Tuesday, January 31, 2006

Will the tonkatsu inspire me?

I haven't gotten my groove back from my last trip back to Japan yet. I've been tired, busy, sick, and generally low in energy, and my desire to blog has been minimal. Just to give you an idea of how exhausted I feel, I haven't even had much of an appetite! Now, that's serious...

I'm trying to get myself more energized, but I am going to easy into blogging with this short tonkatsu post.

tonkatsu
Amazingly, this perfectly crispy yet moist golden-brown deep fried pork filet, otherwise known as tonkatsu (ton = pork, katsu = cutlet), was something I had at the Narita airport before all hell broke loose. I really liked the fact that it was resting on a cooling rack to prevent the bottom side from getting soggy - now, that's considerate service, fitting of a Japanese establishment!

The tonkatsu itself was quite thick yet crispy on the outside. One of the most common methods used in Japanese tonkatsu restaurants to achieve crispy perfection is to fry it once in really hot oil for the crunchy exterior, followed by a longer frying period in lower temperature oil to cook the inside some more. Most likely, this double-temperature frying method was at work here too.

Along with all-you-can-eat cabbage and rice, this plate of delicious pork reminded me of how the Japanese have really Japanified non-native foods to a whole new level of Japanese-ness...

Let's see if I can muster up enough energy to put together my post about my fugu dinner and more from Japan tomorrow...

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Was it the hirekatsu? I had that at Narita, and it was the best tonkatsu I've had.

Anonymous said...

I love that you can get good food in a Japanese airport, and it's no more expensive than an average department store meal.

Anonymous said...

Your entry brought back memories of this:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/fogindex/46974705/

Amazing meal, the unfortunate part is that my friend was dating the daughter of the owner of this restaurant and I probably can't go back with him, well comfortably at least. Maybe, you never know!

Sorry to hear about the airport nightmare!

Dan in SF

Anonymous said...

I really love tonkatsu -- it's absolutely my favorite cooked Japanese dish.