Gotcha Pork Roast Recipe: Hearty Pork Roast From The Popular “Food Wars” Japanese Anime

Gotcha Pork Roast recipe from “Food Wars”

Japanese anime has become more popular over the years, and these fascinating shows consist of content that span across a myriad of genres. We re-created the iconic Gotcha Pork Roast from the very first episode of Food Wars, one of the most popular food-themed anime shows. A dish for any occasion, this hearty pork roast is great for a filling brunch or for a joyous dinner party. As always, scroll down for the full Gotcha Pork Roast recipe below.  

The process

With a clean knife, remove the swiss brown mushrooms’ stalks. Next, finely mince the onions and the two types of mushrooms on a chopping board, separating each component into separate bowls. Do keep the root end intact while slicing the onions, and watch your fingers! To ensure that you do not waste time waiting for the oven to warm up, preheat your oven to 220 degrees Celsius.

To a saucepan on low heat, add butter, along with the onions. This low heat technique is called “sweating”, and it will nicely bring out the flavours of the ingredients without colouring them. When the onions appear clear and translucent, add the mushrooms to the mix. Lightly season with a dash of salt and white pepper periodically.

After rinsing and peeling the russet potatoes, cut them up into bite-sized pieces. Boil the potatoes in cold salted water for 15 to 20 minutes. 

A neat way to check if the potatoes are done is to insert a toothpick into a random potato piece. If the toothpick cleanly enters all the way, they are good to go.

Drain the potatoes and place them in a large bowl. Add hot, melted butter and mash up the potatoes. With butter, each bite of potato will be luxuriously creamy. Next, add the “sweated” mushrooms and onions and thoroughly mix the potato concoction with a spatula.

By hand, get in deep and form a nice, compact ball with the potato filling.

Assemble the pork roast by layering the baking tray with butcher’s twine in a “tic-tac-toe” fashion, then neatly place the bacon strips onto the twine.

Place the potato ball into the middle of the tray and cover the starchy goodness with strips of bacon.

Tie them up with the butcher’s twine to ensure that they don’t come apart.

Scatter the rosemary around the pork roast. Rosemary gives the dish a welcome herbaceous taste, while enhancing its fragrance, and hence it’s a welcome addition to the palate.

Pop the pork roast into the preheated oven, and let it sit in there for 20 to 25 minutes.

To create the delightful red wine sauce, heat the pan up to medium heat, and pour the red wine in. Don’t be afraid to add copious amounts of red wine as we’re going to cook it down to half its volume.

Add 3 tablespoons of soya sauce. The soya sauce was not added together with the red wine because we would not want the soya sauce to get overly reduced such that it thickens. Lightly season the mixture with salt and pepper.

Lower the heat and add butter into the saucepan. This is a classic French technique which gives the sauce a decadent and smooth mouthfeel.

As though you’re cutting a ribbon, snip the butcher’s twine off the top of the pork roast.

Finish by generously pouring the red wine sauce over the pork roast and watch it slowly seep into that savoury ball of goodness. The sauce will further enhance the taste of the dish, and it should not taste too bitter.

Cut the pork roast open to reveal hunks of creamy potatoes atop a layer of smoky bacon.

This dish proved to be easy to make, and it’s quick and affordable. Only simple ingredients were used, and we were pleasantly surprised that such a tasty dish came from an anime. For another film-inspired recipe, check out our recipe of the famous “Parasite” Jjapaguri.

Gotcha Pork Roast recipe

Yield: Serves 5

Cooking time: 60 minutes 

Ingredients:
5 russet potatoes, cubed
1 yellow onion, finely chopped
10 pieces of king oyster mushroom, finely chopped
8 pieces Swiss brown mushroom, finely chopped
100g fatty bacon
3 sprigs of rosemary
½ cup butter
Butcher’s twine
Salt to taste
White pepper to taste

Sauce:
1 cup red wine
4 tablespoon butter
3 tablespoon soy sauce 

Directions:

1) In a saucepan, sweat the onions and mushrooms with two tablespoons of butter. Season to taste. Reserve and set aside.

2) Boil potatoes in salted water until they are soft. 

3) Remove the potatoes and add them to the reserved mushroom mixture, along with the rest of the butter while mashing finely.

4) Mould the potato and mushroom mixture into a large oblong ball.

5) In a baking tray, lay across the butcher twine and bacon. Place the potato ball in the middle and wrap over with the rest of the twine and bacon. 

6) Slot the rosemary between the twine and potato ball. 

7) Bake at 220 degrees Celsius for 20 to 25 minutes. The dish is ready when the bacon is brown and fully cooked. 

8) To prepare the sauce, cook the red wine until its volume has reduced to half. 

9) Add in the soy sauce, salt and pepper, and stir well. 

10) Just before serving, stir in the butter and mix well. 

11) To serve, snip the butcher’s twine off the pork roast and pour the sauce over. 

12) Serve immediately. 

Photos taken by Maverick Chua.
Feature image adapted from a screenshot from Food Wars.