Most people would consider tonkatsu to be one of the best Japanese dishes. When you visit Japanese restaurants you can almost always find it on the menu like sushi. Tonkatsu is a must-try if you enjoy Japanese cuisine. It is a popular and authentic dish from Japan.

As someone who likes Japanese food, this is one of my favourite dishes and I consider it one of the best Japanese dishes.

What is Tonkatsu?

Tonkatsu is made of a Japanese pork cutlet that has been coated with beaten eggs and breadcrumbs and then is fried. Restaurants usually serve it with miso soup, shredded cabbage and tonkatsu sauce. The sauce tastes kind of like Japanese style barbeque sauce.

I’ve read online somewhere that the Japanese sometimes eat tonkatsu as good luck. I’m not sure if there’s truth to that or not.

Tonkatsu History

In the 19th Century Meiji period, Japan wanted to make changes to be seen as a modern nation. One of the things they adopted from Western culture was a lot of food related practices.

côtelette de veau, french cuisine, japanese food with western influence, tonkatsu origins — *Côtelette de Veau* | Photo Credits: Radio-Canada

A recipe that was adopted was a french dish called côtelette de veau. The dish is a veal cutlet covered in breadcrumbs and then pan-frying it in butter.

Rengatei, a Western-style restaurant in Ginza, adopted this French dish. However the chefs thought that the cutlet was way too oily for the Japanese palate.

They made these Japanese cooking changes to the dish:

Instead of pan-frying it in butter, the chefs decided to “tempura” it, a Japanese frying technique. They deep-fried the pork cutlet in hot oil instead of pan-frying it in butter.
They used panko bread crumbs instead of normal breadcrumbs.
Instead of expensive veal meat, they used cheaper pork.

And as a result in 1899 the tonkatsu debuted on the Rengatei menu, the chefs named it just “pork cutlet”. ‘Ton‘ is pork, while katsu is the shortened form of the Japanese word ‘katsuretsu‘ meaning the english word cutlet. Together it becomes pork cutlet.

The dish evolved and added more variations over time because of the restaurant’s lack of cooks.

Variations of Tonkatsu

Katsu Sandwich (Katsu Sando)

As the name implies it’s a tonkatsu sandwich. The bread used is usually Japanese milk bread. It is easy to eat, and can be found in restaurants and even at the konbini.

Katsu Curry

The Katsu Curry is a combination of the ‘katsu’ with Japanese curry. It can either be a chicken or pork cutlet.

Katsudon

Katsudon is a combination of the ‘katsu’ dish and donburi, which means rich bowl meal. Knowing the meaning, you can guess that the dish is just a tonkatsu laid on top of a bowl of rice. There is usually vegetables and egg added on top as well.

Tonkatsu Secrets: How to Make a Good Tonkatsu

Use Quality Ingredients

Just like any other dish, you have to use quality ingredients to get the best results. From the panko to the pork itself.

Let It Rest

I’ve seen online that you should take the tonkatsu out of the oil a little undercooked and let it rest. The carryover cooking will cook the pork to perfection.