On the heat. Medium

Ingredients

• 800 g whole lamb rump, fat cap on
• 1 tbsp oil · salt, black pepper
• — SSAMJANG
• 3 tbsp doenjang (fermented soybean paste)
• 1 tbsp gochujang
• 1 tbsp sesame oil · 1 tbsp toasted sesame seeds
• 2 cloves garlic, grated · 1 spring onion
• 1 tsp honey
• — THE TABLE
• Lettuce and perilla leaves · rice · kimchi · pickled radish · raw garlic

Method

1. Score the fat cap in a diamond, down to but not into the meat. Season heavily and leave out for 40 minutes.
2. Fat cap down in a cold, dry pan, then bring the heat up to medium. Render for 8 to 10 minutes until the cap is thin, crisp and golden and there is a pool of fat in the pan. Starting cold is the whole technique.
3. Pour off most of the fat and keep it. Turn the rump and sear all remaining faces, 2 minutes each.
4. Into a 200 °C oven for 10 to 12 minutes, until it reads 54 °C.
5. Rest 12 minutes, then slice thinly across the grain.
6. Mix the ssamjang. Everyone builds their own: a lettuce leaf, a perilla leaf, rice, a slice of lamb, a dab of ssamjang, kimchi, a sliver of raw garlic. Wrap and eat in one bite.

Cook's note. Cold pan, fat side down. A hot pan seizes the outside of a fat cap and the inside never renders. Starting cold gives you crackling instead of chewy fat.

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