{"id":27430,"title":"Authentic Tokashi Butadon – Pork Donburi","modified":"2025-02-06T10:57:36+01:00","plain":"A bowl of Japanese rice topped with delicious slices of grilled pork in soy sauce and honey... A must for Donburi lovers!\n\n\n\nRice bowls are a dime a dozen, but I must say that this recipe truly deserves to be shared... If you needed a little something comforting, the Tokashi butadon, with its tender meat and caramelized sauce, is the answer. \n\n\n\nAccompanied by a small Miso soup or a japanese coleslaw equivalent, it will be a delight. Plus, you won't even have to spend forever in the kitchen.   \n\n\n\nJapanese coleslaw is the perfect side dish\n\n\n\nWhat is Tokashi butadon?\n\n\n\nAmong all the rice bowl recipes that exist, this one, I can assure you, is unanimously loved by Japanese cuisine enthusiasts. \n\n\n\nIf you're a die-hard fan of Donburi, this recipe should definitely interest you. \n\n\n\nThe Tokashi butadon (\u5341\u52dd\u8c5a\u4e3c) is indeed a donburi, just like Gyudon, Oyakodon, Katsudon... \n\n\n\nIn Japan, Butadon is traditionally sold as a bowl of steamed rice, topped with grilled pork slices coated in a delicious sweet-salty sauce\n\n\n\nKatsudon is another pork donburi\n\n\n\nI can tell you that it's an extremely comforting and relatively filling dish, even for big eaters. \n\n\n\nOrigins of Tokashi Butadon\n\n\n\nUnsurprisingly, Tokashi butadon is a dish originating from the Tokashi region in Hokkaido, an island in northern Japan known for its volcanoes... but also for the quality of its pork. \n\n\n\nPig farming actually began in this region towards the end of the Meiji period, around 1910. That's kind of how pork, and therefore Butadon, became culinary references there.  \n\n\n\nIt is said that the very origin of Butadon dates back to the Showa period (around 1930) when a restaurant based in Obihiro, still in Hokkaido, served these rice bowls topped with charcoal-grilled pork and sauce. \n\n\n\nThis dish was then considered as \"endurance\" food for hard-working laborers and farmers. So believe me when I tell you it's filling !  \n\n\n\nInitially, they even used eels instead of pork, but as they were expensive and hard to find, the recipe quickly adapted to this change... which didn't hinder its success, far from it!\n\n\n\nThe main ingredients of Butadon\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nPork slices: this is the main attraction of the dish. For this recipe, I recommend pork belly, it's the fatty part of the meat and that's what makes the dish comforting. With the sauce, the meat is juicy with a slightly smoky taste... a real treat.   \n\n\n\nRice: personally, I would use Japanese sushi rice. If you haven't yet followed my guide to different rice varieties, this one has shorter grains and it's what I usually recommend for preparing Donburi. When steamed, the grains stick together. It's easier to eat this way, especially if you're eating with chopsticks.    \n\n\n\nSesame oil: Brings nice nutty notes\n\n\n\nLight soy sauce: the Butadon sauce makes all the difference in this recipe. Soy sauce is one of the essentials that give this sweet-salty dimension along with brown sugar and honey \n\n\n\nMirin: here's another key element of the Butadon sauce. Mirin further enhances the caramelized taste of the sauce.  \n\n\n\nThis is what is most often used for Japanese marinades, such as in the Tsukune recipe and even Katsudon, to stay on the \"Donburi\" theme! Mirin is sweet, rich in umami and also helps to balance out the salt from the soy sauce.  \n\n\n\nSake: it adds a little touch of complexity to the sauce. It's velvety, smooth, floral, refined... Sake will pair perfectly with the other ingredients in the sauce without making it sweeter. Keep it in your pantry if you like Japanese cuisine, you'll often need it!  \n\n\n\nGreen onions: a little touch of freshness doesn't hurt, does it? Adding green onions to your Donburi is never a bad idea.  \n\n\n\nTips for a successful Tokashi butadon \n\n\n\nPatience is the mother of caramelization. Wait for the sauce to become syrupy before removing it from the heat \n\n\n\n\n\n\tAuthentic Tokashi Butadon - Pork Donburi\n\t\t\n\t\tA bowl of Japanese rice topped with delicious slices of grilled pork in soy sauce and honey... A must for Donburi lovers!\t\n\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\n\t\t400 g pork belly (cut into thin and wide square slices (see photo))Butadon Sauce1 pinch salt120 ml light soy sauce120 ml of sake60 ml of mirin40 g brown sugar2 tablespoons of honey3 cloves garlic (crushed)1 teaspoon of sesame oilFor the bowls2 portions of sushi rice (cooked)Finely chopped green onions (for garnish)\t\n\t\n\t\tAdd the sauce ingredients to a saucepan. Mix well Bring to a boil over high heatAs soon as it boils, reduce to medium-low heat and thicken. Set aside. MeatHeat a large skillet over medium-high heat with a drizzle of oil until very hot, then add the pork in a single layer (you may need to do this in batches).Fry until the pork is lightly golden on one side, then flip and fry the other side.Set the pork aside on a plate and repeat until all the pork is fried.Wipe the oil from the skillet after frying the last portion of pork.Add 60 ml of sauce to the skillet and reduce until the sauce is very thick and sticky, then return the pork to the skillet.Turn the meat several times until it is glazed by the sauce. Here too, depending on the quantity, you may need to do this in batches Assembling the bowlsAdd a portion of rice to each bowl.Pour one or two tablespoons of sauce around the rice.Arrange the pork on top of the riceGarnish with green onions.\t\n\t\n\t\tPatience is the mother of caramelization. Wait for the sauce to become syrupy before removing it from the heat \n\t\n\t\n\t\tDonburi, Main courseJapaneseHuile de s\u00e9same, Porc, Riz, Sauce soja light","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/marcwiner.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27430","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/marcwiner.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/marcwiner.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marcwiner.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marcwiner.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27430"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/marcwiner.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27430\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marcwiner.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25827"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/marcwiner.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27430"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marcwiner.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27430"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marcwiner.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27430"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}