Photo/Illutration Pork in the charcuterie style (Photo by Atsuko Shimamura)

Editor’s note: In the Taste of Life series, cooking experts, chefs and others involved in the field of food introduce their special recipes intertwined with their paths in life.

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Junko Ueda loved cooking and after graduating from a two-year college where she studied household science, she learned Western-style cooking at a culinary school.

Now a cooking expert, Ueda became interested in French cuisine because she “could not tell how the dishes were made.”

It was still before the time when one could search for recipes online.

Her interest was further piqued, and after working as a staff member at the culinary school she graduated from, she flew overseas to gain firsthand experience.

Ueda worked in Switzerland and France for three years in her 20s. One of the places she trained at was a small charcuterie in France.

Charcuterie is a term for prepared meat products, primarily from pork. The word also refers to stores selling such products.

The shop owners buy a whole or half of a pig, cut them up and sell the meat. They also use the bits of meat, internal organs or blood that are left in the cutting process and put them into sausages, pate or terrine.

At the small shop run by an elderly couple and their daughter, Ueda learned the process, such as scraping off meat left around the bones and mixing it into minced meat or turning pig nose into salads.

“It was not just about ‘tastiness,’ but also about eating it through and through without wasting. Perhaps it is rather like the way the Japanese carefully eat fish,” says Ueda.

The charcuterie also sold mustards and cornichons (pickled small cucumber) to accompany the pork dishes. One of the dishes available at such charcuteries is “pork in the charcuterie style.”

Although it only involves pan-frying the pork and simmering briefly with a tomato, the added sour and salty flavors of the mustard and the cornichon help create a flavorful dish in a short time.

Junko Ueda: Born in 1964 in Hyogo Prefecture, she is a cooking expert. She studied at the Tsuji Academy Technical College. Her recently published book is “Furansu-jin wa takusan shikonde sando tanoshimu” (The French prepare in bulk and enjoy three times), published by Seibundo Shinkosha Publishing.

BASIC COOKING METHOD

Main Ingredients (Serves two)

2 pork loin slices for steak (for “rosu suteeki”), some flour, 2 Tbsp oil, 1/3 cup white wine, 2 (300 grams) tomatoes, 1/2 onion, 4 to 6 cornichons (pickled small cucumbers), 1 Tbsp mustard, 8 grams butter

1. Finely chop onion. Slice cornichons in rounds. Peel tomatoes after steeping in boiling water, remove seeds and chop. Make short vertical incisions in fibrous tissue between meat and fat. Rub in 1/3 tsp salt and a bit of pepper on both sides. Dust with flour and pat off excess.

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Brown pork well to draw out a tasty aroma. (Photo by Atsuko Shimamura)

2. Place frying pan on higher medium heat and pour half of the oil. Lay pork steaks and brown. Flip, brown other side and remove.

3. Wipe oil left in pan with paper towels, pour remaining oil and place on medium heat. Add onion, lower heat, and stir-fry for about 2 minutes. Add wine and boil down until it is reduced by half. Add tomato and when pan comes to a boil, set on lower medium heat and simmer for about 5 minutes while mixing occasionally. Season with a bit of salt and pepper.

4. Return pork to (3) and simmer for about 3 minutes. Add mustard and cornichon and bring to a quick boil. Add butter as a final touch. Serve and sprinkle with finely chopped parsley to taste.

About 580 kcal and 2.5 grams salt per portion
(Nutrient calculation by the Nutrition Clinic of Kagawa Nutrition University)

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This column, translated from The Asahi Shimbun’s Jinsei Reshipi (Life Recipe) column, will next appear on Sept. 8.

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