Aspara-bacon (アスパラベーコン, bacon-wrapped asparagus)

Spring asparagus has a short temper. Cook it too politely and it stays grassy; cook it too long and the sweetness leaves. In aspara-bacon we use the bacon as a narrow coat, not a blanket, so the green spear keeps its bite while the outside browns.

People look at a wrapped skewer and think there must be a trick. There is one, and it isn't a grand one: use thin bacon. Thick bacon asks for so much time that the asparagus gives up before the pork is crisp. Thin bacon cooks at the same pace as the spear, and that is why this izakaya standard works.

I give it only a small brush of shōyu and mirin at the end. Brush early and the sugars burn; brush late and they leave a glossy, salty-sweet surface without hiding the asparagus. 本物 (honmono, the real thing) here doesn't mean ancient. It means the thing done plainly, with the season doing the talking and the skewer giving your hand something useful to hold. A terrible amount of culture has been balanced on less.