Katsudon - A Midnight Diner Season 1 - Episode 6 Inspiration
Holy Moly, when another food oriented friend casually mentioned last week, "you like Japanese food, I think you would like this show," I added her suggestion to my iphone's reminder list of "things to watch," and promptly forgot about it.
A day or two later, I remembered my list, and scrolled through the ridiculous amount of reminders to find: "Midnight Diner - Netflix" finally revealing itself on my tiny phone screen. Settling in with a glass of wine, a warm blanket and my television, I accessed the Netflix search engine and voilá - there it was - complete with a cryptic description that went something like - A man with a scarred face runs a diner that is only open from midnight to 7 am. That was enough for me to push play.
I instantly wished I was sipping on sake or at least a Sapporo as I began watching Master begin chopping, cleaning and then placing his noren (curtain) and clicking on the lantern of his tiny diner with a horseshoe shaped counter of maybe 10 seats. It reminded me of a very similar experience I had years ago while in Harajuku - I rounded a tiny alley corner at dusk and a yakitori-ya owner stepped outside, rolled up his door, and pulled the string on his paper lantern, the universal sign for "we are open" in Japan. Of course I had to go and experience the yakitori there, even though I had gorged myself on a multiple course kaiseki lunch just a few hours before...
I instantly loved the look of Midnight Diner, with its dark wood, cluttered Japanese hutch and tiny kitchen in an old back alley off the glitzy neon of the Shinjuku area of Tokyo. Master's menu has only one item on the menu: pork miso soup, and of course, tea, beer and sake of which each patron has a limit of 3, as this is a diner and not a bar, after all. Master is the narrator, and he explains at the beginning that he will make his patrons anything they want, as long as he has the ingredients. The repetitive cast of strange characters is quintessentially Japanese, and especially considering they are coming in for a meal and a few drinks on their way home from somewhere else, but clearly in the middle of the night. Each person has a particular request for their own version of comfort food, which often catches on with the other patrons as they salivate while watching them take their first bites. Think delicious custom cooked sweet omelet (tamago) or cat rice (rice with freshly shaved bonito flakes), or octopus weiners (it's a thing!) or butter rice (rice with butter and a dot of soy sauce) or Yakisoba with fried egg, or, in the case of this blogpost, Katsudon - breaded pork cutlet with sauce over rice.
I am in love with this show! Being into Japanese food, and feeling fairly comfortable making or trying my hand at every item Master has made so far (for the record, I'm only at the beginning of Season 2) - I am setting out to make most of these common Japanese home dishes. A bonus, at the end of most episodes, a few members of the cast will break the 4th wall, and give tips on how to make the particular dish that was featured.
I couldn't stop thinking about Katsudon, and so set out to recreate the dish in my own Northern California Kitchen.
Ingredients
For the Pork Cutlet:
1 Pork Shoulder Chop (or other favorite cut), bones removed, pounded slightly
Panko Bread Crumbs
All Purpose Flour
1 Egg scrambled with a little water
Salt and Pepper
Frying Oil for 1/2" in bottom of skillet (large enough to fit pork chop comfortably)
For the Sauce
1/2 cup Dashi
1 Tablespoon Soy Sauce
1 Tablespoon Mirin
1 Tablespoon Sugar
1 - 2 1/4" slices Yellow onion (about 1/4 onion)
1 stalk green onion, cut into 1" pieces
For the Bowl:
1 - 1 1/2 cups cooked short grain rice
1 egg, slightly scrambled
Directions
1) Prepare rice according to stovetop or rice cooker directions. Fluff and keep on warm until ready to use.
2) Combine all ingredients for the sauce and place in a small saute pan (I used a 7" pan) with a lid. Don't turn it on yet, but have it ready. Note: this pan should approximately be the same size as the diameter of the top of your serving bowl so that the finished contents fit perfectly over the top of your rice.
3) For the pork, cut out whatever bones may be present, and using a meat tenderizing mallet, pound the pork to around 1/4 - 1/2" thick, this tenderizes and also gets it to the correct thickness for the frying. Sprinkle the pork on one side with salt and pepper. Your goal is for a pounded piece of pork about 3" x 6".
4) Prepare a three pan of breading method: flour, egg, then panko. This is best accomplished using three shallow bowls or small vessels. Add a little water to the egg and scramble it up. Dredge the pork cutlet in the flour, then coat with egg, then press into the panko, coating entire cutlet. Reserve the scrambled egg from the breading, as we will use this later in step 8.
5) Turn oil on high until a few grains of panko sizzle when added. Then, turn it down to medium high so the cutlet doesn't cook too quickly. Add cutlet and cook until light golden brown, flipping (with tongs) so both sides cook evenly. About 2 minutes on each side. Remove to a rack to drain the oil.
6) Immediately turn on your onion/sauce mixture. Cook covered on med-high about 3 minutes until the onions begin to wilt.
7) While the onions are cooking, place your desired amount of rice into a large soup bowl/ramen bowl. Slice the katsu crosswise into 1" strips.
8) Remove lid from onions, place katsu slices on top of onions (the mixture should still be quite soupy) - immediately pour over slightly beaten egg, covering katsu. Add additional egg you used for breading. Cover and let cook for 30 seconds.
9) Immediately pour contents of pan over bowl of rice, sliding the egg/katsu mixture over the top. ENJOY!
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