June 28, 2012

Katsu Sando (Cutlet Sandwiches)/カツサンド

The day before yesterday, I made tonkatsu for supper.
一昨日は夕飯に豚カツを作りました。

I used a pork thigh block of about 400 g.
400 gの豚ももブロックを使いました。


I also used thinly sliced pork.
豚の薄切りも使いました。


Simply rolled.  At first, I thought about rolling with shiso leaves and umeboshi paste, but I gave up the idea.
単に巻いただけです。最初はシソと梅干ペーストと一緒に巻こうと思ったのですが、止めました。

Thus, I made 21 normal katsu and 11 katsu rolls.
というわけで、普通のカツを21枚、巻いたカツを11個作りました。


Yesterday morning, I used two of the leftover katsu in my son's bento.
昨日の朝は、残ったカツのうち2枚を息子の弁当に入れました。


Tare katsu bento!
たれカツ弁当です!

And, for lunch yesterday, I made a katsu sando (sandwich), using three katsu.
そして昨日の昼ご飯には、カツを3枚使って、カツサンドを作りました。


Leftover shredded cabbage, chuunou sauce, Japanese mustard, and lemon juice.
残りのキャベツの千切り、中濃ソース、芥子(からし)、レモン果汁。


It was delicious!
美味しかったです。

7 comments:

Sissi said...

Tonkatsu is one of my favourite Japanese dishes (it's so much better than other European breaded pork versions! thanks to panko of course and deep-frying too). Now that I saw all your delicious bites I am making it this weekend for sure! (What is the chuunou sauce? I have never heard of it. Does "chuu" means Chinese here? (the first one is one of the scarce 10 kanji I know ;-) )
I like the way the fat is distributed in this pork cut. Evenly but in small amounts.

Hiroyuki said...

Sissi: Chuunou sauce is thicker than Worcestershire sauce/Worcester sauce and thinner than tonkatsu sauce.
Chuunou sauce is popular in Kanto (Eastern Japan), while it's not so popular in Kansai (Western Japan).

You are close. Chuu 中 mean medium, center, etc.
Chuu-goku 中国, literally, central country, means China.

When purchasing, I carefully selected a whitish rather than reddish block.

If you ever come to Japan, you will be introduced to Katsu Sando of Maisen, which is very popular here.
http://mai-sen.com/special/sandwich.html

I had it once. Sadly, I was very dissatisfied with the lack of shredded cabbage, and I got tired of having bread and katsu only (and the overly sweet sauce). I thought any conbini (convenience store) katsu sando would be better.

Fräulein Trude said...

I wish I could have some tonkatsu too, the sandwich, the sandwich... but it has to be chewed. Did your son enjoy his o-bento? I think so.

Hiroyuki said...

Kiki: Sorry you still have problems with your teeth. Here's a simple solution: Pound your pork until it becomes twice as large as the original size and shape it back to its original form. Or, you could use ground pork and make menchi katsu.

I guess so. He is happy as long as his bento contains some cherry tomatoes (or tomatoes) and the rice has some furikake on it.

Yangsze said...

Oh my, I am drooling at this post! It's interesting that you use pork thigh for it -- I thought it had to be a pork chop? At least, that's what is usually sold for tonkatsu at the Japanese supermarket? Your family is so lucky that you are such a wonderful cook!!

Hiroyuki said...

YSC: In Japan, tonkatsu is usually made with rosu ロース (loin), and hito-kuchi (one-bite) katsu with hire ヒレ (tenderloin).

As I mentioned here:
http://hiro-shio.blogspot.jp/2012/05/tare-katsu-don.html
tare katsu don is a specialty of Niigata city, and the katsu in this dish is usually made with momo モモ (thigh (ham?)).

Pork chops are much less popular in Japan. I have never seen them sold in local supermarkets here.

Sissi said...

Thank you, Hiroyuki, for the explanations. I hope I will be introduced to this sandwich. I can imagine it is better with shredded cabbage as you say.