Photo: Lucky Pilgrim
An initiative set up by Lucky Pilgrim, The Cook Down creates collections of easy-to-follow recipes from a range of London chefs. Supporting food businesses, the majority of profits from each recipe collection go directly to the featured chefs and founders. As well as offering a delivery service, Japanese-born Angelo Sato – the chef behind Yatai and Omoide – has shared an assortment of recipes for his best loved dishes, including his hakata ramen katsu sando, sushi sriracha bowl, katsu curry, and more.
Makes two – ten sandwiches
Eggs, 2 (1 per portion)
Soy sauce, 40ml (per 2 eggs)
Mirin, 40ml (per 2 eggs, add 1 tbsp of sugar if you don’t have)
Water, 80ml
Rolled, skin-on pork belly, 1kg
Water, 2 litres
Soy sauce, 200ml
Ginger, one thumb-sized piece (approx. 30g)
Onion, ½, quartered,
Sugar, 150g
Eggs, 2, beaten
Cornflour, 60g
Breadcrumbs, 150g
Pork katsu, 2 (above)
Pork sauce, 25-30g (above)
Thick, soft white bread, 4 Slices
Pickled daikon, 8 strips (other radishes can be used as an alternative)
Dijon mustard, 10g
Ramen eggs, 2 (above)
Combine the soy sauce, mirin (or sugar) and water to create a cold broth.
Boil the eggs for 6 minutes for medium eggs, 7 minutes for large eggs. Place the eggs straight into cold water to cool down.
Once cool enough, peel the eggs and put them into the egg broth for 24-36 hours.
Place the pork into a deep baking pan. Pour in the water so that the pork belly is completely covered. Add the soy sauce, minced ginger and quartered half an onion. Cover the baking pan with tin foil, wrapping tightly.
Bake at 150c for four hours, remove the foil and bake for one more hour, turning the pork every now and then.
After the five hours have passed, you should be able to put a knife through it like butter. Leave the joint to cool in the pan and put the whole thing in the fridge to set overnight if possible.
Remove the joint from the pan. Pour the liquid from the pan through a fine strainer into a saucepan on a medium to low heat. Reduce until you have an intense sweet and salty pork sauce.
Cut the string off the pork joint and slice the joint into 2cm thick pieces. Add a pinch of salt to the cornflour. Dip in the egg then coat in the breadcrumbs and set aside.
Heat 500g of oil in a deep frying pan to 180c. Fry the pork katsu for 2.5 minutes on each side. Remove from the oil, draining off as much as possible. Set aside.
Remove the crusts from the bread and lightly toast. Spread the Dijon mustard on one slice of the toast and pork sauce on the other. Working quickly so that the bread doesn’t get soggy, line four strips of daikon on the mustard side of the toast.
Using a 3cm ring cutter, punch a hole in the centre of the pork katsu and place it onto the side of the toasted bread that has the pork sauce on it. Drizzle some pork sauce on the katsu.
Slice the top and bottom off the ramen egg, ensuring you don’t cut into the yolk. Slide the egg into the hole you made in the pork. Place the mustard and daikon layered bread on top and lightly press down.
To present properly, cut the sando in half with a very sharp bread knife and stand facing up. Serve with some pickles, cabbage and tonkatsu sauce.
Recipe adapted from ‘The Cookdown & Mission Sato Present Mission Lockdown’ by Angelo Sato, available to purchase from thecookdown.com.
