For this dish at Wildflower at the Grey Fox Inn in Stowe, Vt., executive chef Jonathan Shepard prepares a court-bouillon with celery, fennel, onion, garlic, bay leaves, whole lemons, white wine, black pepper corns and salt. He dunks Spanish octopus in it and then shocks it in an ice bath, repeating that 4-5 times, resulting in an octopus that curls nicely.
Then he simmers the octopus in that liquid for 2-3 hours.
Then he tosses the octopus in orange juice reduction with salt, pepper and olive oil and crisps it up on a grill.
He steams bao buns and brushes them with a Korean ssam sauce made with miso, gochujang, garlic, sugar, sesame oil and scallion. Then he cuts the octopus tentacles in half, puts them in the buns with cucumbers seasoned Japanese-style in sugar and salt and garnishes them with butter lettuce.
Price: $14