How to Make Butter Shoyu Pasta That Hooks You in 15 Minutes.

One bowl of butter shoyu pasta, steam rising, nori and shiso catching the light. Three pantry staples you have had for years doing this. Watch what happens when the soy sauce hits the empty side of the pan. A printable version of this recipe is available on my website. Simply google wafu pasta so that you can grab yours. Before the stove turns on, we do our prep. Wash 100 grams of spinach, shake the water off and pat it dry. Cut into bite-sized pieces and set it near the stove. Slice 50 grams of bacon. Dice one clove garlic. Slice four shiitake mushrooms and give them a light sprinkle of salt. Now the pasta. Fill a pot with about 1600 milliliters of water. Bring it to a proper rolling boil and add one tablespoon of salt which is roughly one percent of the water weight. Drop in 180 grams of dry spaghetti and stir well for the first 30 to 60 seconds so the strands do not fuse together in the bundle. Here's the one rule I want you to follow. Cook the spaghetti for one minute less than the package says. We're going to finish that last minute inside the skillet with the toppings not in the pot. While the pasta is cooking, heat a wide skillet over medium-low and lay in 50 grams of sliced bacon in a single layer. If your bacon is on the leaner side, add a small splash of neutral oil to get things started, otherwise you can skip that. Let the fat render slowly until the edges pick Pick up color and you see a thin layer of golden fragrant drippings in the pan. Add the shiitake mushrooms and the diced garlic to the bacon fat and spread everything out into a single layer. Resist the urge to stir. Let it sit undisturbed for two to three minutes until the moisture evaporates and the edges develop a light golden color. Pour in one tablespoon of sake and add an eighth teaspoon of dashi powder. The liquid hits the hot pan and sizzles sharply and it lifts all those caramelized bits the fond back off the surface and folds them into the sauce. This is free flavour that would otherwise stay stuck to the pan. Let the alcohol cook off for about 10 seconds. Toss in spinach and stir just until the leaves start to wilt, about 15 to 20 seconds. Now push everything to one side of the pan and pour half tablespoon of mirin onto the empty space. Let it set and bubble on the exposed pan surface for about 10 seconds before you fold it into the rest. Push everything to one side again, expose the hot pan surface and pour about two thirds of your one tablespoon of soy sauce which is two teaspoons directly onto the scorching metal. Stir everything together over medium-low heat for another 10 to 15 seconds so the soy sauce wraps evenly around every piece. If the toppings finish well before the pasta, add a splash of pasta water to keep things from drying out or sticking. Now for the combined step. Grab your tongs and lift the spaghetti directly from the pot into the skillet. Do not bother with the colander here. Add a splash of the reserved pasta water and toss everything together with real energy for about 20 to 30 seconds. Move the pasta through the mushrooms and bacon and spinach so every strand picks up colour and flavor. Turn off the heat, this is important. Now add one tablespoon of unsalted butter and a second addition of soy sauce which is the remaining one teaspoon. The first addition of soy sauce got caramelized on the pan surface for the deep roasted aroma. This second addition goes in off heat to keep the bright raw fermented top Top notes of the soy sauce intact. So it's one ingredient, two flavor dimensions. Now toss well, adding more pasta water a small splash at a time if you need to, until the sauce looks glossy and coats every noodle evenly. What you're looking for is a polished sheen from one end of the pan to the other. No pools of water around the edge, no oily slicks separating out, just a smooth gloss. Squeeze a few drops of lemon juice over the pasta and give it one final toss. The acid lifts the whole dish, cuts through the richness of the butter and the saltiness of the soy sauce, and keeps each bite feeling fresh instead of heavy. Plate it up immediately into serving bowls. Finish with chopped green onions, kizami nori, fresh shiso leaves if you can find them, And ground black pepper to taste. And there it is, a glossy wafu butter shoyu pasta with rendered bacon underneath, earthy shiitake, wilted spinach, the deep toasted aroma of soy sauce caramelized on the pan, and the bright fresh top note of the second edition and the lemon lifting everything. Want even more delicious recipes? Grab my free cookbook from the link in the description. Okay, let's go over the ingredients one more time. And if you're ready to cook, grab the written instructions by clicking the full recipe box with a picture that's about to pop up on your screen. That's a wrap. You can find a full printable version of this recipe on my website, linked right here on the screen. It has all the extra details to help you get perfect every time. If you enjoyed this, check out my noodle playlist. And next week, I'm sharing Natto 101 video, hit subscribe so you don't miss it. See you then.