SONOKO SAKAI

My kitchen is bicultural today. I am making a Mexican bean dish, Friholes Mexicanos, for a friend's birthday party. The recipe calls for fresh lard.  I could use vegetable oil but the beans will taste more delicious with lard. Did you know that lard has less than half the cholesterol and 1/3 less saturated fat than butter?  So it's not going to hurt anyone to put a couple of tablespoons of lard in the beans.  There are some nice pieces of Kurobuta pork that I defrosted last night. I take that out and fry it to make fresh lard.  Eddie, Sakai's Oaxacan assistant, is impressed with my friholes.  I gave him some to take home. Now I want to use up the meat.  I see that the oil from last week's HItokuchi-katsu - Little Pork Cutlets is still sitting on my stove. How about another round of Tonkatsu- deep fried pork cutlet for lunch?  Today, Sakai got a truck from Rent-A-Wreck and is transporting all the artwork to the gallery in downtown.  I am sure the guys will be very hungry by noon and wouldn't mind a repeat menu.  This time I will use whole pieces to make a standard Tonkatsu. I am happy the kurobuta found happiness in two dishes.

RECIPE

Serves 4

4 boneless pork chops

2 cup

1 cup white flour

1 egg

3 cups Vegetable oil for deep frying (Canola, Peanut, vegetable oil)

2 cups - shredded cabbage to serve as a side dish

Mustard, Soysauce, T

Old newspaper

Cast iron pan

Meat pounder

Trim the fat around the edge of the meat. Gently pound the meat on both sides to tenderize.

 

Line up three plates. One of flour, one of scramble raw egg and one of panko.  

Lightly flour the meat on both sides.  Pat the meat using both hands to remove excess flour.

Dip the floured meat into the egg.Coat the meat with panko. Be generous. Make sure you give it  an even coating.

In a cast iron pan, pour about 2 inches of oil or more for deep frying.  Heat the oil to 350F over medium heat. When you put the meat in the oil, the oil should sizzle. It takes about 2-3 minutes on each side depending on the thickness of the meat and temperature of the oil. Take one meat out of the oil when it is toasty on both sides and test doneness. The meat should not be pink inside. Be careful not to overcook the pork though. You want it to be tender and juicy.  Dry fried meat on newspaper of papers towels. 

Slice and serve with shredded cabbage. Serve with  or soysauce and mustard.

Pound the meat on both sides to tenderize.

Lightly flour the meat on both sides.  

Pat the meat using both hands to remove excess flour.

        Dip the floured meat into the egg.

Coat the meat with panko. Be generous.  Make sure you give it

an even coating.

Finish coating all the meat and put them on a plate.

Heat the oil to 350F.  The oil here is a little too high.  I was adjusting

my camera and the temperature went up  The bubbles should be  gentler.  

Remove from oil when toasted on both sides.  Dry the cutlet

on newspaper or paper towels.

Take out any crumbs in the oil before you put in the next

cutlet.  Do not put more than one or two at a time. The

pork should have plenty of room to float around in the oil.

Slice the cutlet about 1.5 -inches wide at a diagonal and

serve immediately with shredded cabbage, mustard

and or Soysauce.

MENU SUGGESTIONS: Tonkatsu, shredded cabbage and Steamed rice.