Microwave Chashu Made with Liquid Shio Koji, and a "Chashu Egg Rice Bowl" That Uses It

At the start, Ryuji explains that chashu was also made while filming the "Ultimate Soy Sauce Tsukemen" video just beforehand, and that there is still pork left over. Ryuji has made microwave chashu many times before on other channels and in past videos, but says this recipe is "significantly tastier" than those. The benchmark for comparison is the chashu made with KALDI sauce that was introduced previously.

The meat this time is a block of pork loin, but Ryuji says pork belly works too. Lately the staff have come to prefer loin, and since the channel is entering its ninth year, Ryuji jokes that "we can't keep doing things the way we did nine years ago." At the same time, Ryuji adds that many people probably prefer the fattier pork belly.

The block used is about 300–350 g. First, Ryuji pierces it with a meat tenderizer (one sold in Ryuji's own shop), explaining that this cuts the sinew and makes the meat tender. The meat's best-before date was the previous day, but Ryuji says far too many people throw food away when it's just one day past, and uses it after smelling it to confirm it doesn't smell off.

For seasonings, grated garlic and grated ginger go in for aroma, followed by one and a half tablespoons of liquid shio koji. Ryuji serves as an ambassador for this product. Because it tenderizes meat, Ryuji says it's well suited to this quick-cooking chashu.

Here Ryuji asks the staff, "Which tenderizes meat more, maitake mushrooms or shio koji?" and reveals the answer is maitake. The enzymatic power itself is far stronger in maitake. However, maitake makes the meat fall apart too much, and it also adds a maitake aroma. So when it comes to chashu, Ryuji doesn't really recommend maitake, and judges shio koji to be the best choice.

Next come one and a half tablespoons of sugar and two and a half tablespoons of soy sauce. The aim is a slightly sweet flavor close to the roast pork served at Chinese restaurants. Since there's a fair amount of sugar, Ryuji moves the meat around to dissolve it while spreading the sauce over everything.

As an umami seasoning, Ryuji adds 5–6 shakes of Hi-Me. Ryuji says adding umami brings chashu closer to restaurant flavor. Ajinomoto would also work, but Hi-Me has stronger umami and gives a more refined taste, so it was chosen this time. Finally, a teaspoon of sake goes in. The purpose is to adjust the moisture, and it also adds a sake aroma.

If you're short on time, you can cook it right away. If you have time, marinating for 5–10 minutes lets the liquid shio koji soak into the meat and makes it tastier. On this day, Ryuji only marinates it briefly.

The size of the container is also an important point, Ryuji says. Using a smallish container that the meat fits snugly into keeps the meat immersed in the sauce. If the container is too large, the meat won't be submerged and the flavor won't soak in.

Cover and microwave at 600 W for 5 minutes, flip the meat, and microwave for another 5 minutes. The idea is to cook both sides. After that, let it sit for about 5 minutes so the residual heat gently works its way to the center, which Ryuji explains gives a meaty, tender result. Ryuji stresses not to open the lid while it rests, since the steam will escape, and to just leave it as is (the recipe in the description calls for 8 minutes of resting, then opening the lid and microwaving for 3 minutes at the end).

While waiting for the cooking, Ryuji prepares pancetta with a different piece of pork loin. It's a thick cut that a TV station left behind; Ryuji had intended to make a stew with it but was too busy to find the time.

The method is the one introduced in a previous video: "rub in salt equal to 3% of the meat's weight." This meat is 400 g, so the salt is 12 g. When asked how long it keeps, Ryuji prefaces the answer by saying it's hard to say definitively, because then people will say "you made me sick," but answers that it easily lasts about a month, and even longer if frozen.

Coat the salted meat thoroughly in black pepper, place it on a rack, and leave it uncovered (no plastic wrap) in the fridge for about a week, and it becomes something like pancetta. Ryuji says this method was also introduced in the salt pork pot-au-feu episode.

Ryuji calls salt-curing, like pickling vegetables, "human wisdom of salting things to make them keep." The idea is that putting this into practice reduces food waste. Ryuji also says that, having told others elsewhere not to waste food, Ryuji couldn't face them without practicing it too.

However, Ryuji admits to sometimes letting ingredients go bad in home cooking as well. From there, Ryuji's position is that what matters is reducing waste as much as possible. While self-deprecatingly calling the act of showing scenes like this "a cheap trick to boost my likability," Ryuji also says that showing an attitude of not wasting anything is itself important. Ryuji expresses the view that one person doing it alone won't change anything, but if everyone holds this mindset even a little, wasteful consumption of food can be curbed.

When the rested chashu is sliced, the cross-section is moist and very juicy. Ryuji calls it a "microwave chashu that surpasses the ultimate." The staff are surprised that it turned out this way with almost no marinating. Ryuji reiterates that either cut is fine: loin has little fat so you can really taste the meat, and belly is juicy and delicious too.

Ryuji says that if you pour the cooking liquid over the sliced chashu, it's good to eat even if the flavor hasn't penetrated all the way. Ryuji recommends adding some karashi mustard, saying it's tastier that way.

After tasting it, Ryuji judges it to be in a different league from all of Ryuji's previous microwave chashu — something else entirely. Ryuji usually makes salty-style chashu to go with ramen, but this one is the sweet style, closer to roast pork. That makes it go great with rice, and Ryuji says it turned into a chashu that can be the star even on its own. The staff member who tried it reacts with "It's tender," and Ryuji explains that this is the effect of the liquid shio koji.

The chashu is fine as a snack with drinks or eaten with rice, but what Ryuji especially recommends is a chashu egg rice bowl. Here's the order of steps:

1. Put about 1 tablespoon of lard in a frying pan (regular oil is fine if you don't have any), and fry as much chashu as you like until browned. Ryuji emphasizes that browning makes it look dramatically more delicious.
2. Keeping the heat on high, crack in an egg and cook it together with the fat rendered from the chashu, almost shallow-frying it.
3. Place the chashu and fried egg on warm rice (200 g in the description).
4. Reduce the chashu sauce left in the container and pour it over the top.

Ryuji calls this "the most delicious rice bowl in the world."

Breaking the yolk and digging in, Ryuji says there probably isn't anyone who would call this not delicious — only people who dislike either meat or eggs — and that there's no impression left other than "it's good." The staff respond that because the chashu is sweet it goes great with rice, and that if there were a restaurant serving this bowl, they would definitely go.

Finally, Ryuji says that the chashu egg rice bowl has been considered hard to have at home because you have to make the chashu from scratch, but with this recipe it can be made in about 15 minutes. Pointing out that the sauce-soaked rice is delicious too, Ryuji wraps up the video by recommending it as something that, thanks to its sweetness, works as a side dish with rice and is also good packed in a bento.