I have been making this for years. I never use that much salt and I swap the sugars since I want the caramelized crust and sauce that comes with it. I never sear cook time takes care of that & you must baste every hour. massage in marinade, the longer it sits the better. Turn every 6-8 hours does help. If you smoke it us apple juice injections. WOW!!!

Also, check out this video for a great tutorial on how to make it... the two sauces they use are fantastic... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qlKhRwhvS4g

I've made this recipe about 5 or 6 times. The first time I followed to the letter, including cooking times, leaving on the salt and it was a hot mess. Every time I've done it since then, I rinsed the meat off and used a meat thermometer. I let the meat get to it's optimal cooking temperature and then watched it closely after that... usually an additional 1 to 1-1/2 hours. Also, only broiled it for about 5 to 8 minutes once you put the sugar/salt mix on otherwise it burns. SO. GOOD.

I just looked up this recipe online and there's a copy of it from David Chang's cookbook. In that recipe, he uses the salt and sugar (and water) to make a BRINE. That makes so much more sense than the results I got from using the salt and sugar as a dry rub. It was just way too salty for me as a dry rub.

Made this last weekend, and it was amazing. I thought it was just as good as when I had it at Ssam Bar. I made a couple modifications to the recipe. First, I rinsed off the cure. The meat was very well seasoned, and the exterior wasn't too salty. Second, I roasted it in a V-rack, which let the fat drip off it (plenty of fat for basting, and it kept the exterior uniformly crisped). I pureed the ginger/scal sauce, and the ssam sauce needed a little extra kochujang to thicken.

He rinsed the pork belly that used to cook the pork buns but did not rinse the pork butt/shoulder in this recipe. It looked as though the excess salt and sugar was brushed off though.

I made this today. The "crust" of the pork was too salty for my taste buds but the rest of the pork turned out great!

I just rewatched the segment and he says "you DON'T have to rinse it off." I made this for Superbowl Sunday and we loved it, however, I found it to be too salty. Once you folded the pork into the lettuce leaves with all the condiments it tasted just fine, but there was a lot of leftover pork which was very salty. (I suppose the combination of flavors when eaten as Bo Ssam camouflaged the saltiness.) I think next time I will rinse it off.

You are supposed to brush off the excess salt and sugar brining mix. It was the eggrolls on the same show that you didn't rinse off the salt from the cabbage you are thinking of when you said, "I don't think he rinsed it off." On the eggrolls, definately rinse the cabbage or much too salty. I am making thin now and have made before. I don't think that I have every had enough drippings to baste. About the third time I made it, I added water to the pan and then had some juice. You have to do that right away

I stand corrected, I can't find the video segment online. You used to always be able to watch show segments online. They are constantly changing the website, but not always for the better.