College Cuisine: Tonkatsu

By Koby Parry

I hope you like Japanese food because that is what’s on the menu for this week! Don’t be scared to make this meal, most Japanese food is actually very simple to make (even if you can’t pronounce it). Tonkatsu is a fried pork chop served with thinly sliced cabbage, rice, and tonkatsu sauce. If pork isn’t your forte, use chicken instead (which is called katsu or torikatsu instead of tonkatsu).

Tonkatsu

• 4, 1 inch boneless pork chops (or two chicken breasts) ~$7.89 ($5.24/lb)
• 1 cup of flour ~$1.16 ($0.04/oz)
• 1 tsp each of salt and pepper ~$1.76 ($0.34/oz)
• 1 egg ~$2.63 ($0.22/oz)
• 2 tsp of water
• 1 cup of panko bread crumbs ~$1.77 ($0.22/oz)
• Vegetable oil ~$3.64 ($0.08/oz)
• Tonkatsu sauce (or hoisin or Worcestershire sauce if you can’t find any) ~$2.98 ($0.25/oz)

Grand total: ~$21.83

Recipe total: ~$13.69

Note: The only local place that occasionally sells tonkatsu sauce is the Food Lion in Lexington, but there are plenty of recipes online if they don’t have it. If you’re okay with a substitute, hoisin sauce or Worcestershire sauce are the closest options, but my ancestors may frown upon you.

Instructions

1. Pat the pork chops dry and press them firmly (not aggressively) with your palm.
2. Mix the dry ingredients (flour, salt, pepper) in a large bowl or zip lock bag. Add eggs and water to another bowl or bag and panko to a separate bowl or bag. (You now have a dredging station, congratulations!)
3. With one hand, coat the pork chops in flour, pressing the flour into the pork and ensuring every side is thoroughly coated. Shake off excess flour and transfer to the egg water mixture. Coat evenly again, shake off the excess, and transfer to panko bread crumbs.
4. With the hand that isn’t covered in eggs, pick up some of the breadcrumbs and press them firmly onto the pork chop (this helps keep your “dry” hand dry). Thoroughly coat your pork chops and let rest on a plate. Repeat this process with all of your pork chops.
5. Heat vegetable oil over medium high heat or 350 degrees fahrenheit. To check if your oil is ready, drop a few extra bread crumbs into the oil. If it sizzles and bubbles gently and consistently, the oil is ready.
6. Lay pork chops in the oil away from you (this keeps you from getting splashed), and fry until golden brown, roughly two minutes per side. Move to paper towels or a wire rack and let them drain.
7. Cut them into strips by pressing straight down with a sharp knife (don’t try to slice them, the crust will come off) and serve with thinly sliced cabbage, rice, and tonkatsu sauce.

Note: If you have extras, you can freeze them and bake them later. If you bake them, set your oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit, and bake for twelve minutes.

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College Cuisine: Tonkatsu was originally published in The Herald on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.