This was one of the first Japanese home cooked dishes I learned. One of my earliest “teachers” in Japanese home cooking was a young man named Toshi who was from Asahikawa, Hokkaido, Japan. Brad and I met Toshi as he was riding his bicycle from Alaska to Argentina, and he stayed in our guest house for almost a month when we lived in Los Angeles
He was the best house guest you could ever ask for. So kind and considerate, but more then his manners was his instinct about my curiosity for his food and his culture. So he taught me. I had been wandering the Japanese grocery stores for years, but I had no clue what anything was or how it was used to create a dish.
He changed all that for me. We would spend hours walking up and down the aisles at Mitswa the Japanese grocery chain, and he would grab an ingredient and tell me what it was and how it was used.
One night he made this for me. So simple, so fast and so deeply satisfying.
SHOGAYAKI
(生姜焼き) is a classic Japanese dish featuring thinly sliced pork sautéed and briefly braised in a savory-sweet sauce dominated by fresh ginger, soy sauce, and mirin. The name comes from "shoga" (ginger) and "yaki" (grill or fry), literally translating to "ginger-grilled." While the dish can be made with beef or chicken, pork is by far the most common and popular version in Japan.
I served this version with Napa cabbage because thats what I had, and I tossed it in for the last minute to cook just a touch. I finished the dish with Shiso, since its summer I have a massive crop coming up in the garden. Shiso is one of the main Japanese aromatics and the best way I can describe it is, if mint and basil had a baby. Its amazing (it grows wild in Middle Tennessee where I live, its called Perilla). Basil works too!
