Katsudon

Katsudon and miso soup

Katsudon (Japanese: カツ丼) is a popular Japanese food, a bowl of rice topped with a deep-fried pork cutlet, egg, vegetables, and condiments.

The dish takes its name from the Japanese words tonkatsu (for pork cutlet) and donburi (for rice bowl dish).

It has become a modern tradition for Japanese students to eat katsudon the night before taking a major test or school entrance exam. This is because "katsu" is a homophone of the verb katsu (勝つ), meaning "to win" or "to be victorious". It is also a famous gag of Japanese police films: many people think that suspects will speak the truth with tears when they have eaten katsudon and are asked, "Did you ever think about how your mother feels about this?" Even nowadays, the gag of "We must eat katsudon while interrogating" is popular in Japanese films.

Variations

Variations include sauce katsudon (with tonkatsu sauce or Worcestershire sauce, a various regions such as Fukui, Kōfu, Gunma, Aizuwakamatsu and Komagane), demi katsudon or domi katsudon (with demi-glace and often green peas, a specialty of Okayama), shio-katsudon (with salt, another Okayama variety), shōyu-dare katsudon (with soy sauce, Niigata style), and miso-katsudon (a favorite in Nagoya). Beef (gyū-katsu) and chicken (oyakodon) can substitute for the pork. Katsukarē is a variation with curry sauce instead of the usual egg.

Preparation

A popular way of preparing the tonkatsu for the katsudon dish is to dip the cutlet in flour, followed by egg, then dipping in panko breadcrumbs, and skillet frying.

• 
• 
• 
• 

See also

• Donburi
• Unadon
• Tonkatsu
• Gyūdon

External links

• Katsudon Recipe
• Naze Torishirabe ni wa Katsudon ga Deru no ka? (なぜ取り調べにはカツ丼が出るのか？), Media Factory (December 21, 2010). ISBN 978-4840136624