The classic Japanese tonkatsu sandwich: a boneless pork chop, breaded in panko and fried, coated in tonkatsu sauce, and then enclosed in very soft Japanese milk bread with a little thinly sliced cabbage.
Ingredients
- 320 g boneless pork chops from the shoulder or loin
- 4 slices shokupan Japanese milk bread
- 100 g fresh white cabbage
- 30 g wheat flour
- 1 piece fresh egg
- 70 g Japanese panko breadcrumbs
- 50 g Japanese tonkatsu sauce
- 10 g Japanese karashi mustard
- 750 ml neutral oil for frying
- 2 g fine salt
- 1 pinch ground black pepper
Method
- Remove any bones and excess hard fat from the pork chops. Lightly score the fat cap in several places so the meat stays flat during cooking.
- Place each piece of pork between two sheets of parchment paper. Gently pound it flat with a meat mallet or the bottom of a small saucepan to an even thickness, without tearing the fibers.
- Season both sides of the pork with salt and pepper. Let it rest briefly at room temperature while preparing the other elements.
- Slice the white cabbage as thinly as possible. Plunge it into ice water to crisp it up, then drain and dry it very carefully so it does not make the bread soggy.
- Prepare three wide, shallow dishes: one with the flour, the second with the beaten egg, and the last with the panko.
- Dredge each piece of pork in the flour, coating the entire surface, then shake off the excess. Coat in the beaten egg and finally in the panko. Gently press the breadcrumbs with your palms to help them adhere without crushing them.
- Heat the oil in a deep saucepan. It is ready when a bit of panko immediately rises to the surface and bubbles actively but steadily.
- Gently lower the breaded pork into the oil. Fry without crowding the pan, turning the meat when the first side is pale golden and crispy.
- Continue cooking until the breading is uniformly golden and the pork is just cooked through to the center. Drain on a wire rack rather than on paper towels to preserve the crunch.
- Let the tonkatsu rest briefly on the rack. Generously coat both sides with the tonkatsu sauce.
- Trim the crusts from the shokupan if they are thick. Spread a very thin layer of karashi on the inside face of the slices, then distribute the perfectly dry cabbage.
- Place a tonkatsu on each bottom slice of bread and close with the remaining slices. Press lightly with your palm to stabilize the sandwich without compressing the crumb.
- Briefly wrap each sandwich in parchment paper so the heat slightly softens the bread and everything holds together.
- Unwrap, trim the edges if necessary, then cut each katsu sando in half with a sharp bread knife. Serve immediately, cut side showing.
Nutrition
Per serving
- Energy
- 946.8 kcal
- Protein
- 43.36 g
- Carbohydrate
- 80.77 g
- Fat
- 49.18 g
- Fibre
- 3.62 g
- Calcium
- 146.1 mg
- Iron
- 1.71 mg
- Magnesium
- 52.91 mg
