Tonkatsu Not Tonkotsu

 Tonkatsu

Who doesn't love fried pork chops? I really love the non-battered variety (especially when seasoned with cayenne peppers), but my favorite is the panko-breaded tonkatsu (豚カツ). It's a dish often confused with tonkotsu (豚骨), pork broth seen primarily in ramen. It's a staple in Japanese cuisine and is so delicious that I salivate just thinking about it. Before we get into the super easy not-really-a-recipe recipe, let me clarify the meaning of the two words so that you can be a connoisseur next time you take on Japanese pork. It's pretty confusing because the two words are practically the same except for one vowel. But that one vowel is key.

Both words start with "ton" which is one of the pronunciations for the character for pork: 豚. So what's the rest?
Tonkatsu: Katsu is short for katsuretsu which is a Japanese transcription of cutlet, so ton + katsu = pork cutlet
Tonkotsu: Kotsu is a pronunciation of the character for bone: 骨, so ton + kotsu = pork bone (broth)
Hopefully breaking the word up like this helps you remember which is which. Although at the end of the day they're both delicious so it's a win-win situation.

Tonkatsu Mise En Place
It's almost shameful to call this a recipe, because the only seasoning is salt and pepper. But it's too good not to share. You need very few ingredients: boneless pork chops, egg, flour, panko (Japanese breadcrumbs), and cabbage. The cabbage is even optional if you just want the pork chops (it's traditional to pair tonkatsu with raw julienned cabbage). The rest are pantry staples (salt, pepper, and oil for frying). For the sauce, you can buy tonkatsu sauce (Bulldog is by far my favorite brand) or you can mix ketchup and worcestershire sauce equal parts and add a dash of mirin.

Seasoning Pork Chop
Standard Breading Procedure
Breaded Pork Chops
Tonkatsu Resting
Tips to creating the perfect tonkatsu:
1. Use panko, not regular breadcrumbs
2. Buy some pork chops with some fat on it: fat = flavor
3. Season your pork chops well (lightly coat with Diamond Kosher salt, a generous 3 pinch per side) because it's the only chance you will get
4. Follow standard breading procedure of flour > eggs > breadcrumbs (panko)
5. Fry at 325-350°F (if it's too low, the breading will absorb all the oil and not only will it never crisp up you'll be eating all that oil). If you don't have a meat thermometer to check, stick a wooden spoon in the oil and you should see small bubbles forming around the spoon.
6. When resting the pork chops, place on wired rack so they don't get soggy

Tonkatsu
 
Recipe Type: Main
Cuisine: Japanese
Author: Yukari
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Ingredients
  • 4 boneless pork chops (1/4" thick)
  • 1 egg, whisked
  • Flour for breading (approx 1/4 cup)
  • Panko for breading (approx 1/2 cup)
  • 2 cups cabbage, julienned
  • Tonkatsu Sauce
  • Salt and Pepper
  • Oil for frying
Instructions
  1. Season the pork chops on both sides with salt and pepper
  2. Dredge the pork chops in the following order to bread: flour, egg, panko
  3. Heat up the oil in a cast iron pan or pot to 350°F
  4. Place the pork chops in the oil (in batches if necessary to avoid overcrowding)
  5. Fry until golden brown on both sides and cooked through (approximately 2 minutes on each side)
  6. Plate with julienned cabbage and serve with tonkatsu sauce
 


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Quicker and Easier Shokupan

Image
  The  shokupan post  is without a doubt my most popular and I'm so grateful that people love it. I continue to make it on a weekly basis because our family loves toast for breakfast. Because I make it so often, I noticed that I don't always have the full 3 hours to devote to bread making. For the time constrained days, I simplify the ingredient list and use a food processor. It shaves off about 45 minutes from the original method. So I wanted to share with you the quicker version today. In fact, the food processor is a better tool for building up the gluten in shokupan. Since I don't have a dish washer and the food processor has so many parts to hand wash, I switch it up with the stand mixer when I have plenty of time to spare. If you are lucky enough to own a dishwasher, I highly recommend using the food processor. Step 1 - Measure: Before I do anything, I measure out 20g butter and cut it into small pieces so that it comes up to room temperature by the time I need it. Th
Read more

Shokupan

Image
  If you don't have 3 hours to devote to bread making and own a food processor, I've written up a quicker version  here !  EDITED (1/29/17): I've made this countless times now and have a few minor tweaks for an even fluffier bread. Main changes are upping the speed of the standmixer to 4 from 2 for more kneading, dividing the dough into 2 balls instead of 3, bench rest of 20 minutes instead of 10-15 minutes, and proofing the second round until the dough is about 4 inches in height. Also, I often skip the water roux and just add the flour and water portion into the dry and wet ingredients because 1) I'm lazy and 2) I freeze my bread once cooled and sliced so it stays fresh without the roux. I have updated the directions and recipe below for these changes.   There are countless recipes for Hokkaido milk bread on the internet, which is shokupan's sweeter cousin. It's absolutely delicious but too sweet for the daily bread. The shokupan is the true workhorse. It make
Read more

Purin: Japan's delicious take on pudding and custard

Image
  Hi everyone! It's so good to be back. I know it's been years since my last post so I wanted to do a quick recap on what's been happening in my life. I'm now a mother to two wonderful humans, H (3 yo) and A (6 mo) and enjoying everyday with our family of four. After having H, I wrote a couple of posts thinking I could keep up but being a stay at home mother proved to be a lot more challenging than I ever anticipated. I even wrote a bunch of recipes, took photos and had plans to start delving into the baby food blog world but somehow almost 3 years have passed without a single post. I've contemplated coming back to this blog so many times but the one thing that has always stopped me was predictable time. With a toddler and a baby in the house, I never know what the day will be like. And if you have a food blog of your own, you may already know this, but photography is one of the most time consuming aspects of a food blog. I write recipes constantly to feed my family
Read more