Meat fab part something..... KATSUDON!

 This is one of my favorite things to eat since i was a kid, I mean who doesn't love fried pork!?
katsudon is something my mom learned how to make In Japan when we were living there, which may be part of the reason why I really like it.

We have a recipe in some cookbook which is kinda the one i followed except for in the final preparation on the  ingredients. this is a pretty simple recipe it takes a little bit of prep but it is soooo worth it


I started by  breading the  pork cutlets
It's simple 3 stage breading,  Seasoned flour / beaten egg/ then Panko Bread crumbs

 most people  follow "wet hand, Dry hand" keeping one hand  to take the cutlet from the egg and place it in the  panko , the other hand placing pork in the flour moving it to the egg and removing it from the panko and placing it on the rack

The Theory behind  breading these first, is that the Crust will settle and  after being fried it will stay attached to the pork better

Nexted I prepped the onions for the Sweet onion Soy sauce. I thinly sliced 2 onions

I make a lot more of the sauce than you would normally need because the sauce is good on just plain rice  too and I am all about  getting more than one use out of one  product/prep

 Sauce ingredients:2 cups Broth -3/4 cup  soy sauce and 3/4 sugar - 1/2 Mirin .
Bring the ingredients to a simmer then add the onions

 The onions will  turn transparent  after cooking  while the  other items are cooked

 

You can cook the Cutlets one of two ways,  you can use about an inch of oil and "deep" fry them

or use a little over a quarter inch of oil, Fry one side then flip  and repeat.
The oil should be like 350, I normally just drop in a panko breadcrumb and when it bubbles it's hot enough to fry.

 Drain on a cooking rack over a layer of paper towels on a sheet tray

because I have a lot of cutlets to cook, I  stored the cutlets in a 175 oven to keep the  crust crisp while I fry the remainder

Crunchy Toasty Pork

 Completed Onion Sauce

While the last batch of pork is frying, Scramble  some eggs(6ish for 4 servings)

Construction!: Bowl of rice( you've seen how to make this)

place scrambled eggs, Fresh peas , A ladle of sauce(extra onions for me)  then Sliced  Cutlet

The book we adapted this recipe from  says to cut the pork and  heat it in the sauce in a skillet coating each piece then adding the peas for a bit before pouring that on top of the rice, But that could lead to the Pork getting soggy  and nobody likes that!

Hoppin John

Hoppin john Is Supposed to be a lucky meal to have on New Years it's a pretty simple meal to make and Pretty filling aswell
Ingredients: 1# Dry Black eyed peas
1 ham hock/ bacon
1 onion
1 bell pepper
2 cups rice
2-2.5C Stock or Water
Green onions

Spinach ingredients:
1# baby spinach.
1 shallot, minced
1Tbsp mincedGarlic
olive oil or bacon fat
a few dashes of Red wine Vinegar( I used Garlic wine cause it's what we had)
Ok soooo here it goes
Soak the peas overnight in the fridge

after you strain the peas start a pot of water(or stock) and gently simmer the ham hocks untill the meat can easily be separated

take the hock out of the liquid (we'll get to that later) add the Peas and continue to simmer

pull all the meat from the ham hock, Shredding it a bit then return it to the pot with the peas.

Saute the onions in a bit of Bacon fat, I keep a jar of bacon fat in my fridge I suggest you do too!

When the onions are cooked a bit add the Bell pepper(reserve this mixture)

cook the rice in water/or stock ( I use my rice cooker just to save stove space)

when the rice is done add it with the peas, Add the onion/bell pepper mixture now too, and any other spices, season with salt and pepper.

I also cooked some Spinach this is easy Heat Bacon fat (or oil) saute shallots/garlic

add half the spinach and let it wilt down, Put it in another bowl while you start wilting the other half then combine Season with salt pepper and some of the vinegar

And you're done

You can mix the Spinach with the hoppin john or eat it as a side.

Fresh pasta with Bolognese Sauce

The day after Christmas I ground up about 7 lbs of Pork Butt and made some Chorizo Style sausage. About 5# went into Casings and got Linked and Frozen. The other 2# got Sauteed up and Used for Dinner on the 28th WARNING: My Recipes are loose. Cooking can be an experiment. Add What you like, till you reach a taste profile you like This recipe and the many to follow are only a Guide of sorts, Keep that in mind!
Bolognese Sauce(about 4Qts):
2# chorizo(or any sausage, homemade or store bought
4 28oz Cans of tomatoes (I used 2xDiced 2xPureed)
1 16 oz can Fire roasted Tomatoes
2 onions
2 Tbsp Minced Garlic
.75 bunch Basil, Chopped
2 Tbsp Bacon fat

First I Cooked the Chorizo then removed it , Added the bacon fat and sauteed the garlic and onions til Translucent.
Toss all Them Tomatoes in there! and Add back the Chorizo.
Coook for a bit to let all the flavors Mingle.
I kept about a quart for dinner , Then Cooled and Froze the rest for Later Dinners

Fresh pasta:


1# Ap Flour
4-6 Eggs Depending on size( I used Eggs from our chickens , they are small so I used 5 and an extra yolk

The pasta is easy , Bring it all together and knead it for a bit. then I let it rest wrapped in plastic for 30 mins
Thankfully I have a manual Pasta roller So I was able to roll the dough a bit and feed it through the machine in 1/4 batches down to a #3 on the machine then ran it through the linguini cutter attachment. then floured them a bit and spread them on a sheet tray while I finished the other batches .


I got a 6 quart pot of water boiling and salted then Tested a noodle.

They took about 3-5 mins to cook I took them out Quickly drained them, and tossed the noodles in a bowl with the warmed sauce
Topped with Chiffonade Basil and Grated Parm


Meal One Complete!