Friday, March 07, 2008

Miso Pork Butt and Other Things

My new scheme of weekly menu planning and cooking American and Japanese on alternate weeks is working all right. Not as much food is wasted, and less complaining from Suk. However, many of the recipes I have been using are brand new to me. I got a recipe from the AFWJ cookbook called Miso Pork Butt. It sounded appetizing...I mean, who doesn't want to eat Pig Butt? Suk thought it was hilarious that I was going around the meat section of the store asking them where the pork butt is located. They corrected me by telling me it was actually the pork thigh. So what? Pork Butt is much funner to say. So, anyway, I made the pork butt for the first ... and last ... time. Remember this, folks. Never ever cook miso. There is a reason why miso is always added last when cooking soup or miso based sauces. In fact, it is added last, after the heat has been turned off. In this case, according to said recipe, I was supposed to make a sauce using miso, pour it over the pork butt, and then let it simmer in the pot for 2 hours. 2 hours? I went into the livingroom to nurse the Ailin while the pork butt was simmering, and ten minutes later, it was burned to a crisp and there was a thick layer of black, charred something on the bottom of the pan. Need I describe to you the horrendous smell coming from the pot as well? This horrendous smell filled my house and stuck to everything - the clothes, the curtains, my hair, etc. I could not get rid of it easily, and my nose burned all night. Suk was not pleased when he got home and was welcomed by that miso stench. I really learned something new here. No more pork butt in this house, and definitely no more cooking of miso.

Other news: Suk and I are going on a date in Ginza tomorrow. Just shopping for electronics and then dinner. Yeah. Grandma will be taking care of Ailin.

I am now posting on my teaching blog, which I started last year just before going on maternity leave. I started working on it again, so please check it out if you are interested in English teaching. It is called "It's time for coffee talk" and you'll see the link at the top of my blog roll.

Ailin can now eat with a spoon. I am not sure, but she may have learned that at the daycare. You'd think they would write about such an accomplishment in her diary, but I haven't seen any references to spoons. She seems to be doing well there, but is very happy when I pick her up.

5 comments:

Gina said...

Okay, you cracked me up this morning, about the miso pork butt. Ha ha ha! : )

Congratulations to Ailin for learning to use a spoon, all those milestone's like that are so exciting and wonderful! : )

PS: Enjoy your date tonight with the hubby! : )

Sherry said...

I've seen that recipe in the AFWJ cookbook, but never tried it because I feared the miso would get dried out and yuck from cooking so long. Thanks for testing it out and letting us know. LOL!

I wonder if there was some kind of mistake in the recipe that they didn't catch or something.

Hope to see you sometime soon.

Jill said...

Now there's nothing wrong with a good pork butt, my dear! (Missouri is the land of everything pork, including pork butt...) I also have made the mistake of cooking something that was not meant to be cooked--pesto. I had no idea that it was a bad thing to do, however. And my house smelled pleasantly of basil. Unfortunately, Chef Bill-R-Dee scolded me (nicely) for ruining the pesto, which apparently is supposed to be consumed raw. Who knew?!? This is why Bill is in charge of the kitchen!

Phaedra said...

My dogs can eat off of the spoon too (so long as I hold it). Which feels like an accomplishment to me (and makes it SO much easier to feed them pills, just need a spoonful of plain yogurt!).

But many congrats to Ailin!!!!!

kuri, ping, the pinglet, & mini-ping said...

Congrats to Ailin!! How was your date? :) Would never try pork butt myself, but it's good to know that it doesn't go well with miso. :)