Buta no Shōgayaki (豚の生姜焼き, ginger pork)

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Oroshigane (Japanese grater), or a fine rasp grater
• •Wide frying pan
• •Saibashi (long cooking chopsticks), or tongs

Instructions

1. 1

   Ready the cabbage

   Set the shredded cabbage in cold water for five minutes, then drain and shake it very dry. The water crisps the cut edges, and draining matters because wet cabbage thins the glaze when the pork touches it. Grate the ginger on an oroshigane or fine rasp, reserve 1 teaspoon for the finish, and stir the rest with the soy sauce, sake, mirin, and sugar.

   Grate the ginger just before cooking. Its clean aroma is lively, and it fades when it waits around on the board like a committee.
2. 2

   Prepare the pork

   Pat the pork slices dry. If a slice has a firm band of fat along one edge, snip two or three shallow cuts through that fat so the meat lies flat in the pan. Dust with katakuriko only if the pork is very lean, and make the coating almost invisible. A little starch helps the tare cling; too much turns the glaze pasty.

3. 3

   Sear the slices

   Heat the oil in a wide frying pan over medium-high heat. Lay in the pork in a single layer and cook 45-60 seconds per side, just until no pink remains and the edges take on a little color. Work in batches if needed. Crowding the pan makes the pork simmer in its own juices, and then the glaze has nothing good to hold onto.

4. 4

   Glaze last

   Lower the heat to medium and return all the pork to the pan. Pour in the ginger sauce around the meat and turn the slices quickly until the sauce bubbles in small fast beads and coats them with a soy-dark gloss, about 45 seconds. Take the pan off the heat and fold in the reserved ginger. The short cooking keeps the pork tender and the ginger bright.

   Don't reduce the sauce to a thick syrup. Shōgayaki should shine, not wear a heavy coat.
5. 5

   Plate and serve

   Set a compact mound of shredded cabbage on one side of the plate, with a tomato wedge if using. Lay the pork in overlapping folds beside it and spoon over any tare left in the pan. Serve with hot short-grain rice. The cabbage catches the sauce and keeps the plate fresh, which is why we put it there in the first place.

Chef Tips

• •Ask for shōgayaki-yō pork if you are in a Japanese market: slices cut for ginger pork. Shabu-shabu slices are usually too thin and tear; tonkatsu cuts are too thick and belong to another dish.
• •Use fresh ginger with taut skin and a clean, sharp smell. Tube ginger is a convenience, but when ginger is the point, convenience has taken the chair that flavor needed.
• •A long marinade is not kindness here. Thin pork needs the pan more than it needs waiting, and soy left too long will tighten the meat.
• •If shin-shōga, young ginger, is at its prime in early summer, use it. It is gentler than mature ginger, so add a little more and let its pale freshness show.

Advance Preparation

• •The soy sauce, sake, mirin, and sugar can be mixed a day ahead and refrigerated. Add the grated ginger just before cooking.
• •The cabbage can be shredded up to four hours ahead. Keep it in cold water, then drain very well before serving.
• •Cook the pork just before eating. Leftovers keep two days refrigerated, but reheat gently with a spoonful of water or sake so the glaze loosens without hardening the meat.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 415g)