"Let's Cut the Red Dragon" Cutlet

Can you feel the excitement in the stale dungeon air, Dungeon Meshi Maniacs?  Your hairs standing on end in anticipation?  That's with good reason.  We are finally on Book 4 in the Dungeon Meshi story which means it is time to finally eat us a Red Dragon!  Sure, saving Falin was the whole start of this mission but that can only be done by killing the Red Dragon that ate her.  Which means we get to cook that Red Dragon and eat it ourselves!  Turnabout is fair play, DMMs.  So let's get...wait...what does that say?

"Let's Cut the Red Dragon" Cutlets!?  *sigh* No dragon this week. I let you down, DMMs.  I let the whole dungeon down.  BUT please cease from moving away from this page.  Trust me, this is a worthy detour and will be a great dish in the end.  See, before you tackle something as large as a dragon you need to make plans to fight least you end up like Falin.

I'm with Chilchuck here, DMMs.  He may be a deadbeat dad but he knows you have to be alive to continue being a deadbeat.  Fighting a dragon is serious business in any world.  Large fire breathing lizard?  Noooo thank you.  The rest of the group is dead set on making this the Red Dragon's last day, however.

Luckily Chilchuck makes a observation about some equipment they've had since the start.

Look, just because Senshi's pot and knife are made of super dwarven alloy is no reason for you to touch them!  He and that pot have a long history of cooking various monsters.  As we saw with the undine fight Senshi's pot can take a lot of damage and withstand high heat.  Both will be important in the upcoming fight!  Speaking of Senshi, while everyone is planning felonious assault he is up to important business.

Baking bread.  Yes, some people sharpen knives before a fight while others knead dough.  Senshi has a fantastic reason, DMMs.

You cannot fight on an empty stomach. What if your blood sugar drops in the middle of swinging an axe, DMMs?  Or if you are hangry while trying to come up with a strategy but are too distracted to think straight?  Senshi is once again correct, food up before going into battle. Longtime DMM's will know that we've already baked bread on this adventure. I know that you're here for new and exciting cooking so I don't want to do a repeat.  Thankfully Senshi also goes with a classic for the pre-fight meal. Fried cutlet!

DMMs, this may not be Red Dragon but this is still an exciting week for me.  For the first time during this project we are making something I excel at!  Oh?  You thought I was just a clumsy slime who slipped around the kitchen making messes?  Well, there is some truth to that but this is one dish that I'm very confident with.  I've heard over the years there are three dishes you should master to be a cook.  First, pick a cut of beef and a preparation technique that you like. Perfect it. Second, fried rice.  Third, deep frying a cutlet.  I'm not a steak person so I'm a little behind on the first one.  I'm getting better at fried rice.  But frying a cutlet?  You can't see me, DMMs, my time is now!  First, we start with the pork.

Pork is a great meat to have to deal with.  It's pretty forgiving no matter whatever you do to it.  The golden rule is to make sure you hit an internal temperature of 145 degrees.  Other than that, beat the stuffing out of pork!  Which is a good segway to the next step.  Beating the stuffing out of the pork.

Yeah, I don't own a kitchen mallet.  But a metal spoon works just as well.  Tenderizing the pork makes it easier to cut when the time comes.  Once you've worked out your rage on the chops it's time to relive the cooking process we used in the frog legs post. Assembly line cooking!

Let's review.  Start with flour on the right, then dip into the stirred egg in the bowl and coat with the breading on the left.  And what breading are we using today, DMMs?  One of the crispiest, tastiest and overall bestest (totally a word) breading of all, PANKO!

Love this stuff.  The box claims that it's great for air frying.  I don't know what that is but this week we are wet frying.  Before we get to that, check out the coated pork!

Looks delicious already!  Be sure to hold back that excitement, DMMs.  Otherwise you could get Trichinosis!  That's a nasty parasite you could get from undercooked pork.  It's not so much a concern these days since pork production is far cleaner.  But better safe than sorry. You need to hit that 145 degree internal temperature I mentioned earlier. What's the best way to hit that temp and keep the pork yummy? If you go hunting for a recipe you'll find TONS of ways to make fried cutlets.  Pick one that works best for you and master it.  Sure that means making a lot of pork cutlets over the years but trust me, it'll be worth it. The way I do that is to get that oil up to 350 degrees and slip the breaded pork in.

Fry one this side for 3 minutes, keeping the temperature as close to 350 as you can.  Flip after 3 minutes and cook on the other side for 2 minutes.  Once the time is up lay the cutlest on some paper towels to soak up any access oil.

Beautiful.  This is also the time to check that internal temp.  If it's 145 or above you are golden!  See, easy!  This week I decided to make tonkatsu which means you cut the cutlets into strips and cover with the greatest sauce mankind has ever created!

There it is, DMMs.  The wonder of wonders!  Bull-Dog Tonkatsu Sauce.  Do yourself and find some if you've never tried it.  It's the perfect sauce. Try it on anything!  Perfection aside you have serving options with Tonkatsu but I went with a standard and just put it over rice.

I'm proud of this one, DMMs.  A dish I'm good at!  And I got to share it with you.  This had made the project worthwhile.  Great things are still to come, however.  Because after enjoying cutlet leftovers next week we will finally be eating what you've all been waiting for, RED DRAGON! Get hungry, DMMs!