1½ cups (188 g) all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
½ cup (1 stick) chilled unsalted butter or vegan butter (preferably Miyoko’s), cut into small pieces, plus 2 Tbsp. melted for brushing
1 cup (270 g) sourdough starter discard from a starter fed within the previous 24 hours, room temperature
Flaky sea salt (optional)
PREPARATION
Preheat oven to 425°. Stir together baking powder, baking soda, kosher salt, sugar, and 1½ cups flour with a fork in a large bowl. Add ½ cup chilled butter and toss with your hands or fork just to coat. Using your fingers, smash butter into flat disks (if you miss a few, it will be fine). Using a pastry cutter or fork, work butter into dry ingredients until shaggy crumbles form (you should have some large pieces, some small pieces, some flat pieces, and some sandy flour).
Add sourdough starter and mix gently with fork to incorporate, then fold with your hands just until dough comes together with just a few crumbly pieces in the bottom of the bowl.
Transfer dough to a well-floured surface and pat out with your hands until about ½” thick (the shape doesn’t matter too much at this point). Fold into thirds as you would a letter to create a rough rectangle. Working from short sides, fold in thirds like a letter again. Pat dough out to a ½”-thick square. Repeat folding process. Pat out dough for a third time to a 1”-thick square—it should feel airy, like a pillow at this point. Using a floured 2½”-diameter biscuit cutter or glass, punch out as many biscuits as you can (do not twist cutter). Transfer biscuits to a parchment-lined rimmed baking sheet, spacing at least 1” apart.
Using your hands, gently press scraps into a rectangle, then fold in half. Pat out to a 1”-thick rectangle and cut out more biscuits. Gather remaining scraps together to form 1 final biscuit (you should have 10 total). Transfer to baking sheet. Brush biscuit tops with 2 Tbsp. melted butter and sprinkle with sea salt if desired
Bake biscuits until tall and golden and an instant-read thermometer inserted into the side of a biscuit registers 205°F), 12–15 minutes.
Place the pork in a large, shallow bowl. Mix the white sugar and 1 cup of the salt together in another bowl, then rub the mixture all over the meat. Cover it with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator for at least 6 hours, or overnight.
When you're ready to cook, heat oven to 300. Remove pork from refrigerator, brush any excess sugar mixture off the fat cap and discard any juices. Place the pork in a roasting pan and set in the oven and cook for approximately 6 hours, or until it collapses, yielding easily to the tines of a fork. (After the first hour, baste hourly with pan juices.) At this point, you may remove the meat from the oven and allow it to rest for up to an hour.
Meanwhile, make the ginger-scallion sauce. In a large bowl, combine the scallions with the rest of the ingredients. Mix well and taste, adding salt if needed.
Make the ssam sauce. In a medium bowl, combine the chili pastes with the vinegar and oil, and mix well.
Prepare rice, wash lettuce and, if using, shuck the oysters. Put kimchi and sauces into serving bowls.
When your accompaniments are prepared and you are ready to serve the food, turn oven to 500. In a small bowl, stir together the remaining tablespoon of salt with the brown sugar. Rub this mixture all over the cooked pork. Place in oven for approximately 10 to 15 minutes, or until a dark caramel crust has developed on the meat. Serve hot, with the accompaniments.
