PORK KATSU WITH BRIOCHE

13/4/2015
Monday

 Just came back from a family trip to Seoul, Korea.

We booked this trip a year ago when my son decided to give me a 60th birthday present.   Of course, we also got to meet up with his in-laws and their kindness, generosity and time shown to us was indeed much appreciated.   It has been a joyous, wonderful and  heart-warming trip even though the temperature was below 15 C.

getting real close to the delicate white/pink sakura and 

brilliant splash of canola flowers fields  too

Once the photos had been sorted out, I will share them with you all.

But first I want to share this brioche which I baked for breakfast.  
Recipe from Rachel Khoo.

freshly baked brioche

Our dinner that night was pork katsu.   I used pork tenderloin and had them  thinly sliced by the pork vendor at the market (their knife is much better than mine).  Before cooking, season with just salt and black pepper. Dip into beaten egg and then coat with breadcrumbs.  I pan fry them till brown on both sides, and as they were thinly sliced just a matter of few minutes and as a test for readiness,  use a chopstick to poke the meat and which should go through easily if cooked.   

I served the Pork Katsu with some Japanese curry sauce.

As there were a few pieces leftover, I decided to make burgers for breakfast.  

Pork katsu and tomatoes only 

I had never baked any burger buns before!  Just the right time to start now since I had earlier got a recipe for brioche which I had wanted to try. 

The dough is very very wet and I was hand kneading it, so imagine the unslighty sticky  mess on my hands and on the tabletop.   It was de-stressing therapy and good exercise though.  But I would recommend using the stand mixer instead.  The dough was left to rise at room temperature for an hour before leaving it overnight in the fridge.   

Next morning got up at 4.15 am (yes,  now I know the hard work of the professional bakers) to finish the 2nd proofing and baking.  And by 5.30 am the freshly baked brioche came out of the oven and its fragrance filled the  whole house.... so good.  

I am surprised that the wet dough produce such a lovely soft bun and leaving it overnight makes it easily to shape the dough the next morning.   The buns are still soft and fluffy on  the 2nd day.