Tonkatsu - Pork Cutlet

Tonkatsu

Tonkatsu is mainly fried pork chops covered in breadcrumbs. Another common name for it in Aisa is pork cutlet.

I haven't made Tonkatsu since my last failed attempt. It was horrible - the skin was soggy and fell off the meat when cut. It was so bad that my husband banned "it" from our kitchen. ;p

So, I hesitated to try this new recipe from America's Test Kitchen ("ATS"). I wouldn't call it Tonkatsu as traditional Tonkatsu uses Panko (Japanese breadcrumbs), this recipe from ATS uses cereal. After reading the recipe, it seems to solve the problems that I had in my earlier failed attempt, so I decided I shall give it a try.

Pork Cutlet

The end results - juicy pork chops with crispy skin that stick to the meat. Success! My husband loves them. =) I glad to have given them a second chance.

BTW, the video for making chops is currently still available on ATS (as at 9/13/2012), you can check out the video for clearer instructions. However, I find that the cornflakes can only make up to 4 chops instead of 8 chops per the ATS recipe. 

Recipe

4 pieces center-cut boneless pork chops - approximately 1/2 to 3/4 inch thick (about 1 pound)
2/3 cup cornstarch (divide into two 1/3 cup)
3 cups cornflakes
1 1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
2 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1 cup buttermilk
1 cup cooking oil 

1. Place cornflakes, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1/2 teaspoon pepper and 1/3 cup cornstarch into food processor. Grind for about 15 seconds or until finely grounded. Place in shallow dish or plate.

2. Whisk Dijon mustard, garlic and buttermilk together until combined. Place in shallow dish or plate.

3. Place 1/3 cup cornstarch in shallow dish or plate.

4. Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 200 degrees.

5. Clean and dry pork chops. Using a knife, create slits in crosshatch pattern on both sides of the pork chops.

6. Season each pork chop with salt and pepper. About 1/4 tsp per chop.

7. Take 1 chop and coat in cornstarch. Shake off excess.

8. Dredge the chop into buttermilk. Use a fork to pick up the chop and let excess drip off.

9. Transfer the chop to the cornflakes mixture. Coat the chop with the cornflakes mix.

10. Place the coated chop on a wire rack. Repeat until all chops are coated.

11. Let the chops rest on wire rack for at least 10 minutes.

12. Heat 1/3 cup oil in a skillet over medium-high heat for 5 minutes.

13. Place 2 chops into skillet and cook until golden brown and crispy.

14. Using a tong, carefully flip the chop and cook until the second side is golden brown.

15. Use an instant-read thermometer, check that the center of chop is 140 degrees.

16. Transfer the chops to a plate lined with paper towel.

17. Let the chops rest for 30 seconds on each side.

18. Transfer to a clean wire rack set over baking sheet. Transfer to oven to keep warm.

19. Discard oil in skillet and wipe clean with paper towels.

20. Repeat the process with the remaining oil and pork chops.

21. Transfer to oven to keep warm until ready to serve.

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Tips and  Tricks

1. The mustard gave the chops a tangy flavour which I like. You may omit or reduce the portion of Dijon mustard.

2. When coating the cornflakes, you may want to divide the cornflakes into two portion. Use the first portion to coat 2 slices of chops and the second for remaining chops. This way, the cornflakes are not too wet from the buttermilk when you reached your final chop.

3. Do not rest the chops on paper towel for too long. Keep them resting on paper towel for less than 30 seconds on each side. Quickly transfer to wire rack. Over-rested chops will cause the crust to fall off.

4. If you don't have a food processor, place the cornflakes, cornstarch, salt and pepper into a ziplock bag. Use a rolling pin to crush the cornflakes into fine crumbs. 

Japanese Chasu

Japanese Chasu

Japanese Chasu is quite different from the Chinese Chasiu. Japanese Chasu is mainly roast pork in soy sauce while Chinese Chasiu is a barbecue pork with soy sauce and hoisin sauce. Japanese Chasu often uses the pork belly meat while Chinese Chasu mainly used the pork loin meat.

I love the round Japanese Chasu that you often find in a bowl of delicious ramen. After all, what's not to love about this juicy dish - with layers of fats and tender meat melting in your mouth at every bite. Yummy-licious is the word for it.

Japanese Chasu rice

One of our favorite Chasu from Santouka. We never failed to order an extra bowl of Chasu rice when we visit Santouka. The Santouka's Chasu uses mainly pork cheeks meat which is one of the fattiest meat of the pig but the most tender. You can get pork cheeks meat at many Chinese supermarket. It is sometimes also called pork neck meat. However, it's difficult to achieve the round Chasu shape with pork neck meat, so I chose to use pork belly meat for my Chasu recipe.

After searching through various blogs, I combined and tweaked the recipes from Just One Cookbook and No Recipe to come up with my easy to make Chasu recipe.

Japanese Chasu with rice

Japanese Chasu

Recipe

2 piece of pork belly meat (2 pounds each - request your butcher to remove the skin)
2 tablespoon of Konbu Cha or salt 
3 cup water
4 tablespoon sugar
4 tablespoon miso
6 tablespoon soy sauce
8 tablespoon mirin
8 tablespoon sake
30 grams ginger (slice into 4 ~ 5 pieces)
8 cloves garlic (smashed)
1/2 tablespoon of white pepper corns
1 stalk of green onion (cut into 4 inches)

1. Rub the pork belly with Konbu Cha or salt.

2. Roll the pork belly into a round shape. Using the pork belly skin, wrap around the meat and secure with string. If you don't need the round shape, cut the pork belly into 4 quarters.

3. Put all ingredients into a pot. The sauce or water should cover 3/4 of the pork.

4. Cover the pork with an Otoshibuta. Make sure that all corners of the pot is covered and steam is only coming out of the holes of the Otoshibuta.

5. Cooking over medium high heat for approximately 10 minutes. Once it starts to simmer, lower the heat to medium low and cook the meat for approximately 2.5 hours.

6. Check the meat occasionally after 2 hours. Turn off heat when there is only 1 inch of the liquid left. The liquid should have thicken and is shiny.

7. Wait for meat to cool completely before slicing.

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