Cape Cod, while beautiful, is a bit of a foodie wasteland, especially in terms of international offerings. The other day I was craving Tonkatsu rather badly and knew that the only way that I was going to assuage that pain was by making my own.
This is not exactly authentic as I shallow fried the meat and the cut of meat is different than the original Japanese, but I do have Bulldog sauce in the fridge at all times and that went a long way in making this particular dinner taste like home.
2 pieces of thin cut, boneless, center cut pork loin
1/2 cup of panko bread crumbs
1 egg
1 Tbsp olive or vegetable oil
Salt to taste
Place the egg in a dish and whisk with a fork until yolk and white are combined.
Measure the breadcrumbs into a separate dish. Whisk in some salt.
Dredge the pork in the egg and then drop into the breadcrumbs. Turn and press down so that the panko adheres to the meat, until each side is covered with a uniform layer of the panko. Set aside on a plate. Repeat with the second piece of pork.
Place the pork dish, uncovered, in the fridge for an hour or two to ensure that the panko coating with stick to the meat.
When ready to cook, heat the oil until very hot in a frying pan. Lower the heat to medium and cook the pork for two minutes on each side until golden.
remove to a paper towel lined plate and serve after resting for a minute or two. I went the traditional route as illustrated below of steamed Japanese rice and cabbage salad (I also threw in some shiitake which I cooked in soy sauce and sugar for good measure), but this pork would also be amazing spritzed with lemon and served with steamed spinach or served in a sandwich of toasted bread with horseradish mayo and lots of shredded lettuce.
