00:00The best katsu I have ever made, that is what my reader wrote to me.
00:04I am Japanese but I stopped using storeboard panko for katsu years ago.
00:09The best crust comes from bread you already have.
00:12Today I'm going to prove it.
00:14Four different breads, four identical cutlets, one winner.
00:18And the result surprised even me.
00:20Grab a piece of bread, tear it into rough chunks and drop them into a food processor.
00:27Once it for about 30 seconds, normal.
00:31And stop while the crumbs are still big and craggy.
00:35That is essentially fresh panko.
00:38Look at those big jugged flakes.
00:40And here is the first secret to great tonkatsu.
00:43You just made the one part of it that everyone thinks they cannot make at home.
00:48Here's the truth about tonkatsu.
00:50A good pork chop is sold in just about every country, so the meat is rarely the problem.
00:56The only piece of this dish that feels Japanese is the panko.
01:01But more or less, panko is just bigger breadcrumbs.
01:04The thing that is actually special is when it's nama panko, which is fresh breadcrumbs.
01:10And fresh crumbs are something you can make in your own kitchen from a loaf that is already sitting
01:16on your counter.
01:18If you have Japanese style shokupan, great, but it doesn't have to be.
01:22So I am making four kinds today.
01:25And at the end, I'm ranking all four.
01:27From my least favourite to the one I would fry again tonight.
01:32I've got some baguette and a country style sourdough loaf.
01:37Tone and post exactly the same way.
01:40And to compare, I also have regular shokupan.
01:43And next to my three homemade crumbs, the thing most people reach for, dry store-boiled panko.
01:51Today, I'm frying one cutlet in each, so we can settle this crumb question once and for all.
01:59Go ahead and place your bets.
02:01Now the poke.
02:02Take your chop straight from the fridge, cold because a cold surface grips the coating better
02:08than a warm one.
02:10Lay a chop flat and run a sharp knife along the seam where the white fat cut meets the pink
02:16meat.
02:17Shallow cuts about one centimeter apart, then two or three short necks into any muscle lines
02:23running through the middle.
02:25Or simply, a meat tenderizer.
02:28Those cuts are no decoration.
02:30Fat and lean meat shrink at different speeds the moment they hit oil.
02:35And without these relief cuts, the cutlet curls up like a taco and lifts half its crust clean out of
02:42the oil.
02:43Score it and it stays flat and fries even.
02:47A quick word on which pork to buy because this is where a lot of home tonkatsu quietly goes wrong.
02:54My favourite is a boneless rib chop, the rib end of the loin.
02:59It has the better marbling so it fries up the juiciest and tastes the best.
03:04The other one I have here is a center cut loin chop.
03:08It's leaner, you can find it in any supermarket.
03:11And the only rule is do not trim off the fat cap.
03:15That is where the richness lives.
03:18If all you can get is pork tend loin, it works, but it's lean and dries up fast.
03:23Check out how I tackle this on my Hidekatsu recipe on my website.
03:29And skip the bone in chops and T-bones.
03:32The bone makes them almost impossible to fry evenly.
03:35Pat both sides of the pork bone dry with paper towels until the surface feels dry to the touch.
03:42Any water left here tends to steam in the oil and blows the coating right off the meat.
03:49Now pound it with a flat side of a meat mallet or similar.
03:54Work from the center outward until the chop is an even 2cm thick, about 3 quarters of an inch.
04:02I leave these 2 alone because I already used the meat tenderizer.
04:08Then a light, even pinch of salt and pepper on both sides.
04:13Set up 3 wide, shallow trays in a row.
04:17Plain flour in the first.
04:19In the second, crack 1 egg and add 1 tablespoon of whole milk and 1 teaspoon of cooking oil.
04:26Then whisk it smooth, but stop before it forms.
04:30That teaspoon of oil builds a thin barrier as it fries so the coating stops sliding off
04:36and the pork keeps its juices sealed inside.
04:39The milk browns the crust deeper and richer through the mealet reaction.
04:44In the third tray goes the pan cup.
04:48And this is the fun part because I have 4 of them lined up.
04:52Lay a chop in the flour and dust both sides in a thin film.
04:56Then lift it and tap the excess off.
05:00The flour is just a dry primer for the egg to grab,
05:04and too much of it turns into a gummy, pasty layer that actually weakens the coating.
05:10Now into the egg.
05:12Coat both sides, lift it and let the excess drip back into the tray.
05:16Then lay it in the pan cup.
05:19Heap the crumbs on top and press gently with your palm,
05:22full, even contact without crushing the flakes flat.
05:27Those flakes are full of tiny air pockets, and if you crush them,
05:32the crust fries are dense and greasy instead of light and crisp.
05:36I am breading all 4 cuts lets the same way, one in each crumb,
05:41so the only thing that changes is the bread.
05:45Set them on a rack and leave them alone for a few minutes so the flour and egg can set
05:50into one film.
05:52That short pose is the difference between a crust that stays put and one that slides off in the oil.
05:59Now the oil.
06:00Pour a neutral oil into a deep, heavy pot.
06:03Enough that the cutlet will float freely without touching the bottom.
06:08The rice brown is my go-to, but canola or fishbowl oil are both fine.
06:14None of them fight the flavor of the pork.
06:16Bring it up to 170 degrees Celsius over medium-high heat.
06:21A deep pot with plenty of oil is your best defense against the temperature crashing when the meat goes in.
06:28Now in case you're wondering, this is a tempura pot with a built-in thermometer.
06:33If you're interested, check out my cooking tool article for more info.
06:37No thermometer.
06:38Dip a dry wooden chopstick into the oil and watch the tip.
06:42Around 170 degrees Celsius, small bubbles form steadily and rise at a calm pace.
06:48Big, fast, aggressive bubbles means it's too hot, and almost none at all means give it more time.
06:55When the oil is up to temperature, hold the breaded cutlet close to the surface
07:00and slide it in gently along the edge of the pot away from you.
07:06Fry about 4 minutes a side, 8 minutes total, adjusting a little if your cutlet is thicker
07:12or thinner than 2cm, and do not touch it for the first 30 seconds.
07:18The coating needs the quiet window to set and secure onto the meat.
07:23Fry only one or two at a time because every cold cutlet you add pulls the oil temperature down fast.
07:31I am frying all four separately, one after another. Same oil, same heat, so it's fair fight.
07:39When a cutlet is deep golden, lift it onto a wire rack and let it rest for a full 5
07:45minutes.
07:45Do not skip this, it is the last cooking step. The carryover heat keeps gently finishing to center,
07:52and the juices settle back into the meat instead of flooding your cutting pot the second you cut in.
07:58While the rest, make the sauce. In a small bowl, whisk one tablespoon of Worcestershire sauce,
08:04half a tablespoon of ketchup, half a tablespoon of Japanese soy sauce, a pinch of brown sugar,
08:10and half a tablespoon of toasted sesame seeds until it turns glossy and sugar dissolves.
08:17Taste it, push it toward more ketchup if you want it sweeter, or more soy if you want it sharper.
08:23That is the classic Tonka sauce, and if you want to go further, I have a whole video on three
08:29different ones
08:29on the card on your screen.
08:32Now the moment this whole video has been building toward,
08:364 cutlets, 4 grams, 1 ranking, from my least favourite to the winner.
08:41Drag a knife across each crust and listen, and look at the flakes.
08:46In fourth place, and this genuinely surprised me, the shock pan.
08:50It is light, but it also drank up more oil than any other crust here, so next to the others,
08:57it had no single thing it did best.
09:00In its defence, I pulsed it a little too fine, and my oil ran a touch hot for a stretch,
09:07so it browned darker than it deserved. It has earned a rematch, but today it falls.
09:14In third place, the Drag Panko, exactly what I expected.
09:17The most neutral crust of the full, nothing wrong, nothing memorable.
09:23The one thing it truly does differently is that it absorbs less oil than fresh crumbs.
09:29Call that less greasy if you're being kind, or less juicy if you're being honest.
09:34And look, if you live in Japan, Drag Panko is genuinely convenient, but abroad,
09:39you do not need to pay a steep price for a bag that will sit forgotten in your pantry.
09:46In second place, the Baguette.
09:48This crust is one of a kind. So hard and jagged, it feels almost dangerous.
09:53A deep crack like crunch none of the others can touch.
09:57I personally like it, but it is divisive. And honestly, a cutlet armoured in the crunch
10:04drift so far from Tonkatsu that you could treat it as a slightly different dish.
10:10Which means the winner is the sourdough.
10:13Texture, colour, flavour is swept all three.
10:16Against today's contenders, it's easier to call it perfect than to name it floe.
10:21If you fry just one cutlet from this video, make it this one.
10:26One honest note, because of matters, this ranking is my palette.
10:30The four were fried one after another, not side by side.
10:34The oil got darker with every round, and how fine your pulse to crowns changed a lot.
10:40So take it as a reference.
10:43And this is the real point of all this.
10:45Any bread you have is fine.
10:47I even tried with an English muffin before, and it was still great.
10:53Need gluten-free panko? Use your favourite gluten-free bread.
10:56Or if you prefer whole grain or brown bread, go for it.
11:00That's the beauty of making your own. You get to choose.
11:04Now slice. Set the rested cutlet on a stable board.
11:08Take your sharpest knife and press straight down in one clean stroke instead of sewing back and forth.
11:14Sewing drags the crust sideways and tears it off the meat, scattering crumbs everywhere.
11:21One firm downward press glides through the crunch and the tender pork together and keeps those clean layers intact.
11:29Cut into strips about 2cm wide, straight across the grain, so every piece is easy to bite through.
11:38Reassemble the strips back into the shape of the cutlet, and slide it onto the plate.
11:43Next to a big mound of cold crisp shredded cabbage and a little dish of the sauce.
11:49The sauce on the side, and a bowl of hot rice, and perhaps miso soup to make it a full
11:54set.
11:56And this is my tonkatsu. This is what a cracking golden cutlet looks like made from a loaf of bread.
12:04Make this tonight. Google tonkatsu tachi for the full printable recipe with exact measurements and timing.
12:10Want even more delicious recipes? Grab my free cookbook from the link in the description.
12:16Ok, let's go over the ingredients one more time, and if you're ready to cook, grab the written instructions
12:22by clicking the full recipe box with a picture that's about to pop up on your screen.
12:26Tap the recipe card on your screen for the full, printable version with exact measurements,
12:32every timing, and notice for getting each step right.
12:35Next time I'm making coffee jelly. See you then.
