Kitchen Supper: Tskune, Japanese-style Pork Meatballs
Do-able meals, recipes + strategies for inviting people into our lives.
Robata Thanksgiving is done. We had so much fun. A pile of friends, kids and dogs running under foot, my friend Drew at the grill. He cooked all night. The safest place to be as an introvert, so you can do something with your hands while talking to people who pass by and chat you up. My husband, David cued up music, made three separate fires, lit candles, organized seating areas, ordered everything. Our teenagers danced with septuagenarians and learned about Jethro Tull and little kids tossed back skewers of salmon like candy. We had fun. Then, I got this lovely note from my friend Yukino, who attended with her partner, Daniel.
She wrote:
Half way in last night, Kat, Leanne's son's plus one guest, calmly started knitting in the corner of the couch out in the patio space. Picture a person sitting by the fire, sipping sparkling water from a can and knitting a wool sock. This prompted Alisha to sit next to Kat, pulling out her stationary kit from her backpack & handwriting a letter to someone she cares about. I regretted that I didn't bring my hand sewing quilting kit. We would’ve been a group of three creating a popup crafty corner at a Thanksgiving party in your backyard.
Witnessing those two being in a social environment yet being comfortable to do their own thing was empowering to me. They are my people!
This message lingered with me all day yesterday as I sorted through leftovers and cleaned the fridge, feeding the dogs and turkeys bits of leftover pork belly and chicken hearts. Imagine a party like this: a fire on the patio, soft but upbeat music playing, twinkle lights on, the house picked up but not perfect, a warm soup bubbling on the stove, a soup that is available but not the point, you can help yourself as you need, a group of women and feminine spirts knitting, reading, occasionally bursting into intimate conversation, someone making art, sewing, making, writing. Lots of silence and sweatpants and warm socks and bursts of laughter and some non-toxic, but still juicy-enough gossip, set against the warmth of a fire around the chill of the desert night. AND THIS IS THE PARTY. Like nothing else. Just doing your own thing. With each other!!! If this at all interests you, I have the perfect soup to go with it from last week: Smoked Turkey Neck Soup. I might have to create this as an on-going winter event. For today though, I'm going to give you a recipe from Robata Thanksgiving. These little pork meatballs are known in the world of Yakitori as Tskune. (Pronounced Tsuh-koon-ay.) They can be pork or ground chicken. They are generally grilled over fire, as we did for Thanksgiving, but you can also whip them up in an airfryer or in a skillet with some hot oil. I had these leftover from the night before, uncooked, so I hit them with a little home-made teriyaki sauce (optional) and fried them off in the air fryer. 10 minutes, 400 degrees until they got crispy on the outside. I added a salad (arugula, micro-greens, toasted almonds, fried shallots, salt, olive oil, hit of lemon) and some smashed potatoes, leftovers, which I fried until crunchy and salted them well. Even this level of throwing things together is worthy of guests. I served this meal the morning after Thanksgiving for teen sleepover stragglers and a hungry husband about to jump on a plane. I had some croissants in the back of the fridge, so I warmed them up and served those too. Here's the recipe. Enjoy!
Pork Tskune (adapted from Robata: Japanese Home Grilling)
ground pork, 1 1/2 pounds
scallions, 1/4 cup finely chopped
garlic, (roasted so it’s soft and malleable)
soy sauce, 3 tablespoons
mirin, 3 tablespoons
pork belly (or pork fat), a handful, minced
panko bread crumbs (optional, but I like the crunch), about 1 cup
______________________
Add all the ingredients together, mix everything well, and form into balls. Make sure they are all pretty much the same size and about the size of a ping pong ball. The meatballs can sit, formed on a tray in the fridge, 10 minutes to overnight. These will hold up fine without egg.
Air fry for 10 minutes or so at 400 degrees. You should see them getting brown and crunchy. Or put them under the broiler for 10. Serve with a bright salad with a simple dressing. A side, like crispy smashed potatoes, and some hot or cold sake, even a hot chocolate or cold-ass Asahi will work here.
________________________
END NOTES:
This is part of a now-free, but soon-to be-paid, Kitchen Suppers section. If you end up making any of the dishes here, tag me here or on IG, I’d love to see them.
Essays on Thursdays! Join us every Sunday for a new, easy-enough recipe worthy of inviting people over.
Thank you, as always, for cooking with me. xo Kim
I’m going to try them with chicken