How to cook TONKATSU (Japanese style pork cutlet) 〜とんかつ〜 | easy Japanese home cooking recipe

Welcome to Taishi's Kitchen. Today I'm going to show you how to make tonkatsu. So ton means pork and katsu come from cutlet. So it actually just means pork cutlet. As we imported about like 100, 150 years ago from England and we kind of incorporated it in our culture and made it Japanese. We also made our own sauce to it which I'm going to show an alternative version today. We made it in a way that it matches rice. So I hope you see the difference to the western version of pork cutlet. And some people eat this also before a big game or a big exam because katsu means also to win in Japanese. So they eat this often the night before or on that day to hopefully that will bring good luck. Then let's get started. Here are the ingredients for tonkatsu. So I have here regular cutlet meat and fillet. So they both taste very good and they have slightly different taste and they both match tonkatsu very well. I also have two slices so that I can use one for the next dish which is katsudon. For the breading, I have panko. If you can find panko, it's great. If you can't, today I'm also going to show you how to make panko out of a regular bread. And then for the seasoning, salt and pepper and just regular frying oil. For the side, I have cabbage. You don't have to have this but it's just common in Japan. Next to tonkatsu, we have sliced cabbage. And then for the sauce, ideally you want to have what's called tonkatsu sauce. The sauce made primarily for tonkatsu. But if you don't have that, I'm going to show you how to make an alternative version with ketchup, Worcestershire sauce, soy sauce, vinegar and sugar. We also commonly have mustard on the side. Just give it a little kick to it. This is Japanese mustard but if you don't have access to this, you can also use regular Western mustard. But it tends to lack a little bit of spiciness and tends to be a little bit too sour. But if you don't have these kind of Japanese mustard, then you can of course use regular Western mustard. Next, we're going to make the alternative of tonkatsu sauce. So I'm going to start with ketchup. You're going to put 3 tablespoons of ketchup. 1, 2 and 3. To that, I'm going to add 1.5 tablespoons of Worcestershire sauce. 1 and 1.5. To that, I'm going to add 1.5 tablespoons of soy sauce, 1.5 tablespoons of vinegar and also 1.5 tablespoons of sugar. Yup, that's good. And then we're just going to give it a mix. So I'm going to have a little taste. Mmm, it's good. So I'm going to have to let it sit for a while so that the sugar dissolves but it tastes already good. So let's make the breadcrumbs. I'm going to use this part of the grinder. If you use this side of the grinder, the breadcrumbs is going to be too small. So I like using this side. Take a bread and then you're just going to grind it right here. And you'll see how kind of a little bit bigger breadcrumbs you have than a regular Western breadcrumbs. You're just going to keep doing this. So one bread is finished and I don't think this is going to be enough so I'm going to do another bread. So I got the breadcrumbs and if you see big bits like these, you can kind of tear them apart with your hands. This is pretty much finished for the breadcrumbs but I like to let it go through a strainer because they tend to have very small powdery pieces and these pieces are going to burn when you fry them. So you see this powdery pieces. You can use this for regular Western breading but we're going to use these rough breadcrumbs for the tonkatsu. So that's finished for the breadcrumbs. Next we're going to slice the cabbage. So I think today it's going to be enough two leaves of cabbage. We're going to use three. So I'm not doing a good job on this but it's going to taste still the same. I'm going to take the stem of the cabbage because it's a bit too hard but I'm not going to throw this away. I'm going to use it for some other cooking like miso soup or something. I'm going to try to slice it as thin as possible. If you have one of those slicer that they sell in the commercials then use that. It's much easier. So that's finished for the cabbage. Now let's prepare the meat. For the fillet I'm just going to make this kind of pieces. And then the loin, I don't need to do anything. I'm going to sprinkle lightly salt and pepper. Of course on both sides. Let's coat the meat with breading. So the breading process is pretty much the same with any other cutlet. Here in the first plate we're going to put in all-purpose flour. In the second bowl we're going to put an egg. On the third plate we're going to put in the breadcrumbs that we just made. So what we're going to do is we're going to take the meat and then coat it first with the flour. All the sides, evenly coated. Now I'm going to put this in the egg. And here the key is to try to use only one hand for the wet part. So I'm going to use only the right hand for egg. Now I'm going to put it on the breading. And I'm going to use the left hand to coat it with the bread. And this is good coated. We're going to do the same thing. Coat it with flour. And dip it in egg all around. And then the breading. And the fillet. So this is finished coating with the bread. As you see my hands are pretty clean. Let's try the tonkatsu. In a pan, I'm going to put some frying oil. And then turn the heat to high. And whenever you're deep frying anything, don't be stingy on using the oil. Because if you only have a little oil, then when the ingredients comes in, the temperature is going to drop very easily. Then you're going to end up very oily. But if you have a lot of oil, when the cold ingredients comes in, the temperature doesn't drop that much. So for the fillet, I'm going to fry this with 200 degrees. Because it's small and pretty thin. But for the big piece, I'm going to fry twice. So I'm going to first fry with about 170 or 180 degrees. And then let it sit for a couple minutes. And then I'm going to deep fry again with 200 or 210 or 220 degrees. So that you end up with very crunchy crust. So it's reaching 170 or so right now. If you don't have a thermometer, you can just put in a little bread crumb like this. And then, yeah, like that. So then I'm going to put in the loin. And then I'm going to turn the heat to medium. So I'm going to turn to the other side. And I want to turn a couple times. Because the heat comes only from the bottom. So this has been in the oil for about 2 minutes now. I'm going to take it off for a little bit. And let it rest. And let it cook on its own heat. And I'm going to stir it for a second. This is looking already good. I want to eat now. So it's very important to take away these small bits. Otherwise, it's going to get burnt. And your oil is going to turn black. And whatever you're going to fry with it, it's going to be black. I'm going to put in the filet. Mmm. Oh, it sounds good. Whenever you're going to put in something in oil, you want to always put in away from you. Because if you're going to put it towards you, it's going to splash to you and you're going to burn yourself. But if you go away from you like this, and even if it splashes, it splashes on the other side. Oh, this is looking really good. Mmm. So the oil is about 200 degrees now. I'm going to put in the loin to just make the crust very crispy. Just for a very short amount of time. Under a minute. So, just that. Oh, I love the sizzling sound. And then the other one. Okay, that's enough. So, this is finished. Let's cut them up and put them on a plate. Oh wow, look at that. That's amazing. This is finished. Let's eat. Okay, let's eat. Itadakimasu! Oh, looks so delicious. I'm starving. Mmm. Let's start with the fillet. I'm going to dip it in the sauce. Itadakimasu! Mmm. Oh, this is so good. Mmm. Forgot the Japanese mustard. I'm going to put in a little bit of mustard. Put this on the fillet. Dip it in the sauce. Mmm. Oh. Oh my god. This is just really good. So, I'm also going to try the tonkatsu sauce. Mmm. I do have to say the tonkatsu sauce matches the tonkatsu much better. But the alternative sauce is doing a good job as well. Not bad. And then let's eat the... Let's eat the loin with the rice. Mmm. Oh, this is just really good. Juicy pork meat is covered with this crunchy crust of the breadcrumbs. And then to that comes this tonkatsu sauce. And that just kind of rounds up everything. And to that, there's a little punch from the mustard. And just all in one harmony. Oh, this is just really delicious. Mmm. So, with the fillet, you can really taste the sweetness of the pork meat. Mmm. This harmony of tonkatsu and the tonkatsu sauce with the rice is also perfect. So, the cutlet originated from England. But Japanese just kind of made it in their own way with this tonkatsu sauce. And just matches rice perfectly. Mmm. Oh, this is really good. Mmm. So, if you go to a tonkatsu restaurant... So, in Japan, there are restaurants that primarily serve tonkatsu. And sometimes they have extra dressing for the cabbage. But most people put tonkatsu sauce over the cabbage. And that's also really good. Mmm. And if you put on top of rice the cabbage and then the tonkatsu... With the sauce... Then you have sauce katsudon. So, this is also another form of katsudon. Mmm. So, this is also a great mix. Mmm. Oh, this is really good. So, this sauce katsudon is really also great. With the mix of cabbage, which adds a lot of freshness to the tonkatsu. And then with the tonkatsu sauce, rounding up everything. And with the rice. Just matches this perfectly. Oh, this is totally savory. Gochisousamadeshita. Oh, that was really delicious. I'm totally full. As you saw, this is not so easy to make. And I don't make this so often because it does take a little bit of work. But it is definitely worth the effort. And I hope you try it yourself at home. If you like what you saw, please subscribe. And I look forward to see you in the next video. Bye.