Kenny's Katsudon

Kind of like gyudon, except with a fried pork chop instead of beef and a different broth.

This is not my recipe. Nope. This is Kenny Tachibana's recipe. I'm just borrowing it. I should add that this also works great with leftover pork chops, but anyway.

For each serving you need:

One thin-cut boneless pork chop, marinated in mirin, soy sauce, and garlic for a few hours
Some flour, salt, and pepper
One beaten egg
Panko (wonderful crispy Japanese style bread crumbs)
Oil for frying
About a cup of dashi stock (but I use miso or vegetable broth if I can’t be bothered to go to Central Market or the Asian grocery store)
Soy sauce to taste
A few tablespoons of mirin
A tablespoon or so of sugar
Minced garlic to taste
About a tablespoon of Worcestershire sauce
About two tablespoons of ketchup
A handful of onion, sliced as thin as you possibly can
tonkatsu sauce (basically, ketchup + Worcestershire sauce, if I’m feeling punchy I add a drop or two of Sriracha)
A hot bowl of steamed rice

First order of business: fry your pork chop. Take it out of the marinade and pat it dry with a paper towel. Give it a drag through some flour, then through the beaten egg, then cover it in panko. SAVE THAT EGG. You’ll use it again later.

Heat up some oil in a pan or wok. Gently drop the chop into the hot oil. Fry it till it’s golden brown on both sides, then take it out of the pan and set it on a couple of paper towels to drain.

Throw the onions into the bit of porky oil left in the pan and saute them until they start to go translucent. Then add your stock, soy sauce, mirin, sugar, garlic, Worcestershire sauce, and ketchup. Bring it to a boil, then simmer until the onions are nice and soft.

While the onions are cooking, slice up the pork chop into strips. No, you will not put the pork chop in the pan with the broth. Yes, I know that’s how it’s normally done in Japan and I can’t stand it. I like my tonkatsu crispy. Why the hell would I go through the trouble of frying a pork chop all nice and crispy if I’m just going to simmer it until the nice crispy outside turns to mush? It goes on top at the end.

Remember that egg? Once the onions are nice and soft, pour that egg right into the broth. Don’t stir. Just let it go where it will. It will turn into a very soft omelette with onions all tangled up in it. Mmm.

When the egg is set to your liking, get your bowl of rice, scoop out the egg and onion goop and plop it on top, ladle as much or as little broth as you want over that, then top it with your sliced-up pork chop and tonkatsu sauce. Eat it while it’s nice and hot.

WARNING: this is a cholesterol bomb. You may die. But you will die warm, full, and happy.

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