The other day Husband and I joined a few friends from work for a farewell dinner at Kihachi. Anytime they have the pork cheek on the special menu, we always order it. It's a very simple dish - slices of glazed pork cheek, topped with shavings of celery and red onions. The beauty, as with many things, is in the simplicity. The pork is sweet and only slightly fatty, for a cheek, and is glazed with a sweet sauce. This richness is perfectly balanced by the slices of raw onion which accompany it. We asked Chef how he prepared this delicacy, and he gave us a few pointers.
Tonight, I decided to try my hand at something similar, and since we just discussed miso, it seemed appropriate.
I didn't use pork cheeks because, well, they're kind of hard to find at the last minute, and I'm trying to use things in my house. I had a smallish pork sirloin roast; I cut this down the middle, with the grain, before roasting, so that the surface area to interior would have a nice ratio. You could easily do this with a pork tenderloin, which would make it really fast, because pork tenderloins cook in about 25 minutes.
I didn't have celery, so I had to make do with onions only. Fortunately I had some ramps, so I sauteed those up and they were a pretty good pairing, I thought. I bought the ramps at the Hills Market, just so you know!
Ketcap Manis is an Indonesian condiment which I love. It's basically a sweet, dark soy sauce syrup. It's loaded with sugar and sodium and I think it's just wonderful. You can probably find it in most well-stocked Asian grocery stores; I've purchased mine at Yao Lee and Crestview, two Clintonville markets which stock Indonesian condiments.
I think this method would probably work really well with firm tofu, although of course you wouldn't need to cook it nearly as long. You might be able to get away with just broiling it on both sides.
Sweet Miso Glazed Pork - Serves 2-4, depending on the size of your roast
a 2 pound pork sirloin, or a tenderloin
1/4 cup miso paste
2 tbsp maple syrup (grade B, if you cant find it - it's much tastier; Trader Joe's carries it)
2 tbsp rice wine vinegar (not sweetened, or "seasoned" but if you can only find seasoned, then reduce the sugar by 1/4
1 tbsp Special Sweet Soy Sauce (Ketcap Manis)
1/4 cup sugar
shaved sweet onions
Preheat oven to 325. If you are using a wide pork roast, cut it in half with the grain to increase the surface area. Combine the miso paste, maple syrup, rice vinegar, sugar, and sweet soy sauce in a large bowl. Add the pork and turn it over to coat. If you'd like, you may let this mixture sit at room temperature for half an hour or so (you could probably go overnight in the fridge)
Place the pork in a foil-lined baking dish (not glass, but something which can go under the broiler) (you'll want to line it with foil, because the glaze will get sticky and you don't want to deal with that). Place it in the middle of the oven. Roast for about 30-45 minutes, depending on the size of the roast; basically you'll want to cook it to an internal temperature of 150 degrees. Brush more glaze over the pork every 7-10 minutes. Once the pork has reached 150 degrees, turn on the broiler and place the pork on the top rack of the oven, under the broiler, for 3 minutes. Remove and place the pork on a cutting board. At this point, I brushed more sweet soy onto the pork and torched it with a blow torch to further caramelize the glaze. This step is optional.
Slice the pork against the grain into very thin slices and serve with the shaved raw onions (I used sweet onions, just because I don't like really hot raw onions) and Japanese rice.
Ramp & Onion Saute
1 handful ramps, white parts separated and leaves cut in half (the leaves tend to be stringy, so I like to cut them into shorter lengths so they are easier to chew)
1/4 onion, sliced
4 drops roasted sesame oil
heat a small saute pan over medium high heat and add a little olive oil. Add the onions and the white parts of the ramp. Sprinkle with salt and saute for about 2 minutes or until the onions begin to soften and turn translucent. Add the leaves and saute for about 1-2 minutes or until they wilt. Turn the heat off and add the sesame oil; stir to combine. Heat will ruin the flavor of roasted sesame oil, so always add it after cooking, off the heat.
