Tender and flavoursome Miso Marinated Pork takes no time to make. Allow anywhere between 3-48 hours to marinate, then simply BBQ or grill the meat. The miso flavour is intense and a perfect meal with rice.
Today’s dish is made in a similar way to the Pork Marinated in Sake Lees (Pork Kasuzuke) that I posted about a year ago. But unlike kasuzuke, which uses sake lees, miso marinade is easier to make, with ingredients you can easily buy at a supermarket.
About Misozuke (味噌漬け)
Japanese home cooking uses many different kinds of pickling and marinating. In Japanese terminology, both pickling and marinating are translated as ‘tsukeru’ (漬ける).
When pickled in miso-based marinade as in today’s recipe, it becomes ‘misozuke’ (味噌漬け) – ‘miso’ + the noun form of the word ‘tsukeru’. If pickled in salt, which is ‘shio’ (塩) in Japanese, it becomes ‘shiozuke’ (塩漬け). You can see the list of typical pickling/marinade bases in my post, Simple Pickled Celery.
As long as the marinade is miso-based, it is called ‘misozuke’. Depending on the type of miso used, the flavour varies greatly. My Saikyo Yaki Fish (Saikyo Miso Marinated Grilled Fish) is also a misozuke but it is much sweeter than today’s misozuke.
Miso containsenzymes that breaks down protein. This is the reason why the pork marinated in miso becomes so tender. It is the same as using yoghurt in Tandoori chicken to make the meat tender.
My Miso Marinade
There are many variations of miso marinade. Some recipes marinate meat or vegetables in nothing but miso. But usually any combination of sake, soy sauce, mirin, and sugar is mixed with miso.
My Miso Marinade is a mixture of miso, honey, mirin and soy sauce. I used honey instead of sugar today so that it can mix easily with other ingredients. It also makes the marinade more spreadable.
Which Meat Is Best for Miso Marinated Pork?
The most commonly used cut is either pork belly (first 3 photos above) or pork loin (bottom right photo above). They are thinly sliced to about 5-7mm / 3/16-¼” thick.
In the case of belly meat, I went to a Korean butcher and bought sliced pork belly that is sold for Korean BBQs. My pork belly slices were quite long so I cut them in half.
For the loin, I bought a couple of pork loin chops from a supermarket that were about 1.5cm/⅝” thick. After removing the bones, I butterflied the chop to make two thin pork loins.
If you are making Pork Misozuke with pork loin, I’d suggest that you cut each slice into 2cm/¾” wide strips.
Marinating and Cooking is Easy
I use a zip lock bag to marinate pork slices. Simply add the pork and the miso marinade to a bag, massage the bag so that both sides of every piece of pork are coated with the marinade.
Leave the bag in the fridge for a minimum of 3 hours and a maximum of 48 hours.
The quantity of miso marinade in the recipe is just right for the amount of pork and you needn’t scrape the miso off the meat before cooking.
I used my BBQ to cook the pork slices. Alternatively, you can use a griddle on the cook top if you have one. I think that the burnt lines on the pork look appetising. But, you can of course cook them in a frying pan.
You only need to cook the marinated pork slices a minute or two each side because the slices are quite thin. Serve them with fresh salad leaves as the marinated pork has an intense miso flavour.
Yumiko
PS: I added a new section ‘MEAL IDEAS’ below the recipe card. It gives you a list of dishes that I have already posted and the new recipe in this post that can make up a complete meal. I hope it is of help to you!
Tender and flavoursome Pork Marinated in Miso takes no time to make. The marinating time is anywhere between 3-48 hours. Then, simply BBQ or grill the meat. The recipe calls for thinly sliced pork belly, but sliced pork loin works well too.
Total Time does not include the time to marinate.
- 300g/0.7lb thinly sliced pork belly (fat trimmed), cut to 10-12cm/4-4¾" long (note 1)
- 1 tbsp oil
- Green salad leaves
- Tomatoes
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Add the Miso Marinade ingredients to a bowl and mix well.
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Put the pork slices in a zip lock plastic bag and pour the marinade into the bag (note 4).
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Massage well ensuring that the miso marinade coats every piece of pork.
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Remove as much air as possible from the plastic bag, seal it, and leave in the fridge for minimum 3 hours up to 48 hours.
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Oil a griddle or BBQ and heat it over medium high heat.
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If excessive amount of miso marinade is on the pork slice, scrape it off as the sweet miso can burn quickly.
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Place pork slices on the griddle/BBQ and cook for 1-2 minutes until the outer edge of the pork piece becomes whitish.
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Turn it over and cook another minute or so, then transfer to a plate.
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Serve with green salad and tomatoes if using.
1. I bought sliced pork belly from a Korean butcher. My pork slices were 2-3mm thick and about 25cm long. So, I cut each strip to half so that each piece is easier to pick up with chopsticks. You can make them even shorter.
If you can only find a block of pork belly, it is easier to cut to half (or into 3 if the block is very large), then slice the block thinly perpendicular to the first cut. If the block of pork belly is very narrow, just slice it.
Instead of pork belly, you can use sliced pork loin. I usually buy a couple of pork loin chops, remove the bones and then butterfly the meat to make two thin slices out of a loin chop.
2. You can also use white miso but I’d suggest that you reduce the amount of honey slightly as white miso is sweeter than brown miso.
3. The amount of honey required depends on the type of miso you use, your palate and the type of honey. When the marinade is mixed, taste-test it and adjust the sweetness. It should not be too sweet, though.
I used honey so that it mixes easily with the other marinade ingredients. But you can substitute honey with 2⅓ teaspoons of sugar.
4. Alternatively, you can marinate the pork in a container. After mixing the miso marinade and pork well, place a piece of cling wrap on to cover the entire the surface of the meat. Then place the lid (if it comes with one) on or cover with cling wrap.
5. Nutrition per serving when served for three people. The amount of fat is high but this is based on the standard pork belly that contains a thick band of fat which is to be trimmed off per my recipe. The fat is also drained to some extent when cooked in BBQ/Griddle.
serving: 136g calories: 626kcal fat: 59g (91%) saturated fat: 20g (100%) trans fat: 0g polyunsaturated fat: 7g monounsaturated fat: 28g cholesterol: 72mg (24%) sodium: 875mg (36%) potassium: 238mg (7%) carbohydrates: 11g (4%) dietary fibre: 1.1g (4%) sugar: 7.3g protein: 12g vitamin a: 0.6% vitamin c: 0.5% calcium: 1.3% iron: 5.9%
Meal Ideas
A typical Japanese meal consists of a main dish, a couple of side dishes, a soup and rice. I try to come up with a combination of dishes with a variety of flavours, colours, textures and make-ahead dishes.
Today’s meal consists of different flavours – miso flavour in the main, soy sauce and vinegar in the side dishes. The vegetarian soup, Kenchinjiru adds a variety of vegetables to the meal. It is also good have a soup with plain flavouring without using miso.
- Main: Miso Marinated Pork (Pork Misozuke) – today’s recipe, marinate 1-2 days earlier
- Side dish 1: Scrmbled Tofu (Iri Dofu) – make ahead
- Side dish 2: Pickled Turnip (Senmai-zuke) – make ahead
- Soup: Japanese Vegetable Soup (Kenchinjiru) – can be made ahead
- Rice: Cooked Rice
I am going to use your idea on a bone in pork loin wrapped in a dry rubbed skin on pork belly. I will hang it over a wood fire and hope for the best. Thanks for the recipe and descriptions.
Hi Piglet, sounds delicious!
Hi guys in america the cut you used besides the pork belly is usually called pork sirloin from what I saw in your photo, it’s not Boston butte or shoulder, which I believe may be the same thing, just gotta love creative meat naming in the butcher world, it’s a bit marbled but not that fatty and once marinated pretty tender off the grill, the griddle, the fry pan and even on skewers off a hibachi, plus it’s usually pretty cheap, I would not do this with pork loin or pork tenderloin. I’ve used miso marinade on ribeye steaks on the grill and man the flavor, I used a shiitake dashi for the liquid and a little sake,because everything’s better with booze. I’m trying this this week.
Hi Tori, thanks for the naming info on meat. It is a challenge for me as they are called who differently depending on the county!
I agree that sake makes everything taste better and tenderise meat. Enjoy miso marinated pork this weekend!
Hi Yumiko! I am writing from Singapore! The local supermarket here stocked Hikari organic red miso and Hikari organic brown rice miso.
1) Were you referring to brown rice miso when you wrote brown miso in your ingredients?
2) If I use red miso, do I use the same quantity of honey as per your recipe?
Thank you!
Hi CY, there are so many different brown miso. I sometimes use brown rice miso, some times other kind of miso. You can use any of them. You can also use red miso. t just tastes slightly different because of the different flavour of miso. It also becomes a bit darker.
What about red miso paste. That is what I have?
Hi Kevin, I didn’t include red miso as the meat becomes a bit darker. But there is no reason why you can’t use it.
Thank you. I love your blog. I love cooking Asian.
An excellent recipe. Marinated for 2 days and cooked on a stove top grill pan. Very tender and delicious. Such an easy meal to prepare quickly and then enjoy for dinner later. Went nicely with miso soup, pickled daikon, cabbage and rice. Thank you- will be making often.
Hi Kevin, I’m glad you liked it. It sounds like you had a great combination of dishes for meal!
Hi Yumiko! Thank you for posting this recipe! It looks yummy and I hope to try it soon! Looks so delicious!! Recipes with pork belly always bring back memories of my childhood. Every fall some neighbor men would gather at the farm and butcher a pig. They would do this at all their farms, helping each other out. I always looked forward to this as we then had delightful pork belly and cracklings! I loved the cracklings! We only got them once a year, and I surely looked forward to eating my share! (both my parents lived to just shy of 96 years old, so I don’t think the fat from the meat we grew and ate hurt them)
Hi Lora, I love pork cracklings. My two daughters and I went to Melbourne to watch Australian Open tennis over the weekend. During the day, we went out for shopping and the first thing Nagi bought was a small bag of pork cracklings! Boy, they were good…
It’s good to hear your parents lived long. My parents also lived long so I reckon I will live long. I already warned my kids that they would have to put up with me for a while. Hahaha.
I like your blog very much, but with all due respect, this recipe is tooooooo fatty for anyone to eat who wants to live much longer. I know you mentioned pork loin but I think you meant shoulder or butt, because they are quite fatty also. This recipe would never work with pork tenderloin unless cooked on a griddle. Thank you.
Hi Frank, firstly, thank you very much for liking my blog! My pork belly did not have think layers of fat. I won’t probably buy them if they come with lot of fat. The loin meat I used was sold as pork loin that came with bones (like T-bone steak). I am not sure if it is called differently in other countries but it is not butt, nor shoulder. I forgot to mention but I trim thick fat off pork loin (I should add this to the recipe).
I agree that this recipe is much fattier than majority of my recipes but I am not encouraging people to eat this type of dish every day. I love pork belly as they are tasty but I probably eat it once a month on average. I’ve lived almost 70 years and that’s pretty long for me.:-)