There’s a version of the Fourth of July where I stand over a grill for fourteen hours and call it patriotism. This was not that year. This year I wanted bo ssam, and I wanted it on the table before the fireworks, not after.

Two raw bone-in pork butts coated in a dry sugar-and-salt cure on a foil-lined tray. — The cure going on: salt, white and brown sugar, powdered ginger, gochujang. It looks like a lot of sugar because it is a lot of sugar.

If y’all have never had it: bo ssam is Korean, a big communal pile of slow-cooked pork you tear apart at the table and tuck into lettuce leaves with kimchi, a couple of sharp sauces, and (traditionally) rice. The version most of us Americans know came by way of David Chang and Momofuku; the New York Times ran his whole-pork-butt recipe more than a decade ago and it’s been quietly ruining people’s dinner-party plans ever since (in the best way). Chang cures the butt overnight in sugar and salt, roasts it long and low, then hits it with a hard sugar glaze at the end that lacquers the whole outside. It’s very good and very famous, and I’ve made it in the oven more times than I can count.

The same cured pork butts after resting overnight, the sugar dissolved and liquid pooled in the tray. — The same butts the next morning, sugar melted in and a little pool of liquid drawn out. Overnight is where the cure does its quiet work.

But I didn’t want to tell y’all an oven story. I’ve got a Kamado Joe and a bag of applewood chunks, and I wanted smoke in this pig.

So a few things changed. The cure is still the backbone (salt and sugar doing their slow work overnight), but I folded a couple of heaping spoons of powdered ginger and a spoon of gochujang right into it. Ginger for warmth, gochujang for that low background hum of fermented heat. It went on the night before and sat in the fridge, and by morning the sugar had pulled a little pool of liquid into the pan and melted into the meat (that’s the second photo; the first is the cure going on, before it has a chance to do anything).

A red ceramic Kamado Joe grill on a deck beside a cured pork butt on a tray, with a chimney starter. — Kamado’s up to 225, applewood loaded, pork standing by. The avocado oil spray is for the grate, not the pig.

Now, about the cook. I did two butts, and I did them one at a time (one in the morning, one right behind it), because I wanted the faster cook and I didn’t feel like babysitting two hunks of pork on one grate all day. Onto the kamado at 225 with applewood smoke curling up. On at 11:51 in the morning, off at 6:37 that evening; call it just under seven hours, cooking to temperature rather than watching the clock. I pull bo ssam when it probes tender and reads somewhere between 205 and 210 (that photo of the thermometer showing 190 is a mid-cook check, not done yet, keep going).

An instant-read thermometer reading 190°F stuck into a dark-barked pork butt on the grill. — A mid-cook check reading 190; close, but not yet. I’m pulling this at 205 to 210, so we keep going.

Fifteen minutes of rest, then two forks and a little violence.

Smoked pulled pork in a white dish showing a deep pink smoke ring beneath the dark bark. — Pulled with two forks, and there’s the smoke ring: that band of rose right under the crust. This is the whole reason we did it on the kamado.

Here’s the part I want to be straight with y’all about: that bark is dark. Genuinely dark, past pretty in a few spots, with a couple of charred bits down near the bottom where the sugar caught. That’s what a sugar-heavy cure does over that many hours; there’s no version of this cure that stays a polite mahogany. I’m not going to stage it into something it isn’t. But crack that crust and look at the smoke ring, that band of deep rose sitting right under the surface, and the meat pulling into strands that are somehow both smoky-crusty and butter-soft. The dark bits get chopped back through the pull and they taste like the best part. I’d take this trade every time.

A whole smoked pork butt with very dark, nearly blackened bark resting in a white dish. — Off the grill, and yes, the bark is dark. A sugar cure plus seven hours will do that, and I regret nothing.

For the table I set out the two sauces that make bo ssam what it is. The ginger-scallion sauce, which is bright and oily and sharp and which I could put on a shoe. And the ssam sauce, ssamjang and gochujang loosened with sherry vinegar and oil, which is deep and funky and does the heavy lifting. The kimchi was store-bought, because that’s what I had in the fridge and I’m not going to pretend otherwise; a good jarred kimchi is a perfectly honest thing to reach for on a holiday.

I skipped the rice. We’re cutting carbs around here, so the lettuce leaf did all the wrapping and I didn’t miss it (if you want the full traditional spread, the recipe note tells you exactly where it goes). I added chopped cucumber for crunch and some red onion that I’d very lightly pickled, just white vinegar and a pinch of sugar for twenty minutes, enough to take the raw bite off without turning it into a full pickle.

A bo ssam spread with pulled pork, lettuce, cucumber, red onion, kimchi, two sauces, and watermelon. — The full spread: pork, lettuce, cucumber, pickled onion, kimchi, ginger-scallion and ssam sauces, watermelon. Everybody builds their own from here.

And there’s watermelon, because it was the Fourth of July and around here the Fourth dictates watermelon. Any other day of the year it’s optional. On the Fourth it’s basically the law.

Print Recipe

Smoked Bo Ssam (Kamado Joe), Momofuku-Inspired

Momofuku’s famous bo ssam, taken off the oven and onto the kamado: an overnight sugar-salt cure spiked with ginger and gochujang, then applewood smoke until it pulls apart. Serve it as lettuce wraps with kimchi and two punchy sauces.

Prep Time1

Cook Time7

Ingredients

For the cure

1 whole bone-in pork butt or picnic 8 to 10 lb
¾ cup kosher salt
½ cup white sugar
½ cup packed brown sugar
2 tbsp powdered ginger heaping
1 tbsp gochujang heaping
Applewood chunks for smoking
Ginger-scallion sauce

For the Ginger Scallion Sauce

2½ cups thinly sliced scallions green and white parts
½ cup ginger peeled and minced
¼ cup neutral oil
1½ teaspoons soy sauce
1 tsp sherry vinegar
½ tsp kosher salt

For the Ssam Sauce

2 tbsp ssamjang fermented bean-and-chili paste
1 tbsp gochujang Korean chili paste
½ cup sherry vinegar
½ cup neutral oil
To serve

For Serving

Lettuce leaves separated, washed and dried (bibb is traditional; I used romaine)
Kimchi store-bought is fine
1 english cucumber chopped
½ red onion thinly sliced and lightly pickled (toss with white vinegar and a pinch of sugar, 20 minutes)

Instructions

Cure. Mix the salt, both sugars, powdered ginger, and gochujang into a rough paste. Coat the butt all over. Cover and refrigerate overnight (up to 24 hours). It’ll draw out liquid and melt into the meat.
1 whole bone-in pork butt or picnic, ¾ cup kosher salt, ½ cup white sugar, ½ cup packed brown sugar, 2 tbsp powdered ginger, 1 tbsp gochujang
Fire the kamado. Get it stable at 225°F, set up for indirect low-and-slow cooking, with applewood chunks for smoke.
Applewood chunks
Smoke. Put the butt on and smoke at 225°F until it probes tender and reads 205 to 210°F internal. For me this ran just under 7 hours (on at 11:51 a.m., off at 6:37 p.m.). Cook to temperature, not the clock.
Rest and pull. Rest 15 minutes, then pull with two forks. Chop any dark bark back through the meat.
Make the ginger scallion sauce first. Let it sit and meld while you make the other sauce. .
2½ cups thinly sliced scallions, ½ cup ginger , ¼ cup neutral oil, 1½ teaspoons soy sauce, 1 tsp sherry vinegar, ½ tsp kosher salt
Make the Ssam sauce. Taste and adjust spice to your liking
2 tbsp ssamjang, 1 tbsp gochujang, ½ cup sherry vinegar, ½ cup neutral oil
Serve. Set out lettuce, pork, both sauces, kimchi, cucumber, and pickled onion. Everybody builds their own wrap or cup.
Lettuce leaves, Kimchi, 1 english cucumber, ½ red onion

Notes

Cook to temp, not time. This ran faster than the usual 1.5 to 2 hours-per-pound rule of thumb. Don’t panic if yours takes longer (or shorter); the thermometer is the boss.
The bark runs dark. The brown sugar takes the crust well past mahogany, and you may get a few charred bits near the bottom. Chop them back through the pull; they’re delicious. Want a lighter bark? Cut the brown sugar to ¼ cup.
Two butts, cooked separately. I ran them one at a time for a faster cook and less babysitting. Double the cure if you do the same.
Kimchi. Store-bought is a perfectly honest choice.
Rice. I skipped it (cutting carbs). Add 2 cups cooked white rice for the full traditional spread.
Oysters. Same as above. July is not oyster season and I don’t live near the coast to get them fresh. If you’re making this in a month that contains an R, I highly recommend you add oysters.
Make-ahead. The overnight cure is a feature, not a chore. Pulled pork holds warm and reheats beautifully.

P.S. Chang serves his bo ssam with a dozen raw oysters, and it’s a genuinely great move if you’re feeling fancy and near good oysters. I was neither, so I passed. No regrets, but consider this your permission slip.

P.P.S. If you make the ginger-scallion sauce and find yourself eating it by the spoonful over the sink, that’s not a bug. That’s just Tuesday.

P.P.P.S. Yes, the bark was dark. We’ve discussed this. Move on with me.

Bo Ssam on the Kamado: Momofuku’s Pork Butt, Smoked