Miso Tender!
Super tender pork that is marinated in miso, then slow roasted for hours, and the roasting juices made into a rich gravy. You will love this recipe!
The pork here will be fork tender, because of two things. First, it is roasted really low (80 deg C) and slow (8 hours). And two, because of miso. Miso is a great seasoning, but also a natural tenderiser. It contains enzymes that will tenderise meat. Leave meat marinating overnight in miso, or for two, three days, and you will be surprised at the result!
Ingredients (to serve 6 to 8)
This dish works best with a whole chunk of pork collar, so I use a whole pork collar here. To scale down, get your butcher to cut off a portion of the pork collar, but leave it whole.
- one pork collar (about 1.6 kg, to scale down, allow 200 g of pork per person).
- 160 g white miso (10% weigh of pork)
- 160 cooking sake (same weight as miso)
- 2 tablespoons Japanese seven spice powder
- dash of sesame oil
For gravy
- extra miso
- oyster sauce
- corn flour slurry
Marinate!
Combine the miso and sake in a bowl and whisk into a paste that spreads easily. Rub this all over the pork, working into into seams of the meat. Sprinkle on seven spice powder and add a dash of sesame oil. Feel free to add on dashes of your favourite spices – pepper, a little chilli powder – but allow the miso to shine.
Allow to marinate in fridge, covered, at least overnight, but give it two days if you can. It’s worth a wait.
Slow Roast and Prep
Assuming you want to eat this for dinner, you can start the roast early in the morning, go to work, and return to a great dinner!
Set oven to 80 deg C. Place pork collar on a metal tray, scraping marinate into bottom of tray. Pour in sufficient water to form a thin layer (2 cm) in the bottom of the tray. Cover tightly with aluminium foil, and set the tray in the oven. Go do something else. Leave it for at least 8 hours.
At the end of the roast, there should be a wonderful aroma in the kitchen. Carefully remove the tray from the oven and peel back the foil. There will be a quite a lot of roasting juices in the tray. This is a precious nectar you must keep. Its is essentially essence of pork with miso. Strain the juices into a saucepan. Return the pork to the oven.
At this stage, the pork could still be a little pink, do not be alarmed. The pinkness will actually go away as the meat is exposed to air.
Pork will be a little pink, despite the long roast
Bring the roasting juices in the saucepan to a quick boil. A lot of curdling will take place as the liquid is very rich in protein. The curds need to be removed, or your will get an unpresentable gravy. I do this by pouring the juices into another saucepan through a fine sieve.
The juices now need to be adjusted and turned into a gravy. Adjust for volume by adding water (you need about 100 ml per person) and for taste with oyster sauce (and really whatever you fancy). When you are happy, thicken with cornflour slurry.
You are now set! You can hold the sauce, AND the pork warm in the oven, still set at 80 deg C. You are ready to serve in minutes on demand.
Assemble!
Set a grill pan on high heat. Slice the pork up, and grill the slices on the grill pan. All you need is for the pink hue to disappear, and to put some grill marks on. A minute a side will do.
Serve with the gravy over rice or mashed potatoes. Your friends will love you for this!
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