An indulgent recipe from Kurobuta chef Mr Scott Hallsworth.

If we are to measure plates of food simply by how good they taste, cooking that claims to be authentic, or utterly loyal to a specific area or culture, is not necessarily always the most successful. Some of the best results in the kitchen come from tweaking, if not completely throwing out the rule book. This is a philosophy that Australian-born Mr Scott Hallsworth works by, and one that forms the foundation of the recipes in his new book Junk Food Japan.

The London-based chef is well-schooled in Japanese cooking. He joined the famous London restaurant Nobu as chef de partie in 2001, and went on to become its head chef. In 2014, he opened Kurobuta, a pop-up on the King’s Road inspired by izakayas – Japanese drinking dens where the food is as crowd-pleasing as the liquor. This was his chance to show off his “no-nonsense, almost playful way of creating dishes”, as he calls it in the introduction to his book. Instead of, for example, delicate sushi creations, Mr Hallsworth placed an emphasis on robust, punchy plates of food full of umami, salt, grilled meats and tempura: think wagyu sliders and tuna sashimi pizza. This concept clearly resonated, because Mr Hallsworth now has permanent eateries in London’s Chelsea and Marble Arch.

For those of us not in London, Junk Food Japan now allows us to replicate this satisfying approach to Japanese food at home. Mr Hallsworth’s signature dishes include beef fillet tataki and little shrimp tempura, but for a true taste of summer, we’ve extracted the recipe for barbecued ribs, below.

with sticky honey, soy and ginger glaze

Serves 4 as part of a multi-course feast

Ingredients:

For the master stock: 1 whole garlic bulb, cut in half horizontally 6 spring onions 1 large knob of ginger (about 6cm), cut into 3 or 4 chunks 1 long red chilli, cut in half 10cm piece kombu 1 brown onion, cut in half 500ml dark soy sauce

For the ribs: 1kg pork ribs, cut into 7–8 racks 2 tbsp grapeseed oil, for grilling

For the soy-mirin glaze: 50ml dark soy sauce 50ml mirin

For the honey, soy and ginger glaze: 160g liquid honey 35g grated ginger 1 tbsp dark soy sauce 25g fresh lemon juice

To serve: Black and/or white sesame seeds ½ red onion, finely sliced ½ green chilli, finely sliced

Method:

To make the stock, put all the ingredients in a large pan with 5 litres of water. Bring to the boil and simmer for 2 hours, skimming off any scum that comes to the surface. Remove from the heat and allow to cool to room temperature.

Rinse the pork ribs and pat dry with kitchen paper. Place the ribs into your room-temperature master stock and bring up to a light simmer. Allow to simmer over a medium-high heat for about 1½ hours. The timing will depend on the pork itself, so this is a rough guide; the meat needs to fall away from the bone easily. When done, remove the pan from the heat and allow the ribs to cool to room temperature in the master stock.

Use a slotted spoon to remove the ribs from the stock and transfer to a container or bowl. Cover and refrigerate for 2 hours.

Strain the stock into a large container and chill in the fridge until required. You can keep this base stock for ages (seriously, provided that it is boiled before each use, cooled properly before being refrigerated, you can keep the stock going for months or even years). It also freezes well if you’re a little suspect.

To make the soy-mirin glaze, combine the two ingredients in a spray bottle. To make the honey, soy and ginger glaze, mix all the ingredients well. Set both glazes aside.

Light your barbecue and get it hot. Lightly oil the ribs and whack ’em on the barbie. We like to barbecue ours over charcoal but you could do them just as well on a solid, cast-iron surface. Barbecue the ribs until they take on a little colour, spraying with the mirin-soy glaze every 30–40 seconds to allow the ribs to glaze up and get nice and sticky. When shiny hot and smelling good, remove from the barbecue.

Drench the cooked ribs in the honey, soy and ginger glaze, scatter with some sesame seeds and the red onion and green chilli and serve.

**Junk Food Japan: Addictive Food From Kurobuta (Absolute Press) by Mr Scott Hallsworth is out now **

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