Tonkatsu is a dish that is loved all over Japan. While tonkatsu is usually served with sauce, in Aichi Prefecture, "miso katsu," which is eaten with miso sauce, is a much-loved dish. It is so popular that there are almost no restaurants that do not serve miso katsu, and it is one of the dishes known as "Nagoya cuisine."

Let's explore the characteristics and history of misokatsu.

Characteristics of miso katsu

The freshly fried pork cutlet is drenched in miso sauce, and the rich aroma of soybean miso fills your mouth. It has a different flavor from the sauce, making a big impact. It's so delicious that you'll want to have seconds of rice.

The miso sauce used for misokatsu is made by adding sugar and mirin to bean miso such as Hatcho miso to make it sweet, and thinning it with dashi. The sauce composition varies depending on the restaurant, but it is generally a sweet and spicy flavor.

There are various levels of spreading, from thin to thick. Thin miso sauce soaks into the batter well. Thick miso sauce keeps the batter crispy, but still lets you taste the miso.

Japanese restaurants use bonito stock to dilute it, while Western restaurants use bouillon. The soybean miso used in miso sauce is also called red miso because of its reddish-brown color. It looks salty from its color, but it has a sweet taste and the rich flavor of the red miso fills your mouth.

Soybean miso is essential for miso katsu

Miso katsu is topped with a sauce based on soybean miso, which can be considered Aichi's local miso. Soybean miso is mainly produced in the Tokai region (Aichi, Mie, and Gifu prefectures), with Aichi producing a lot of it.

Soybean miso has a long history, with records showing that it was presented to the Imperial Court from Owari Province, which is now in the western part of Aichi Prefecture, in 730 A.D. Later, during the Heian period, it is said that there were miso specialty stores in the capital, Heian-kyo.

Unlike rice miso and barley miso, which are made by combining koji made from rice or barley with steamed or boiled soybeans and salt, soybean miso is made by turning soybeans directly into koji. Soybean koji is made by crushing steamed soybeans into balls and growing Aspergillus oryzae on them. Add salt and water to the soybean koji and you're done!

Made from simple ingredients, soybean miso has a rich, full-bodied flavor with little sweetness. When rice miso is boiled, the aroma disappears, but the longer soybean miso is boiled, the more the aroma stands out and the more delicious it becomes.

In addition, soybean miso goes well with meat and seafood, and is said to bring out the flavor of each. It makes sense that the rich, full-bodied soybean miso goes perfectly with pork cutlet. Miso cutlet is an appealing dish that allows you to enjoy pork cutlet with a different flavor from the sauce.

The history of misokatsu

There are various theories about the origins of misokatsu, but we will introduce two of the most common ones.

The story that it originated from a food stall

It is said that the origins of misokatsu date back to just after the end of the war, when customers who were enjoying alcohol and kushikatsu as snacks at food stalls would dip the kushikatsu in the miso used in "doteni."

The owner of Tori-ya, which was founded in 1948, then suggested, "If you leave the kushikatsu deep-fried, it will get cold, so why don't you warm it up by adding miso?"

It is said that kushikatsu dipped in miso became popular and spread, and this led to the creation of misokatsu, which is pork cutlet dipped in miso.

The theory that it originated from Tendon

Ajidokoro Kanae, founded in 1949, was inspired by tendon to create misokatsu. At the time, the owner ran a soba noodle shop in Asakusa, serving tendon, but returned to Nagoya at the end of the war. Inspired by the sauce used in tendon, he thought, "If it can be done with soy sauce, it should be possible with miso," and so he created a sauce using Hatcho miso, a Nagoya specialty.

At the time, Ajidokoro Kanae mainly served traditional Japanese cuisine, and offered miso katsudon only for lunch. However, the restaurant did not even have a menu, and customers had to order verbally. The person who came up with the idea for miso katsudon was unsure of what to call it, and did not have a proper name.

Therefore, they would always ask customers, "Would you like a miso katsudon?" One day, a customer ordered it as "miso katsudon," and the name "miso katsu" was born and spread. Currently, Ajidokoro Kanae serves miso katsudon topped with an egg.

Tourist information and access for Nagoya City, Aichi Prefecture

Aichi, where you can eat Fukagawa Meshi, has many tourist spots. The most famous tourist spot in Aichi Prefecture is Nagoya Castle.

Nagoya Castle was built in 1610. Most of the structure was lost in the Nagoya air raids that took place in May 1945, but the five-story main and small castle towers topped with golden shachihoko were rebuilt in 1959.

The Honmaru Palace of Nagoya Castle is full of things to see, and the restored 400-year-old partition paintings are breathtakingly beautiful. Nagoya Castle, which has been selected as one of the 100 most famous castles in Japan and designated as a special national historic site, is also known as the "Famous Castle," the "Golden Shachi Castle," and the "Golden Castle."

Kinshachi Yokocho is located very close to Nagoya Castle. Kinshachi Yokocho is home to a wide variety of Nagoya cuisine, including misokatsu, hitsumabushi, and Nagoya Cochin oyakodon. It is a recommended tourist spot for food tours.

Aichi, an attractive place for both gourmet food and sightseeing, has Nagoya Airport, which can be reached from Okinawa in about two hours. If you travel by JR train from Tokyo, it takes about one hour and 40 minutes. If you travel by JR train from Osaka or Kyoto, you can arrive within an hour.

We also recommend taking a leisurely drive to Aichi. Find the best way to get there.

Location of Nagoya City, Aichi Prefecture

summary

Miso katsu is a pork cutlet covered in a sauce based on soybean miso, a typical Aichi dish. The combination of pork cutlet and miso sauce goes perfectly with rice, making it easy to eat. The taste of the miso sauce and the shape of the pork cutlet vary depending on the restaurant, so it's fun to try them all and compare them.

If you visit Aichi, be sure to try the misokatsu.

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