Ssam Brandenburger Art
Title: Brandenburg-style Ssam, if my German is correct
Our CEO is a hunter with a side hobby starting successful tech companies. He’s spent his quarantine in the fields and trees of Brandenburg dropping wild boar and buck, and shared a 2.5 kg venison leg this week, conveniently timed as Berlin lifts more of its restrictions (and just before I enter a self quarantine before traveling back to the US).
It’s certainly not gulasch season and I wanted to keep the meal around the venison a bit brighter and lighter, highlighting the venison by offsetting the gameyness with bright glints of citrus and ginger. This deer lived so close it could’ve had a monthly BVG ticket, so I also wanted to keep the produce from as near as possible in celebration of Brandenburg’s best.
To play with the venison and celebrate summer flavors, I landed on a Korean ssam style spread, with a tray of lettuces and herbs and a range of banchan bites to wrap up together. I am illiterate in Korean cuisine, but I am so grateful for Korean-American chefs like tycoon David Chang and Minneapolis’s pizza queen Ann Kim (Young Joni, Pizzeria Lola, Hello Pizza), as well as the widespread appreciation for Korean staples like kimchi and gochujang. I have no experience to say anything accurate about Korean cuisine or culture other than I love it and wanted to play with some of its core flavors here.
As is so often the case with venison, I accidentally overcooked the meat (slightly underestimated the carryover cooking after pulling it from the oven), but the ginger-heavy marinade left it nicely seasoned and a proper rest and thin slicing still made for a great wrap.
And so, here is the mix I landed on, which ended up being an ideal prepare-ahead meal for a summer gathering. Admittedly, this style of dining is wildly out of sync with coronavirus dining restrictions, but can be scaled to feed a household or pocketed for more communal times. I’ve typically heard about ssam using pork shoulder, often following Momofuku’s recipe with a dry-brined piece of pork cooked to pull-apart tenderness. Of course, this could be a fabulous vegan spread as well –– I imagine a sheet pan of mushrooms blasted at high heat until crispy.
Ginger-garlic soy sauce: equal parts soy sauce and rice vinegar, a dash of fish sauce, and finely minced garlic and ginger
Gochujang: cut with a bit of honey and soy for extra sweetness and spreadability
Lettuce: I went with one bitter and one sweet head, with leaves smaller than a hand
Herbs: basil, cilantro, and mint, and a wild herb mix with acidic sorrel and bitter herbs
Carrot-kohlrabi slaw: marinated in ginger and rice vinegar
Vegetables: salted and drained cucumber, sliced radish
Other toppings: Peanuts, vermicelli noodles, edible flowers, kimchi, deep fried shallots, limes
