Aichi Red-Miso Glaze (赤味噌田楽味噌, Akamiso Dengaku-miso)

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Small heavy saucepan
• •Wooden spatula
• •Pastry brush or small bamboo brush for glazing
• •Skewers for tofu or konnyaku, if serving as dengaku

Instructions

1. 1

   Loosen the miso

   Put the miso, sugar, mirin, sake, and dashi or water in a small heavy saucepan before the heat goes on. Stir until the paste loosens and the sugar begins to disappear. Starting cold lets you smooth the miso without fighting lumps, and it keeps the bottom from catching before the liquid has done its work.

2. 2

   Cook it gently

   Set the pan over low heat and stir with a wooden spatula, scraping the bottom and corners. The mixture will look loose at first, then turn glossy and darker as the alcohol cooks off and the sugar settles into the miso. Keep it below a hard boil. Miso scorches quickly, and scorched miso tastes bitter in a way no garnish can apologize for.

   Low heat is not politeness. It is protection. You are concentrating the glaze, not frying the miso.
3. 3

   Judge the thickness

   Cook for 10 to 15 minutes, until the glaze falls slowly from the spatula and leaves a brief trail when you drag the spatula through the pan. It should be thick enough to sit on tofu without running off, but soft enough to brush. If it tightens too much, stir in dashi or water a teaspoon at a time.

4. 4

   Cool and use

   Take the pan off the heat and let the glaze cool to warm or room temperature. It will thicken as it stands, so judge the final texture after five minutes. Brush it onto grilled tofu, konnyaku, eggplant, or satoimo, then set the pieces near the grill just long enough for the surface to shine and darken at the edges.

5. 5

   Finish plainly

   Scatter sesame only if you want that small nutty note. Do not crowd the surface with garnish. This glaze is dark and plain by nature, and the better it is, the less it wants decoration.

Chef Tips

• •Buy mame miso, soybean miso, for this if you can. Rice miso will make a pleasant glaze, but it won't have the dense, almost mineral depth of Aichi dengaku-miso.
• •Use a small heavy saucepan and a wooden spatula. A thin pan gives you hot spots, and hot spots give you scorched miso before the sake has had time to leave.
• •For a meatless table, loosen the glaze with konbu-shiitake dashi or plain water. That is honmono for this sauce, not a compromise.
• •Brush the glaze on after the tofu or konnyaku has already been grilled or warmed. The miso needs only a short finish near the heat, or it burns before the food beneath it improves.

Advance Preparation

• •The glaze keeps 1 week refrigerated in a covered jar. It will thicken when cold, so loosen it with a teaspoon or two of dashi, water, or sake before brushing.
• •Make it at least a few hours ahead if you can. The sharp edge of the sake softens as it rests, and the miso tastes rounder.
• •Do not freeze it. The texture turns grainy, and this sauce is all about the smooth cling.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 17g)