Tonteki (豚テキ, Yokkaichi pork steak)

Tonteki is not a delicate dish, and it would be silly to make it whisper. This is Yokkaichi pork steak: thick pork, garlic, dark sauce, shredded cabbage, rice. It has the blunt honesty of food made for appetite, not display, though we still give it room on the plate. Loud food can be orderly too.

The one detail that decides it is the cut. A thick pork steak wants to curl and tighten when it hits the pan, especially where the fat and sinew run along the edge. Score it deeply from one side so it opens like a glove, the Yokkaichi way, and suddenly the heat reaches the center, the pork lies flat, and the sauce can cling between the cuts. The knife has done half the cooking before the pan is hot.

Use pork shoulder loin if you can, katā rosu, with enough fat to stay juicy. Lean pork loin will work, but it asks more care and gives less back. Sear first, sauce last. Worcestershire, soy, sake, mirin, sugar, and garlic turn dark and glossy in a minute or two, but leave them too long over fierce heat and they turn harsh. The sauce should coat the pork, not punish it.

This is not kaiseki, and it doesn't need to pretend. It belongs to the everyday Japanese table, where rice makes sense of salt and sauce, and shredded cabbage cuts the richness cleanly. Nothing hidden. Buy good pork, cut it properly, brown it hard, and stop when the glaze shines.