Impulse buying

The wonderful weather on Saturday reminded me of why I love New York. The sunshine brought people out and as I walked around the city, there was a palpable energy in the air. Spring is coming and spring is good.

I had to do some last minute shopping on Saturday and was lucky enough to have the opportunity to go shopping at the Union Square Green Market on a nice day—one of my favorite New Yorker things to do. I love seeing the crowds of people buying food and talking about food and I love talking to the farmers about their products.

Anyway, while walking around in a t-shirt and passing by the different sellers I spotted the chubby, smiley farmer and his chubby, smiley son who sell ‘seriously good bacon’. This prompted me to think of Heat and of the fact that Thursday was National Pig Day and of the delicious, fatty, pork filled meals at Momofuku. I then did some impulse shopping and talked myself into buying a pork butt.

I cooked it yesterday in an attempt to re-create the Ssams at Momofuku and had my neighbors (they lent me borrow their table so I would have enough seating for the dinner party) over for dinner. The pork was soft and delicious and the farmers market kimchee was spicy and acidic and really hit the spot. I also pickled some shitakes and threw in some lettuce, rice, and edamame. Rummaging through the refrigerator also inspired me to combine bbq sauce and tamarind paste to create my own bootleg Asian pork sauce.

Here is how I prepared the butt:

6 garlic cloves
1 teaspoon black peppercorns, crushed
5 teaspoons coarse sea salt
1 tablespoon roasted chili powder
1 tablespoon brown sugar
2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
¼ cup olive oil

Chop up garlic into small pieces then combine with other ingredients in blender. Once combined, spoons mixture over all sides of pork butt.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees place butt in on roasting pan, fat side up. Roast at 400 degrees for 30 minutes then reduce heat to 250 degrees and continue to roast for 3-4 more hours (this may take longer depending on the size of the pork butt) until internal thermometer reaches 160 degrees.


Will post the thoughts on the dinner party with pictures tomorrow.