Japanese flavours are easy to achieve with this blockbuster pork cutlet

A thick pork cutlet, coated in crisp panko crumbs, fried and served with a specially made sauce, tonkatsu is iconic among the best-known Japanese dishes.

Pork tonkatsu is a delicious Japanese staple. Picture: Emiko Davies, Hana Davies and Yuki Sugiura

A thick pork cutlet, coated in crisp panko crumbs, fried and served with a specially made sauce, tonkatsu is iconic among the best-known Japanese dishes. It was invented over a century ago at Rengatei, a restaurant in Tokyo’s Ginza neighbourhood, by chef Motojiro Kida, who was inspired by the Milanese veal cotoletta, and served it on rice with finely sliced raw cabbage – still the classic way to enjoy it today. But it’s so loved, there are countless ways to find tonkatsu: katsu-sando, sandwiched between fluffy shokupan bread, or katsudon, a rice bowl where the cutlet is cooked with a beaten egg over the top of it, or katsu curry, where the pork is served under a blanket of Japanese curry. One family trip to Tokyo, we stumbled across a tonkatsu restaurant in Ginza called Misokatsu Yabaton. Their pork comes from southern Kyushu and the breadcrumbs are specially made. But what they are best known for is a specialty from Nagoya – between Tokyo and Osaka – where they load a miso-rich sauce rather than the usual Worcestershire sauce-based tonkatsu sauce onto their juicy pork cutlets: misokatsu. It is, to put it plainly, out of this world.

Emiko Davies has a deep love of Japanese food.

Gohan by Emiko Davies.

Try also: my Japanese corn soup recipe here.

---

Pork Tonkatsu

Ingredients

Miso sauce

• 1 garlic clove, finely grated
• 3cm piece of fresh root ginger, peeled and finely grated
• 75g (¼ cup) hatcho miso (see note)
• 2 tablespoons mirin
• 1 tablespoon sake
• 2 tablespoons sugar

Tonkatsu

• 40g (⅓ cup) plain flour
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 80g (1 cup) Panko breadcrumbs
• 4 × 150g slices of pork loin, about 2cm thick
• Vegetable oil, for frying

To serve

• 300g cabbage, finely shredded
• A handful of cherry tomatoes
• Steamed rice
• Miso soup

Method

1. To make the sauce, place the ingredients in a small pan and gently warm over a low heat, stirring to help sugar dissolve. You may like to add a splash of water if it is too thick, as this sauce should be pouring consistency. Take off the heat when it begins to bubble or when the desired consistency is reached.
2. For the tonkatsu, prepare three shallow bowls, filled with the flour, eggs and panko respectively.
3. Dust the pieces of pork first completely in flour, then dip into the egg to coat evenly and finally into the panko crumbs, ensuring there are no spots missing.
4. Let rest on a tray or a plate to dry out a little before frying, even 10 minutes is helpful for a good crisp coating.
5. If you want to prepare ahead, at this stage the tonkatsu can be kept in the fridge, uncovered, for several hours.
6. Fill a heavy-based pan (I like cast iron) with a 2cm depth of vegetable oil and heat to 180C – a chopstick inserted should immediately be surrounded by vigorous little bubbles.
7. Fry the tonkatsu (you may only be able to fit two at a time) for 3 minutes on each side. Transfer to a wire rack lined with absorbent kitchen paper while you fry the rest.
8. Arrange the cabbage and tomatoes on one side of your plates. Slice the tonkatsu into 1.5 cm strips and place each cutlet on the plates.
9. Pour over the sauce (keep any extra in a jug on the table for people to help themselves) and serve with rice (and, if you want a complete experience, a bowl of miso soup, too). Serves 4

Note: Hatcho miso is a pure soybean, darker and less sweet miso - it had a truly punchy flavour. Use red miso or brown miso if you can’t find it.  

This is an edited extract from Gohan by Emiko Davies.