Rafute (Cooked Pork Slices)

3 lbs. belly pork or pork butt
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 slice ginger, crushed
1 cup Bonito soup stock
1 cup sake
1 cup shoyu
1 cup sugar
2 tbsp. mirin (sweet wine)
1 tsp. red color

Boil the pork, whole, for 40 minutes. Cool, and slice pork into 2 inch squares and one-half inch thick. Preferably in a thick, wide, shallow pot, combine the other ingredients and bring to boil. Lay pork in this sauce and cook for about 1½ to 2 hours over low heat until the pork practically melts in your mouth. When warming leftovers, do not add water or soup stock. Instead use sake, which is said to keep pork tender and juicy. Pork cooked in this fashion can be kept for a long time without refrigeration and is added to vegetable dishes. It greatly enhances the taste.

Variations – cook with: