Berkshire Kurobuta Bo Ssam

This may be the fourth or fifth time we've made bo ssam with David Chang's recipe (see earlier posting) and I have secretly not blogged about it every time.  We appear piggy enough as it is.  But the butcher at Uwajimaya, where I always get my whole boston pork butt, asked me one day what I was doing with it.  He suggested I try the Berkshire Kurobuta pork.  I have had the Kurobuta in other cuts but was skeptical with this particular recipe because I believed the bone in was an important detail and they only sold the Kurobuta pork butt boneless.  So, I am posting on the bo ssam again tonight only to report the outcome of the boneless Berkshire Kurobuta pork butt.  


First, let me preface this by saying we are not using our own oven and discovered, thankfully in time, that the oven we were using was set on celsius instead of fahrenheit.  Wanting to enjoy our day, Chris had come back to put the pork into the oven, which he set to 300.  Yet when we returned, again thankfully not too long after, it was to the smell of 'burning meat' as Stella called it.  We were perplexed as to what happened.  After a bit of troubleshooting, I discovered the oven must have been set to celsius.  


The pork roasted at 500f for about 40 minutes and then to 300f or 147c for 4 hours, and finally finishing at 450f or 241c for 10 minutes with a coating of brown sugar.  The initial 'browning' at the higher temp worked out fine.  Had it been any longer at that high temp, things would have been different.  And, the boneless factor allowed for shorter cooking time with a super tender, juicy, pull apart result.  It was every bit mind blowing, foodie porn, pork candy delicious.  We all moaned and groaned at its pure pork perfection.  It is a resounding yes on the Berkshire Kurobuta pork!