June 5, 2012

Substantial Clear Soup and Hito-Kuchi Katsu (One-Byte Cultlets)/具沢山の澄まし汁と一口カツ


For supper last night, I made substantial clear soup, hito-kuchi (one-byte) katsu, and onion slices.
今日の夕飯には具沢山の澄まし汁、一口カツ、オニオンスライスを作りました。

Approx. 2 liters water
3 tsp instant dashi
1 tsp salt
1 large onion, very thinly sliced
1 pack small bamboo shoot
1 pack enokitake
2 large eggs
I later added some wakame and soy sauce.
水 約2リットル
出汁の素 小さじ3
塩 小さじ1
玉ねぎ 大 1個(ごく薄く切る)
タケノコ 小 1パック
エノキ 1パック
卵 L 2個
後でワカメとしょう油を足しました。
Usually, clear soup is much less substantial.  Why did I make such substantial clear soup then?  Well, one day, I made clear soup with bamboo shoot and wakame, and it remained unfinished for three days main because my son, who now goes to high school and comes back at 8:00 or even at 9:00, didn't have as much of if as I had expected.  On the third day, I really didn't want to have the soup, so I decided to modify it a little by adding some beaten eggs.  I also added leftover onion slices.  The resultant substantial soup was incredible!  It tasted really good!  Since then, I have kept making this type of substantial clear soup.
澄まし汁(お澄まし)はあまり具が入っていないのが普通です。じゃあ、何でこんな具沢山のお澄ましを作ったかって?ある日、タケノコとワカメでお澄ましを作ったのですが、三日経っても、まだ飲みきれずに残っていました。高校に通うようになった息子が8時や9時に帰宅するようになり、思ったほど汁を飲んでくれなかったのが主な原因です。三日目は、もう飲みたくなくなったので、溶き卵を足して、少し味を変えることにしました。また、残りのオニオンスライスも入れました。出来上がった汁はすっごく美味しくなりました!それから、このような具沢山の澄まし汁を作っています。

I made these hito-kuchi (one-bite) katsu with pork tenderloin.
この一口カツは豚のヒレ肉で作りました。
These particular hito-kuchi katsu are so small that you could have one in one bite, but most hito-kuchi katsu served in restaurants are rather big and I can't have one in one bite, so I think that hito-kuchi katsu is a misnomer.
I made the katsu because I wanted to include some in the bento for my son today.
この一口カツは、一口でも食べれそうな大きさですが、店で出される一口カツは大抵、大きめなので、一口では食べれません。一口カツとは間違った名前ではないか、と思います。
このカツは、今日、息子の弁当に入れようと思って作りました。

6 comments:

Sissi said...

When it's hot I'm not very eager to cook soups but the hito-kuchi katsu sound fabulous! I usually buy pork loin which is quite satisfying, rarely tenderloin which is almost twice as expensive. Here however I can imagine how great this cut must taste fried with panko. I will certainly try it soon! Thank you for the idea.

Hiroyuki said...

Sissi: But you can make cold soups, right? (laugh)

I don't know why, but my son hates store-bought katsu, but he likes home-made katsu, especially this and similar types of katsu (so small that you don't have to pre-cut into smaller pieces).

stacy said...

Wow, I didn't think high school students in japan would get home that late!

the hito-kuchi katsu looks so tasty..

Hiroyuki said...

stacy: Someone previously asked me a similar question, and my answer was:

My son goes to a school in Nagaoka, a one-hour train ride from here, and the train comes only once an hour. He has to get up at 6:00 a.m., and catch the 6:46 train.
School is over before 4:00 p.m., and he practices soccer until about 6:30 p.m. (He joins the soccer club.) He has to catch the 18:53 train to come home at around eight. If he misses it, he has to take the 19:57 train.

muskratbyte said...

Your soup looks fantastic! I too make the less substantial clear soups, and will try your "substantial clear soup" very soon!

Hiroyuki said...

muskratbyte: I think onion slices are a main contributor to the tastiness of my substantial soup, and I think the mouthfeel created by the ingredients (soft onion slices, fluffy beaten egg, soft wakame, and somewhat crunchy bamboo shoot) is wonderful.