Ssäm de panceta de StreetXO, the original recipe by Dabiz Muñoz

Total: 3 h 30 min Diners: 6

That Dabiz Muñoz is one of the most talented chefs that Spain has ever produced is indisputable. Technically enviable, with an incredible desire to improve and improve and an innate ability to combine flavors, recipes and products, the Madrilenian gives us rounded bites full of harmonic power. His cuisine is radical, alternative and unique.

During the confinement he presented us with some of his nonconformist and great recipes, in an easy way and with tricks to convert the kitchens of our homes in places where all his concepts could be embodied. Among them, the recipe that today we bring to these lines, the now legendary ssäm of bacon StreetXO, a dish that has had the pleasure of remaining immobile, since its inception in El Corte Inglés de Callao, in the menu of this restaurant that I am not clear that we can define as such.

It is a mellow and juicy pancetta, accompanied by a pickled mussel resting on a crispy and fresh lettuce leaf with aromatic herbs, tartar sauce and spicy sauce; originally it also incorporated pickled shiitake mushrooms. No visit to StreetXo is complete without pancetta ssäm on the menu. So you know: if you go, ask for it, if you can’t… try to emulate it at home as we have done. Once we did it with Dabiz’s Club sandwich and it was a success.

The key to the recipe of this sea and mountain is the marinade of the bacon and a soft and slow cooking so that it is very juicy, that it falls apart when you bite it. Here the important thing is the key to find that contrast of flavors that comes together with the mellowness of the bacon so soft. Sweet, salty, spicy and fresh; all of them together in the same bite that the complexity is to have a good product and let it cook over low heat, with patience.

The good thing about this pancetta is that you can make large batches, cool completely and freeze and then take it out little by little when you feel like it. Of course you can also do it at low temperature, vacuum packed if you have a machine, with the marinade inside the bag. And as a last option you could also use some kind of torrezno ready to fry at the time, you could do the job if they are good.

How to make Dabiz Muñoz’s pancetta ssäm

Ingredients

.For the bacon

Fresh pork belly, 800 g White onion, 1 pc Shallots, 4 pc Carrots, 2 pc Fresh ginger, 60 g Garlic cloves, 4 pc Soy sauce, 200 ml Beer, 200 ml Honey, 100 ml Water, 700 ml Salt, 40 g

For the tartar sauce

Shallots, 2 pc Dijon mustard, 1 tsp Capers, 20 g Homemade mayonnaise, 70 g Salt, s/s

For the ssäm

Lettuce hearts, 2 pcs Sriracha-type hot sauce, to taste Fresh cilantro, 1 bunch Fresh mint, 1 bunch Fresh basil, 1 bunch Pickled mussels, 1 can

Step 1

Peel and coarsely chop all the Vegetable Recipes. Do not be too finely chopped because the resulting broth will be discarded. Pour them into an ovenproof casserole dish with a lid (iron or cocotte type would be ideal). Preheat the oven to 140°C.

Step 2

In the same pan, add the soy, honey, water, salt and beer. Bring to a boil, lower the heat and simmer for 5 minutes. Lower the heat, add the bacon and cover. Put in the oven and cook for 4 and a half hours.

Step 3

Without uncovering the casserole, let it cool for 24 hours in a cool place (the terrace for example), but not in the fridge. Remove and cut into large pieces (each ssäm we will take it in 2 or 3 bites).

Step 4

On a griddle, grill, grill or frying pan with medium high heat and no oil, place the bacon pieces and cook them for 3-4 minutes on each side, so that they brown slightly and the bacon is well heated.

Step 5

Meanwhile, make the tartar sauce: finely chop the shallot and capers. Add them to the mayonnaise, Dijon mustard and integrate everything well. Add salt and pepper.

Step 6

To assemble the ssäm, place a spoonful of tartar sauce on a lettuce leaf. On top of it the mellow piece of bacon that, if we have done it well, will melt because of how juicy it is and to finish off the pickled mussels. Crowning the whole, the fresh herbs that we like the most. Accompany with a spicy sauce.