Do you panko?

I <3 panko. My husband introduced it to me early on in our relationship when we tried to re-create Tonkatsu, which his friend's mother always made for the two of them. Tonkatsu is essentially tenderized pork breaded in Panko flakes and fried, served with Bulldog sauce. Our attempt was "okay." Over the holidays I was fortunate enough to try the original homemade dish that he loves so much. It was fabulous.

Last week I decided I wanted to try once again to re-create the meal, so I bought thin cut pork chops and then spent 10 minutes trying to find Panko at my grocery store. Our store has great produce and meat and high prices. Though they carry a lot of specialty items sometimes their selection stinks -- for example, instead of carrying any of the various flavors of A1 steak sauce, they carry about 6 different size bottles of the original. No real choice there. Anyways, I finally managed to find the Panko, which I missed originally because the only type they carry is made by Progresso and in the breadcrumbs section instead of the "international foods" aisle. These are the times I miss a great big box of a grocery store.

I also couldn't find bulldog sauce (inspiration for this meal was last minute, had I planned better, I could have picked ingredients up where they'd be easier to find!) so I just served the panko-crusted fried pork chops with good old chunky Motts.

The great thing about Panko is that it maintains a really crunchy texture because the flakes are so big. Try it the next time you are breading something. I especially like to bread pork and fish with it.