No-Water Korean Crispy Bossam (Pork Belly) – by Ryu Soo Young
An easy no-water Korean bossam recipe where pork belly sears in its own fat with lots of garlic for crispy, juicy slices. Inspired by Ryu Soo Young’s Pyun-staurant dish, this one-pot method delivers rich flavor with minimal prep—perfect with kimchi or cabbage wraps.
Servings: 3 serevings
Ingredients
- 1 ¼ pound (600 g) thick pork belly or thigh strips, 2-3 inches thick
- Sprinkle coarse salt
- 20-30 garlic cloves
- 1 Tbsp oil
Instructions
- Place the pork belly with skin side up on a cutting board. Score the skin by making shallow diagonal cuts: first left, then right, creating a loose diamond pattern without cutting too deep into the meat. This helps it cook evenly and get crispy. Sprinkle coarse salt over the skin.
- Preheat a stainless or heavy-bottomed pot over medium heat with a drizzle of oil. Heat for about 3 minutes. Swirl the oil to coat the bottom.
- Place the pork belly skin-side down into the hot pot. Cover with a lid. Reduce the heat to medium-low until the skin browns and crisps, about 2-3 minutes. Stove strengths vary—check to prevent burning. When ready, flip the meat on to another side and continue searing with the lid covered. Rotate and sear all sides so the outside is evenly browned.
- At about the 10 minute mark, lower the heat to low and add in all the garlic cloves. The pork belly likely released a lot of oil, garlic should sit about ⅓ submerged in the oil. If not, add a bit of oil.
- Gently shake the pot occasionally to prevent the garlic from sticking or burning. After another 10 minutes, place the pork directly on top of the garlic and continue cooking for 5 minutes. This ensures the pork isn’t overcooked, and the garlic flavor seeps into the pork belly. Total cooking time is 25 minutes.
- Remove the pork and place it on a plate. Cover with aluminum to let the pork rest, similar to steak. Cover loosely with foil and let it rest for 5–10 minutes—this helps the meat retain its juices.
- Thinly slice the pork belly. Serve with the garlic.
- Serving Suggestions: musaengchae, kimchi, steam or blanched napa cabbage leaves, ssamjang or sal and pepper dipping sauce
Notes
- Avoid seasoning the pork belly with black pepper because it burns easily.
- The pot lid is key to this recipe. Covering the pot brings a similar effect to an oven since the heat stays within the pot. Make sure
- If you add other vegetables like scallion or onion, the pork belly will become more like steamed bossam and not bbq pork belly because of the water content in the vegetables.