Ano Niku Aka Manga Meat (Monster Hunter Etc)

Ever since i was a kid i was always obsessed with how good the food on animes looked. One in particular was a well known piece of meat that had a bone poking out either end, it was caveman meat etc. This kind of meat can be seen in many animes, mangas and games, including monster hunter. I decided to have a go at making my own version of this tasty dish!

This would be perfect for anime/games/geek night! Impress your friends :D

You will need -
1) Mixing bowl
2) Chicken wings or drumsticks
3) 3 Eggs
4) Sake
5) Soy
6) Salt and Pepper
7) Onion
8) Breadcrumbs
9) Spices - Cumin, Paprika, Garlic Powder, Ginger, Nutmeg
10) 300g Ground/Minced Pork
11) 6 Slices Bacon
12) Chopping Board, sharp knife, and scissors. (A must for the deboning.)
13) Basting brush (Not pictured)

This can be fiddly, so the first time you do it, please set aside a fair amount of time to do it.

This first step is really fiddly so i did it first and just put them in the fridge when i was finished.

If your chicken leg has skin on it, its fairly easy to remove, if you pull on it hard enough, half the time it will just rip off. When it gets to the base of the drumstick, cutting the skin off as you go, you will need to dig your scissors in and cut the joint off the end to reveal that nice looking bone which will be one of the bones sticking out of your Ano Niku.

Once thats gone you can start snipping the meat in a few places to push it upward and expose more of the bone. Turning it kind of inside out in a way. Please remember in a drumstick theres actually 2 bones, one is very very fine, you WILL need to remove this just to be on the safe side, but its easy enough to cut it out.

Grab 2 of your 3 eggs and put small holes in the end with a pin, this makes them easier to peel. Bring a pot of water to the boil and with a ladle gently drop your eggs into the hot water and start to stir. The stirring should hopefully cause the egg yolk to cook in the middle of the egg. You dont need to do this the whole time they are cooking, just for the first few minutes. Leave them boiling and watch them while you prepare your meat. About 8 minutes.

Cut up about 1/4 of your onion, fairly fine, doesn't hurt to add a little more.
Add half a teaspoon of salt.
A decent sprinkle of sugar.
1/4 of a teaspoon of Cumin, Garlic powder and Nutmeg
add 1/2 teaspoon of Paprika

You can always add more garlic! depends how much you like. Give that a stir through.

Add in 3 tablespoons of bread crumbs
and 1 beaten egg.

Mix again!

Now add your 300g of ground/minced pork.
You will probably want to mix this part with your fingers and make sure everything is evenly put through the meat.

Dont forget your eggs! you can drain and peel them ready for the next step.

Preheat your oven to 180c/350f

This part can be all kinds of tricky. It took my two goes to do my first one so be prepared to stuff it up.

You want to lay down your bacon to form a sheet as you can see in the photos. My bacon was really long so i actually cut it in half and only used 3 slices instead of 6, but most bacon isnt that long which is why i recommend 6 pieces.

Lump about half of your mixture down and spread it evenly, i used a spatula to start with but then found it was easier to do it with my hands. Make it all nice and even and spread out like picture 2

Take 2 of your drumstick bones and lay them down either side of the bacon, bone side out and make sure a majority of the meat is in the middle. If your drumsticks were very meaty, you may need to trim some of the meat off and move it, or remove it completely. Once your bones are placed, put your boiled and peeled egg in the centre, and work it in so the chicken is somewhat cocooning the egg.

Now comes the hard part, starting from the bottom and rolling away from you, you need to roll this whole thing up. Expect it to break, it may take a couple times to get it working for you. Once rolled, place into an oiled baking dish. I used spray on coconut baking oil.

Repeat this process for the second one. Bake them for about 30 minutes.
While they are cooking, make your basting sauce.

The liquid i made to baste with is very easy.

2 tbsp of Soy sauce.
1 tsp of sake
1/4 tsp of powdered ginger
1/2 tsp of garlic powder.

Just roughly mix it all together with your basting brush, and when its been 30ish mins, take out the meat and baste it. Now is the time to also sprinkle with cracked black pepper to taste, then return the meat to the oven. I rebasted mine about 5 - 7 mins later again, then returned it once more for another 5 minutes.

I served up my Ano Niku on lettuce as i felt like it added a caveman flair, i also dressed the plate up a bit with some roasted potatoes and Asparagus lightly fried in oil and herbs.

This was a serious hit with my household! Everyone enjoyed it and there was many food comas afterwards.

Thanks for reading, please share your food pics if you use this recipe!
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