The idea for this dish came from an amazing meal I recently had at David Chang’s two Michelin starred restaurant, Momofuku Ko in New York. One of the 17 courses we had was a bento box which consisted of 5 little dishes that were each a bite or two. One of them was a little cylinder of sticky rice that was rolled in pork fat, grilled and topped with a pinch of sea salt. That was it; rice, salt and fat. It was perfect. I decided to take that dish a step further here, adding a couple more elements so that it mimicked the flavors of bibimbap , a Korean rice dish served in a smoking hot stone bowl and topped with various meats and vegetables.
I used the same technique of rolling the rice in pork fat as at Ko, but I cooked mine at high heat in a sauté pan to get it really crunchy. I sprinkled on a little course sea salt and placed the rice onto a pool of sweet soy. On top of the rice went some homemade kimchi (Chang’s recipe) that I keep in my fridge at all times. So in one bite you have the classic elements of bibimbop.
I used the same technique of rolling the rice in pork fat as at Ko, but I cooked mine at high heat in a sauté pan to get it really crunchy. I sprinkled on a little course sea salt and placed the rice onto a pool of sweet soy. On top of the rice went some homemade kimchi (Chang’s recipe) that I keep in my fridge at all times. So in one bite you have the classic elements of bibimbop.