If you like pork, chances are that the pork loin will be one of your favourite cuts. The meat is one of the leanest pork cuts you'll find and it's mild flavour makes it ideal for steeping in a marinade. My friend Yumiko Nikaido sent me this recipe from Tokyo - apart from the pork, the key feature is, of course, the marinade which combines lots of good things - miso, Japanese sake (cooking sake is also fine), mirin, ginger, garlic and some honey - I know what your'e thinking - "this is going to be a tasty combination of salty and sweet flavours - and you'd be right!
You can buy pork loin either boneless or on the bone. Personally, I prefer pork loin off the bone but this recipe works very well with either cut. I remove a little more fat from the loins before I marinade them but again, that is my preference, so you can either remove all the fat or leave it on. Once the marinade is prepared, you need to do a little prep on the pork - just score the meat with the blade of a kitchen knife by hitting the meat with the blade in a criss cross pattern on both sides - the idea is just to open the meat fibres just a little so that the loins won't curl up when you fry them. Once that's done, the loins can be left to rest in the marinade for at least an hour, preferably longer. I've made this recipe several times and I find that a 3 - 4 hour marinade seems to be optimal in terms of flavouring the pork - so you could prepare these in the morning for lunch or leave them even longer in the marinade and serve at dinner. Once the pork has finished marinating, it's a simple matter of frying - first fry the pork by itself and then with the marinade - and that's it --you're done. I usually serve this on a bed of rice with some salad. I like to serve the loin whole - my husband on the other hand, likes the loins sliced before its gets to the plate - you can go either way - it'll taste just as good sliced or whole. The marinade has sweetness, saltiness and of course, some miso umami - once you've tried this, you'll no doubt start thinking, as I am, of other ways to use this marinade - but that's for another day!
If you like the look of this recipe, you can find the Youtube tutorial by clicking
Miso marinated Pork Loins or scroll to the bottom of the page. The written recipe is just below.
Happy cooking! Kurumi XXXX.
Miso marinated Pork loins
ingredients:
(makes 2 servings)
2 pork loins
1/2 tsp grated ginger
1/2 tsp grated garlic
2 tbsp miso
1 tbsp mirin
1 tbsp japanese (cooking) sake
1 tbsp honey
1 tbsp vegetable oil
how to:
grate the ginger and garlic in a bowl
add the miso, mirin, Japanese cooking sake & honey to the bowl and mix well
trim the fat off the pork if you wish, then lightly score the flesh with the blade of a kitchen knife, so that the loins will not curl up when you fry them
marinade the pork in the miso mixture for at least 1 hour but preferably longer
heat the veg oil in a pan and fry the pork with the lid on until golden brown with a lid on
turn the loins over, add the remaining marinade to the pan and fry again with the lid on until lightly browned (the cooking time will depend on the thickness of the loins - a 1.5cm / 3/4 inch thick loin needs about 3 mins each side)
when the loins are cooked, give them a last good coating in the marinade. your miso marinated pork loins are ready.
remove from the pan and serve either whole or sliced
serve with some rice & salad leaves
Commenti