Bossam — Korean Boiled Pork Belly Wraps

Bossam is a Korean dish of pork belly boiled with aromatics until tender, then sliced and eaten wrapped in leaves at the table. You take a leaf of napa cabbage, perilla or lettuce, add a slice of pork, ssamjang (seasoned soybean paste), salted shrimp, spicy radish salad and kimchi, and eat the bundle in one bite. The name comes from 'ssam' (to wrap). It's a communal, festive dish — lean and clean-tasting rather than greasy — traditionally made during kimjang, the autumn kimchi-making, when fresh kimchi is on hand.

Korean cooks boil the pork in an aromatic broth specifically to remove any porky odour and add flavour: doenjang (soybean paste), ginger, garlic, scallion, onion and peppercorns are standard, and many add a spoonful of instant coffee or a splash of soju, which deepen the colour and neutralise the smell. Simmering gently (rather than a hard boil) and using fresh pork also helps. The result should taste clean, savoury and tender — not gamey or greasy.

The classic accompaniments are leaves for wrapping (napa cabbage, perilla, lettuce), ssamjang for dabbing, saeujeot (salted fermented shrimp) for dipping, a spicy seasoned radish or cabbage salad called musaengchae or bossam-kimchi, and regular kimchi. To eat, you lay a slice of pork and a little of each condiment on a leaf, wrap it up and eat it whole. The fresh, spicy, briny condiments balance the rich pork, which is the whole point of the dish.

Saeujeot is salted, fermented tiny shrimp — a salty, briny, umami-packed Korean condiment that's the traditional dip for bossam pork. A little goes a long way; its sharp saltiness cuts the richness of the pork beautifully and is considered the classic pairing. It's not strictly mandatory — you can use ssamjang alone — but saeujeot is what many Koreans consider essential to authentic bossam. You'll find it at Korean groceries; use sparingly.

Pork belly is traditional and prized because the layers of fat keep it succulent and give that melt-in-the-mouth quality after boiling. You can use a leaner cut like pork shoulder (it'll still be tasty and a bit less rich), but very lean cuts can turn dry, so they need careful, gentle simmering and shouldn't be overcooked. Part of bossam's appeal is that boiling renders some fat, leaving the belly tender but cleaner-tasting than fried pork — so belly really is the ideal cut.