Help me recreate dish from momofuku saam

[Honey Bee]

[This post was moved from the Manhattan board. --The Chowhound Team]

While visiting a friend, we ate at Momofuku Saam. At dinner, I ate the most wonderful brussel sprouts, but don't remember what was in them....chiles, bacon, mint?
I would appreciate any guidance as I would love to recreate the dish at home.
Thanks

[chungle]

Hey, there's finally an official recipe. Here it is: http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/foo...

[biskuit]

Just made it tonight, this is an INCREDIBLE recipe!

Scroll to the bottom of the set at http://flickr.com/photos/kaplanbr/set... to see some photos.

[chungle]

I think I cracked the code. Instead of replicating everything exactly, I tried to just get away with the essentials of the preparation. I'd tried baking and sauteing for a long time, but found that deep frying was the way to go.

Let me know if this works for you as well: http://chungfood.blogspot.com/2007/08...

[daveena]

Inspired by the chili/mint/fish sauce combo in the Momofuku brussel sprouts, I made quick pickles this weekend with Kirby cucumbers, fish sauce (enough to coat the cucumbers, no additional salt), garlic (put through a garlic press), chili flakes, and mint (more than I thought I originally needed - had to keep adding more on retasting).

These worked out really well! The liquid exuded by the cucumbers was really tasty too, and I didn't want to waste it, so I panfried some steak, deglazed the pan with the liquid, sliced the steak really thinly, and served the sauce, steak, and cucumbers on rice. The sauce was especially good - deep umami from the pan juices and fish sauce - the mint and garlic were muted by the heat of the pan, but the cucumber flavor rang out clearly.

[Honey Bee]

Experimented a bit with this over the weekend. Pretty happy with the results- not sure if it is a sure match for Saam's brussels sprouts, but it is certainly close enough to make me happy. Here is what I did:
Fry 2 pieces of bacon, remove from pan
Blanch small bag of frozen brussels sprouts (no fresh available at my market)
Cut sprouts in half, fry in bacon drippings
Add 1 bunch chopped mint, 2 chopped green onions, 2 T fish sauce, 1 T chili sauce, 2/3 cup chopped kimchee, 1/3 c kinchee liquid, sprinkle with kosher sauce. Sautee.
Add chopped bacon

Obviously, this would be better with fresh brussels sprouts but is was still pretty good.

[Ethan N]

I asked the very same question a while back and did some experimenting here:

http://www.chowhound.com/topics/388880

I hope someone has cracked the code...

[Honey Bee]

Me too...those were some tasty brussel sprouts. I found one article that linked Momofuku brussel sprouts and kimchee. I don't remember kimchee in them, but maybe that is worth a try? Or perhaps that is only at Momofuku and not Saam.

[Honey Bee]

http://www.newasiancuisine.com/newsle...

Here is the recipe I found, but this doesn't seem like what I remeber eating. I son;t think the dish I ate had carrots.

[kathryn]

I believe the brussel sprouts at Ssam started out kimchee and they eventually settled on the mint/fish sauce/chilis version.

Noodle Bar has completely different brussel sprouts, too. And, of course, both places play around with their recipes a fair bit. Confusing!

[Honey Bee]

Thanks for the feedback. Kathryn, that photo looks so delicous!

[kathryn]

I believe it was chiles, mint, fish sauce, and little crispy rice puffs on top. Maybe some garlic. They probably are cooked in pork fat.

Maybe you could call them and ask about it for hints.

http://flickr.com/photos/kathryn/4121...

[billh]

I asked at the original Momofuku if they par-boiled the brussel sprouts first and the answer was yes. I'd do that and then saute with the above ingredients. You'll probably have to experiment a bit to get the amounts correct.