This is a simple 3-meal sequence for a week. Two-thirds (2/3s) of the meat is made into tonkatsu cutlets. First eaten with cabbage and white rice and typically served when hosting friends. The next batch becomes katsudon, with egg, onions, spring onions and white rice, eaten as a regular weeknight dinner. Then the 1/3rd batch will be used for Apple Balsamic Porkchops for the following week as another regular weeknight dinner.

I like this combo because it compresses all the preparation (breading) as well as the cooking (sous vide then frying) into one kitchen session. Then you end up with a lot of versatility in timing because you can prepare it the night before for tomorrows hosting event.

I like to serve this when we’re hosting families with kids (who like crispy stuff). It’s a good change from ordering fried chicken. Then at least there’s cabbage for some vegetables for the adults and kids if they are open to try.

There are plenty of recipes online which you can use for inspiration such as:

Here are my notes and preferences for making it:

Part 1 of the series is this:

  1. Purchase whole 1.5 to 2kg of porkchop from the market. I prefer the no-fat cut.
  2. Cut the entire piece into thirds. Or you can estimate each person will eat 150-250 grams of the tonkatsu. Then split the rest for the other dishes.

    (Example: If the number of people eating are 5, then 1kg will become tonkatsu, while 0.5kg will be for the apple balsamic chops.)
  3. Season and sous vide the pork. I usually refer to this Serious Eats Sous Vide Porkchop guide for timing.
  4. While the pork is on sous vide, use it to prepare the katsu breading, cabbage and white rice, tonkatsu sauce and so on.
  5. After the pork is cooked and cooled a bit, slice the part you’ll use for the apple balsamic chops and store it the freezer.
  6. Then the rest of the pork will be dried and prepared for breading. Slice each one to your preferred width and thickness. Dredge in flour, eggs, then breading. You can put it in the fridge afterwards. (You can put them in the freezer too if not using the next day.)
  7. Fry and enjoy!

Part 2:

  1. Any excess tonkatsu sauce and tonkatsu cutlets, and even cabbage can be turned into Katsudon. Normally Mae prefers to keep it as Tonkatsu (she’ll reheat in the oven to hopefully make it crispy again). For me, I’ll accept that it’s already soggy, so I turn it into Katsudon.

Part 3:

  1. The porkchop slices in the fridge can basically be used for anything.

Happy cooking, hosting and eating!