Malaysian food begs for a beer, so I ordered the Porkslap Farmhouse Pale ale, which turned out to be a fantastic choice. Fatty Crab is meant to be sharing, family style eating. So, we ordered a few plates and split them. To start, we ordered the watermelon pickle and crispy pork...Five huge cubes of watermelon with cubes of fried pork belly on top and some greens with a light vinaigrette (this is a pretty large appetizer serving for just two people). You get these fantastic bites of salty crisp pork cut with sweet watermelon. Our next dish was the Malay Fish Fry with fried filets of fish on top of rice with a crab curry and green chilis. This was pretty spicy and lacked any depth of flavor. The fish was pretty bland and not the flaky, fried fish I was anticipating. It was just one of those dishes that you have no desire to finish. Our final plate was short rib rendang braised with kaffir lime, coconut, and chili topped with fried shredded coconut and accompanied by a side of coconut rice. Woohoo...we saved the best for last. These short ribs were so unbelievably delicious. Yes they were fatty...short ribs are but that's what makes them rich and delicious so deal with it because its worth it. The braising sauce, coconut rice, and short ribs made the perfect bites. The sauce was heavy on the coconut, but there was a hint of lime and the sweet shredded coconut made for a delightful texture variation. Honestly, this was one of the most remarkable dishes I've had in a while. I would totally deal with the crowded space to have this dish again. It's one of those dishes that once you have, its hard to go back to the restaurant and order something else. After we finished our meal, they brought over these superb coconut flavored pastry bites.


The other day, I happily stopped for lunch at Mimi's Hummus on Courtelyou Road in Ditmas Park, Brooklyn. This is a tiny spot that has an adorable home-town feel to it. The minuscule kitchen is open and tucked into the back corner of the restaurant and Mimi is hard at work in it. My sister and I split the meat hummus, spinach salad with root vegetables and a raspberry tahini dressing, and eggplant pearls with parsley, tahini, and honey. The homemade pita bread arrived piping hot in a basket alongside the meat hummus. Meat hummus is something I've never had before...I always think of hummus with vegetables, but not anymore! The ground meat on this had a subtle nutmeg flavor and the surrounding hummus with oil was so delicious. I scooped as much as I could of this onto the pita bread. The cold eggplant dip was very nice and the honey on it was clearly fantastic quality, but I thought the honey overpowered the eggplant flavor a bit (my sister and her husband totally disagree and LOVE this dish). Part of my knows that there's nothing I can do...I'm either going to have to go back to Mimi's sometime soon for the meat hummus or try to make some of my own at home.