Pork Shabu Shabu Salad with Ginger Soy Dressing

August in Japan is pretty miserable, and the air outside feels like a warm towel by nine in the morning. The heat tends to wilt my appetite and the only thing that sounds good is something with enough tangy zing to perk my tastebuds back up. It's why I tend to make a lot of protein-based salads, and this week I have one for you that I've been making some version of for years.

The first bite is tangy and nutty, with a hit of ginger at the back. It's the flavor profile that we associate with machi chūka (町中華), the casual Chinese-style places on local shopping streets all over Japan, and you might recognize it from hiyashi chūka, the chilled ramen that turns up on their menus the moment it gets hot.

For this salad, I skip the noodles and marinate the pork in a ginger soy dressing, with rice vinegar for the tang, oyster sauce for depth, and toasted sesame oil for the nuttiness. I know ingredients are usually listed in order of quantity from highest to lowest, but measuring the toasted sesame oil out first lubricates the tablespoon, so the oyster sauce and everything after it slip right out without sticking. The pork itself gets cooked shabu shabu style.

Shabu shabu probably makes you think of a winter hotpot, but it's a cooking method more than a dish, and it's well suited for summer salads. The name comes from the sound the water makes as you swish paper-thin slices of pork through it. It only needs ten or fifteen seconds and the boiling water carries off excess fat and myoglobin, so the meat tastes light and clean, even with heavy marbling.

The pork goes into the dressing straight out of the strainer, while it's still hot, so it absorbs the flavor rather than just wearing it. Under it goes a festive bed of julienned cucumber, carrot and red onion, which stay crisp under the dressing while offering a few different textures and tastes in every bite. After that it can wait, which makes this a great prep-ahead dish. Keep the dressed pork and the prepped veggies in the fridge, pull the pork out about half an hour before you eat, and toss everything together on the platter as you bring it to the table. Room temperature is where this salad tastes best.

For a full meal, try serving this over chilled udon, somen or ramen noodles. If you're trying to cut back on carbs, this also works well on shirataki noodles.