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Japanese Tonkatsu - Breaded pork cutlet

Japanese Tonkatsu — Breaded Pork Cutlet

A pork cutlet that's crispy outside and juicy inside. Tonkatsu is a breaded pork cutlet, deep-fried or pan-fried in plenty of oil, so it comes out crunchy on the outside and juicy within. It's quick and easy to make.

nordia

Recipe author

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Composition / ingredients

Servings:

Pork

200

Egg

Flour

Breadcrumbs (tempura or panko)

Vegetable oil

200

Salt

Pepper

Translation table of volumetric measures

Nutrients and energy value of the composition of the recipe

By weight of the composition:

Proteins 14 % 9 g

Fats 71 % 47 g

Carbohydrates 15 % 10 g

488 kcal

GI: 0 / 0 / 100

Cooking method

Cooking time: 30 min

Step 1:

Pound the pork on both sides to an even thickness.
Step 2:

Season with salt and pepper, then dredge in flour.
Step 3:

Then dip in the beaten egg, and finally coat in the breadcrumbs.
Step 4:

Heat the oil in a skillet (to check it, drop in a breadcrumb — if it sizzles on the surface, the oil is ready). Add the pork cutlets and fry for 2 minutes on one side, then 2 minutes on the other over high heat. Flip the cutlets, lower the heat to the minimum, and fry for another 1 to 2 minutes per side.
Step 5:

Transfer the finished cutlets to a paper towel to drain the excess oil. Slice into strips and serve with any side dish you like.

Tonkatsu is a pork fillet or loin, about 1 inch (2 to 2.5 cm) thick, breaded in crumbs and deep-fried. The finished cutlet is usually served with a sauce. That sauce — which, like the dish, came to be called tonkatsu — was created by local cooks. It's based on the British fermented Worcestershire sauce that had made its way to Japan, with applesauce added in. That's how tonkatsu sauce was born. Dark, thick, and sweet-and-sour, it pairs beautifully with fried meat. At first it was used only with pork cutlets, but later it was served with other dishes too — chicken cutlets, beef, burgers, meatballs, sandwiches, and more.
Japan has many variations of tonkatsu and related dishes. Tonkatsu is the most Japanese of them, usually served with rice, miso soup, and pickles. It's also popular as a sandwich or served alongside Japanese curry, and it's sometimes served over a big bowl of rice with an egg. Most often it's eaten with the thick Japanese tonkatsu sauce (made with mashed apple), a little spicy yellow karashi (Japanese mustard), and a lemon wedge. Some people prefer soy sauce instead of tonkatsu sauce. In Nagoya and the surrounding area, tonkatsu is eaten with a miso-based sauce. You can also stuff the cutlet with cheese or layer the meat with basil or mint before breading and frying. There are several meat-based takes on tonkatsu:
Chicken katsu uses chicken and often shows up in Hawaiian plate lunches. Menchi katsu is made from breaded, deep-fried ground-meat patties. Hamu katsu is a similar dish made with ham, usually seen as a budget option. Gyū katsu ("beef katsu"), also called bīfu katsu, is popular in Kansai, around Osaka and Kobe. Katsukare is a mashup of curry rice and tonkatsu. Katsudon is a donburi rice bowl topped with a pork cutlet and onions and egg simmered in broth. Katsusando are tonkatsu sandwiches with various sauces. Tonkatsu ramen is a tempting combination of ramen noodles and tonkatsu. Hitokuchi-katsu are mini cutlets. Kushi-katsu are deep-fried mini cutlets and other ingredients on small skewers.