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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Cooking expert Yoko Arimoto has not been a fan of sweet foods since she was a child.

Instead, she preferred small dishes her mother made to accompany her father’s evening drinks.

One of his favorites was “dojo no kabayaki,” loach broiled after being dipped in a sweet soy-based sauce. She would nibble at the loach her mother broiled over a charcoal fire as a snack.

Arimoto is at her best when she offers simple and intrinsic flavoring that draws out the characteristics of ingredients. She grew up eating fresh local ingredients packed with their inherent flavor.

“Perhaps my palate was nurtured by such an environment,” she said.

The cooking expert grew up in Tokyo in a family comprising her parents, older brother and older sister. The root of her cooking lies in Japanese dishes her mother used to make.

While fish and vegetables usually dominated the dinner table, she felt quite satisfied when her mother occasionally served “buta no kakuni” (braised pork), which was an example of “shippoku” cooking from Nagasaki, where her mother came from.

Shippoku is a cuisine where the elements of European, Chinese and Japanese culinary styles are combined.

From her father’s side came the simple dishes of the Aizu area of Fukushima Prefecture that took advantage of the characteristics of ingredients, while from her mother’s side came the full and rich dishes of Nagasaki. Arimoto grew up enjoying both.

“‘Lucky’ is the only word to describe it,” she said. “I make braised pork in the style my mother taught me.”

The method is marked by the generous use of sake and taking two days. The pork is simmered and left overnight. The lumps of fat that form on the surface should be carefully removed.

While sugar may be used to add sweetness, using maple syrup enriches the flavor and makes it tastier. Arimoto learned how nicely pork goes with maple syrup while she was in Quebec, Canada.

Another key is to not add the seasonings at once, so that the flavors can seep in. The pork is simmered for about 20 minutes after the sweetness is added. Soy sauce is added at the end and then the pork is simmered again. Careful, small steps are required.

“Cooking is about using your five senses to have a dialogue with the changing content of the pot and finding out your own preferences through experience,” Arimoto said.

Based on her cooking philosophy, the exact amount of the ingredients will not be listed in her series. The amount will be shown only as a guide.

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Yoko Arimoto: While she raised three daughters as a full-time mom, the dishes she made for her family drew attention and paved the way for a career in cooking. She offers ideas on clothing, food and housing through essays and other means. She also runs cooking classes in Tokyo. She has written many books, including “Reshipi wo Minaide Tsukureru yoni Narimasho” (Teach yourself how to cook without having to check the recipe).

BASIC COOKING METHOD

Main Ingredients (Serves 7 to 8)

1 kg block of pork belly (buta-baraniku), 2 to 3 clove garlic, a piece of ginger larger than half the size of one’s thumb, 1 cup cooking sake, 1/2 cup each of sweet mirin sake, maple syrup (sugar may be used) and soy sauce, some Japanese mustard (wa-garashi)

1. Thinly slice ginger with skin still on. Cut block of pork into 5 equal pieces.

2. Add pork, garlic, ginger and sake to a pot. Pour some water until the pork is covered.

3. Place a drop lid on and simmer for 1 and a half hours. Remove the pot from the stove and cool until it is at room temperature. Place the lid on and leave overnight in the fridge.

4. Carefully remove any fat that has set on the surface. Place pot on heat, add sweet mirin sake and maple syrup and simmer for about 20 minutes. Add soy sauce, simmer for another 20 minutes or so and heat until the sauce is reduced.

5. Cool. Then heat again, check the taste and cut into preferred size. Serve with Japanese mustard.

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From The Asahi Shimbun’s Jinsei Reshipi (Life Recipe) column