Japanese Cooking Guide

Why I Add Miso Twice When
Making Tonjiru

In many Japanese recipes, miso is added near the end of cooking. But for hearty dishes like tonjiru, I sometimes add it earlier too.

Tomoka

4 min read

A bowl of tonjiru, Japanese pork and vegetable miso soup

In many Japanese recipes, miso is added near the end of cooking. This helps keep the aroma and flavour of the miso from disappearing too much in the heat.

But when I make tonjiru, Japanese pork and vegetable miso soup, I like to add the miso in two stages. It is a small habit that makes sense to me for a hearty soup with lots of vegetables and pork, because the ingredients can take on some of the miso flavour.

Why miso is often added at the end

Miso has a beautiful aroma, and that aroma can become weaker if it is boiled for too long. That is why many Japanese miso soup recipes tell you to turn off the heat, dissolve the miso, and avoid boiling the soup after that.

For a simple miso soup with tofu, wakame or spring onion, I usually follow that method. The ingredients are gentle, so I want the miso to taste fresh and clear.

Why tonjiru is a little different

Tonjiru is heartier than a simple miso soup. It has pork, root vegetables, mushrooms and sesame oil, so the soup gets plenty of umami from the ingredients themselves. Because of this, tonjiru can be delicious even without a separate dashi stock. The pork and vegetables create their own savoury base as they simmer. Because the ingredients are cooked for longer, I like some of the miso flavour to go into the vegetables as they cook.

In my tonjiru recipe, I dissolve in about half of the miso after the water comes to a boil and the foam has been skimmed. Then I simmer the soup gently until the vegetables become tender. This first miso gives the soup base flavour and helps the vegetables take on some of the miso flavour.

Then I add the rest at the end

After the vegetables are cooked, I turn off the heat and dissolve in the remaining miso. This second miso finishes the soup with a gentler aroma and rounder flavour, while keeping more of the miso's delicate fermented character than if it were boiled for a long time.

Tonjiru Recipe

Japanese Pork Miso Soup

Miso is a simple ingredient, but the timing can change how it tastes in the finished dish. In tonjiru, adding it in two stages is one small way I like to bring out both the depth of the soup and the gentle aroma of the miso.