Tonkatsu sauce is insanely delicious (and this is how you make it)

Tonkatsu is the Japanese name for breaded and deep-fried pork fillet: basically their schnitzel, but really hardcore completely submerged in fat (not simply fried in a skillet in a knob of butter, no way). Insane! You may also have come across the chicken katsu sandwich, which is deep-fried chicken (thigh) fillet on white bread; also so delicious it’ll make you swoon…

This is all so delicious in no small part because of the tonkatsu sauce, which you can absolutely enjoy with chicken too. Or vegetables! Go wild! It’s easy to make yourself.

Beautiful adaptation

The name tonkatsu derives from the French ‘cotelette’ and the English ‘cutlet’ – yes, the chop. The English ‘cutlet’ would be pronounced in Japanese as katsuretsu, and was adapted to katsu and combined with ton (the pronunciation of the Japanese character for pork). The beginning of the twentieth century saw the rise of eateries selling this in Tokyo’s Ginza district.

No katsu without sauce

The producer that has been making the sauce so beloved here since 1905 even claims that without the sauce, tonkatsu might never have become so popular (and believe us, it’s very popular in Japan). According to the makers of Bull-Dog sauce, available in the Netherlands at many well-stocked Asian supermarkets and Japanese shops, the typically Japanese flavors in the sauce were the bridge needed to get Japanese people to appreciate these fairly typical European food preparations.

Flavor explosion

The sauce is based on English Worcestershire sauce, but adapted to the Japanese palate. That means it gets sweetness from preserved fruit such as plums, apples and lemons, freshness from vinegar, and savoriness from vegetables such as onion and carrot. Add more than ten types of herbs and spices, including ginger, cloves, cinnamon and sage, and you have a rich, umami-packed, fantastic sauce in a bottle that perfectly balances the richness and greasiness of deep-fried meat or poultry.

Not one-dimensional

But can you also imagine how delicious this would be with an earthy roasted vegetable such as pumpkin, or parsnip? Or with the bitter crunch of crispy, seared Brussels sprouts? Well, we can, and we highly recommend it! So even if you may not reach the lofty heights of completely homemade tonkatsu sauce, we can certainly give you a recipe for a very good approximation!

How to make tonkatsu sauce yourself

Mix:

• 8 tbsp ketchup
• 2 tbsp soy sauce or tamari
• 1 tbsp brown sugar
• 1 tbsp mirin
• 1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
• 1 tsp oyster sauce
• 1 tsp grated ginger
• 1/2 clove garlic, grated

Give yourself a pat on the back, use what you need and store the rest in a tightly sealed container or jar in the refrigerator.

Also read:

• 7 of the most delicious schnitzels from around the world
• Here’s how to stock your Japanese pantry
• Italian pasta from Japan: the best of both worlds