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.

First try at a batch of Home Bread!

When I Graduated Culinary School I had 2 big interests That I wanted to explore and Improve upon. Butchery /sausage making: Breads/Baking I'll Talk about the Butchering On a later post Cause this one is about "The First Loaf" or in my case two! I picked up a book at Barnes and Noble for $22 bucks That I think is A great book to have and I've only used it once!

(Here's the book on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Bernard-Claytons-Complete-Book-Breads/dp/0743287096/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1325311136&sr=8-1 ) I browsed Through the first few Pages where Bernard tells you about all the ingredients, different additives etc, Worth a read to better Understand Breads in general The first Recipe in the book is called "The First Loaf" His Recipes and Directions are broken down in the best possible way, He describes Each recipe so you can make it with one of 3 different methods: By Hand: My Mixer: By Food Processor: It also Tells you important times for each Step in the Margin, Like How long to knead/ rest/baking time etc. Like I said before I Think you should get this guys book if you Really want to learn how to make some bread. There is a recipe for Bacon Batter bread (YEAH I'm Gonna Make it!) Ok on for the recipe and stuff: The First Loaf: 5-6 cups All purpose Flour (i needed 6cups) 3 Tbsp Sugar 2 tsp Salt 1 Package Dry Yeast .25C nonfat dry milk (i didn't have this so I omitted it) 2C Hot water (120-130degrees) 3 Tbsp Shortening room temp This recipe makes 2 8x4 loaves or 3 7x3 Loaves Because I have a KitchenAid Those are the directions I will List

place 2C of the flour and all of the remaining Dry ingredients into a mixer with paddle attachment Add the water and beat til well combined

Add the shortening add 1C flour and mix 3 mins Switch to Dough hook Add The remaining Flour in 1/4 cup incriments untill the dough forms a soft elastic ball around the hook.

now you have to Knead it. Just turn your kitchenAid to 2 and knead for 10-15 mins

When it is well kneaded you should be able to grab a chuck and stretch it into a thin sheet without it breaking Place the dough in a Lightly Greased bowl covered with plastic

for an hour untill 2x in size Time to shape! Turn out dough onto a floured work area knead briefly to force out air bubbles Cut the dough in 2 or 3 pieces (depending on how many loaves you want) Roll the pieces into balls and rest covered with a towel for 3 mins press the ball into an oval and turn it so it looks like an O with the shorter sides against you (the shaping process is similar to Tri Folding a letter to put in an Envelope) fold the top 1/3 down pressing it into the dough then fold that down and press the dough together, placing it into the greased pan seam side down One thing I didn't do was make sure the shaped dough is as long as the pan so when it rose it didn't rise up along those sides of the pan because it was expanding to reach them instead of rising up. After They are Shaped and in the Pans cover them with a kitchen Towel in a warm place and let them rise 45 mins. Preheat your oven to 400 when the dough has been Rising 25 mins Baking Place the loaves in the oven for 10Mins drop the temp to 350 and rotate the loaves to get even heat. cook at 350 for 25-30 mins When golden brown (and 200degrees internal temp) The Loaves are done!

Put them on a cooling rack til they are room temp and you can Wrap them in a few layers of plastic and Freeze one or slice for sandwiches,

or feed it to ducks, Whatever Floats your boat! for soft tender crust: brush the crust with melted Butter, Plus it's better so it can only make the bread More Delicious!( my Right loaf is butter basted)