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Pork Kasuzuke cooked on a griddle pan look appertaining with burnt lines. Served with mizuna and carrot salad.
Pork Marinated in Sake Lees (Pork Kasuzuke)
Prep Time
10 mins
Cook Time
8 mins
Marinate up to
2 d
Total Time
18 mins
 

You need to allow for 1-2 days to marinate but other than that, it is very simple to make Pork Kasuzuke (Marinated Pork in Sake Lees). Sake lees is highly nutritious and makes a flavoursome marinade.

Prep time does not include time to marinate (overnight to 48 hours). Cook time assumes cooking meat in two batches.

Recipe Type: Main
Cuisine: Japanese
Serves: 2 - 3 servings
Author: Yumiko
Ingredients (tbsp=15ml, cup=250ml)
  • 450g (1lb) pork belly , thinly sliced to 7mm (¼”) thick (note 1)
  • ½ tbsp oil
Kasuzuke Marinade
  • 100g (3.5oz) sake kasu (note 2)
  • 10g (0.4oz) brown miso (note 3)
  • ½ tbsp sake
  • 2 tbsp mirin
  • 2 tbsp sugar (note 3)
  • 1 tsp salt (note 3)
  • ½-1 tbsp cold boiled water (note 4)
Instructions
Marinating Pork (see step-by-step photos in the post)
  1. Add the Kasuzuke Marinade ingredients to a blender (note 4) or a food processor and whiz until it becomes a smooth paste. Alternatively, use a mortar and pestle to grind the sake kasu and mix well. The consistency of the marinade is like hummus.

  2. Using a soft spatula, thinly spread the marinade at the bottom of a container that has enough volume to contain the entire pork slices (note 5).

  3. Lay slices of pork on the marinade in the container without overlapping. Then spread the marinade over the pork slices. Ensure the sides of pork slices are also coated with the marinade.

  4. Repeat until all the slices are piled and covered with the marinade.
  5. Place a piece of cling wrap to cover the surface of the marinated pork slices. Place a lid and store in the fridge overnight to 48 hours (preferred).

Cooking Pork Kasuzuke
  1. Scrape off the marinade as much as you can (note 6) and get ready for cooking.

  2. Heat oil in a griddle or a fry pan over medium heat. You will need to cook pork in batches unless you are using a very large griddle or fry pan.

  3. Place the pork slices on the griddle/fry pan without overlapping and cook for 1-1.5 minutes until the edges of the pork slices start getting cooked (becomes whitish).

  4. Turn them over and cook further 1 minute or so. Transfer to a cutting board. Repeat Step 3 and 4 when cooking in batches.

  5. Cut each slice into bite size pieces and serve with fresh salad.
Recipe Notes

1. I think that pork belly is well suited to this marinade but you can use pork loin if you like. I find that pork loin comes out a bit dry but it is up to your preference. If you are using pork loin, you may want to increase the oil to 1 tbsp when cooking.

My pork belly slices were about 20cm (8”) long. Since I used a small container to marinate, I cut them half  in the middle to make short slices. If you are using larger container, you can marinate the long slices without cutting them. It does not matter how long they are because you will cut them into bite sizes in the end.

2. Sake kasu is the lees of sake that is left over in the process of sake making. Although it is a by-product of sake, it has a high level of nutrition and great flavour. You can buy sake kasu at Japanese grocery stores. It comes in a pack, usually sold frozen.

3. You can use either common brown miso (I used this), shiro miso or Saikyo miso. Depending on the type of miso used, the colour of the marinade will be marginally different (dark to light in the previous miso order).

Also, depending on the type of miso, you will need to adjust the amount of sweetness and saltiness because they differ greatly depending on the type of miso. If you are using Saikyo miso, omit sugar and double the amount of salt. If using shromiso, increase salt by 50%.

4. Amount of water required depends on the type of miso. If miso is soft, you will need less water. I would suggest that you start with 1/2 tablespoon of water and then add more if the consistency is not right. 

5. I used a 15 x 10 x 5cm (6 x 4 x 2") air-tight glass container. I could fit in only a few slices in each layer, so I had several layers. But you can use larger containers and reduce the layers. Alternatively, you could marinate the pork slices in a zip lock plastic bag as long as each slice is coated with the marinade.

6. When cooking, marinade burns quickly if left on the meat too much of it. This is how I remove the marinade: Scrape off the marinade on the surface of the pork using a soft spatula. Then transfer the slice to a baking sheet, scraped side down. Use spatula to remove the marinade on the other side of the pork slice. You can put the scraped marinade back in the marinating container.

Alternative method I sometimes use: Hold a pork piece at the end and run through your other hand to remove the marinade. It's a bit messy but I put on surgical gloves to do that!

7. Pork kasuzuke can be kept in the fridge for a week and 2 months in the freezer.