Tebichi Nitsuke
てびちの煮付け·(te-bee-chee nee-tsu-keh)
Obaa's Pot on the Stove: Slow-Simmered Weekend Comforts
Okinawans revere the pig, famously eating everything but the squeal. Tebichi nitsuke is the beautiful, gelatinous reward for that philosophy—tough trotters transformed into unctuous, jiggly perfection. A grandmother would tend this pot for four hours on a Sunday, but you live in the suburbs and it’s a Tuesday. By doing the mandatory ten-minute purification boil to banish the barnyard funk, then utilizing the brute force of an electric pressure cooker, we condense hours of slow-simmered magic into less than an hour. The result is a profoundly sticky, sweet-savory glaze of black sugar and bonito that tastes exactly like home.
Ingredients
- pork trotters3 lb
- fresh ginger1 large knob
- garlic2 med clove
- scallion1 large
- warm water2 cup
- hon-dashi granules1 tbsp
- Awamori1/2 cup
- Japanese soy sauce1/2 cup
- Kokuto3 tbsp
- mirin1/4 cup
- daikon radish1/2 med
- atsuage1 med block
- musubi kombu8 small piece
Method
- 01
Execute the purifying boil.
Place the pork trotters in a large, heavy-bottomed pot and cover with cold water by at least an inch. Bring to a rolling boil over high heat and boil vigorously for 10 minutes to force the murky foam and odor out of the meat.
- 02
Scrub the trotters clean.
Drain the trotters into a colander in the sink. Run cold water over them, using your hands to aggressively scrub away any coagulated blood or scum stuck to the skin, then rinse the pot clean.
- 03
Pressure braise the pork.
Place the cleaned trotters into an electric pressure cooker along with the ginger, garlic, scallion greens, warm water, hon-dashi, Awamori, soy sauce, Kokuto, and mirin. Lock the lid, set to sealing, cook on High Pressure for 30 minutes, let the pressure release naturally for 15 minutes, then quick-release the rest.
- 04
Add the accompaniments.
Carefully open the cooker to reveal tender, intact trotters. Gently nestle the daikon half-moons, atsuage, and knotted kombu into the simmering liquid.
- 05
Reduce into a sticky glaze.
Turn the pressure cooker to the sauté function and boil uncovered for 15 to 20 minutes, continuously basting the trotters and daikon with a spoon until the sauce thickens into a rich, dark glaze.
Notes
Never skip the purifying boil.
Pig trotters carry a distinct barnyard smell. Boiling them rapidly for 10 minutes and washing away the scum under the sink is the non-negotiable secret to a dish that tastes like a refined Okinawan restaurant rather than a barn.
Embracing diasporic substitutions.
If you cannot find Awamori (Okinawan rice spirit), an equal mix of dry sake and imo shochu does the trick perfectly. For Kokuto (Okinawan black sugar), 3 tablespoons of dark brown sugar mixed with a half teaspoon of molasses will mimic its mineral depth.
From Cook Okinawan in America.