Obihiro Butadon (grilled pork bowl)

Try Tim Anderson's obihiro Butadon (grilled pork bowl), then try pork gyozas, spicy pork ramen, or Japanese chicken and broccoli curry.
Butadon is an Obihiro speciality which is an instance of pork acting as a substitute protein. Apparently, the founder of local restaurant Panchō, Shūji Abe, wanted to serve unagi (eel) but it was difficult to procure in Hokkaido. He tried the same dish – same tare, same technique – with local pork instead and found it to be a delicious success. They even hung a banner outside boasting, “Better than unagi-don!”.
The tare can be used on most meat and fatty fish. If you like, you can infuse it with aromatics such as garlic or ginger, or umami-rich ingredients like kombu or katsuobushi. The recipe that follows is for a single serving – just scale up as needed. Because the dish is so simple, ingredients and technique are of utmost importance. Which is to say: you must cook this over charcoal and use the best quality pork you can buy.

Recipes extracted from Hokkaido by Tim Anderson (£28, Hardie Grant). Photographs: © Laura Edwards. Recipes are sent by the publisher and not retested by us.