Its My Birthday!

Today at 12:07 pm I turn 25. It’s funny that although I know the exact time of my birth, there is only one birthday that comes to memory on which I can remember exactly what I was doing at that time. It was my 8th birthday and I was at my friend Josh’s house eating a hot dog. Weird, I know…

What am I doing to celebrate my first quarter century of life? I’m trying to celebrate a lot (but not too intensely) so that I don’t really want to celebrate my birthday for another year. On Monday I had a truly excellent meal with my parents at Picholine (write-up coming soon) and tonight I plan on splitting a Bo Ssam with a bunch of friends. On Friday I will be cooking a three course meal featuring seared foie gras, halibut, Dr. Pepper braised short ribs and a dessert from Bouley Bakery. It will also include a pair of wines from 1983, a year lucky enough to have me born in it. Finally on Saturday, I have two friends throwing me a birthday party in their apartment preceded by a tasting of Italian wines and Vinny’s Italian American pizza.

Thanks in advance to all who choose to participate. It should be an exciting three days…

How to Eat on Superbowl Sunday

The Super Bowl is this weekend and I’m psyched! I get to spend a four hour block of time rooting for my favorite football to beat my least favorite football team (and hopefully make some townies cry in the process) and hopefully win the greatest trophy in team sports. Because this Superbowl has such large implications on my well being and sanity as a sports fan (ask my friends how I acted after the Giants lost the Superbowl in 2000) I decided not to cook or put any effort into food preparation. Instead I’m going to order pork shoulder from my favorite shrine of pig eating—Momofuku Ssam Bar. For what amounts to about 45 dollar a person (including delivery and tip) we are being treated to the following:

Bo Ssam (rice, bibb lettuce, kimchi, oysters, assorted condiments)
Kewpie cole slaw
Smoked Chicken Wings
Seasonal Pickles Cracker Jacks

Muddy Buddy Chex Mix

Pine nut/Macadamia nut brittle

In addition, if my stomach is feeling particularly ambitious this Sunday I’ll even pick up a bucket of wings from my favorite Korean fried chicken place, Bon Bon chicken.

Osi Umenyiora is a football god. It is also the
name of a consistently strong fantasy football team.

I can’t think of anything better than watching the Giants win a Superbowl and eating Bo Ssam in the same night. Now it’s up to the Giants to keep up their part of the bargain.

Pigging Out

From http://offthebroiler.wordpress.com/2007/05/31/nyc-dining-momofuku-ssam-bar/

The tender delicious Bo Ssam in all it's piggy glory. My friends and I finished an eight pounder this past Saturday and are very proud of the accomplishment.

Anyone who knows me knows that I love to eat pig products. If I could only eat one kind of animal for the rest of my life it would definitely be the pig. I can’t think of too many things that taste better than pork belly or bacon. I’m also a huge fan of all kinds of sausage, hot dogs, ribs, pork chops, cured meats and even pig’s head. My friend Aaron even went as far as to call me a ‘pigophile' the other day. This past Saturday, my intense love of pork products led me and my friends to a meal that had been months in the making: the Bo Ssam at Momofuku Ssam Bar.

For those of you that don’t know, Bo Ssam refers to a Korean style slow cooked pork butt (really the shoulder.) At Momofuku, the Bo Ssam is accompanied by a dozen oysters, Bibb lettuce, kimchee, kimchee puree, a chili bbq sauce and a ginger scallion puree.

We started off our porcine feast with a couple of non pig appetizers. These included the Momofuku pickle plate, the fried cauliflower with mint, Delfino cilantro and fish sauce, the tomato salad with fried tofu, the squid salad, and the poached Mayan prawns. After we each had a couple of sample bites, (the consensus favorite seemed to be the fried cauliflower) the Momofuku staff brought out the various Bo Ssam accompaniments. These were followed by an icy a plate of oysters and the highlight of the meal: an eight pound, crackly skinned, fall off the bone soft, rich, juicy, piggily delicious pork butt.

We were instructed to wrap the pork in lettuce and add the accompaniments along with (and this was surprising to me) an oyster! The idea of pulled pork and oysters doesn’t sound that great, but the briny fresh cool taste of the oyster helps add a lightness to the dense, rich flavor of the pork. We liked the combination so much we even ordered another dozen.

Other than the oyster my favorite Bo Ssam add-on was the ginger scallion puree. Like the oyster, the ginger added lightness to the pork that brought it to a completely different level. I can’t think of too many things that taste more perfect than Bo Ssam with ginger scallion puree, an oyster, and a little bit of kimchee for spice.

I’ve probably been to Momofuku Ssam bar 15-20 times and haven’t had an experience there as quite like the Bo Ssam. What made it even better was that the entire butt, our appetizers, a couple of bottles of sparkling shiraz, and a couple of rounds of the fantastically floral Hitachino white ale ended up being equal to, or less than my usual tab there. If you can find 7-9 friends who enjoy good food and have appetites, the Momofuku Bo Ssam is a must in the world of New York Food. There aren’t many meals that leave me sitting with a fully belly and a permanent, stupid smile on my face, but the Bo Ssam was one of them. Even though my fullness led me to be completely useless for the rest of the night, I can’t wait to go back.