Maisen Katsu – Mesa, Arizona
Humanity has long had an fondness for breaded meats. As far back as the 12th Century, breaded meat cuts appear in Milanese archives. Recipes bespeak of medieval innovations in coating meat to “seal in juices or mimic gilded dishes.” By the 19th Century, Austrian and Italian kitchens–utilizing flour, eggs, and white breadcrumbs before frying in butter or lard-began propagating techniques and ingredients. Among the foundational breaded dishes were Austrian Wiener Schnitzel. Today, whether it’s German schnitzel, Mexican milanesa, or Italian parmigiana, many of the world’s culinary traditions incorporate a dish made of thinly cut meat that is breaded and then fried to yield a contrast between a crunchy crust on the outside and tender meat on the inside. Home cooking across the fruited helped give rise to regional variations in breaded meats with such standards as Texas chicken-fried steak and the Midwestern breaded pork tenderloin sandwich. In the 19th Century, Western influences were increasingly adopted even in the Land of the Rising Sun. Among the innovations were katsu, a Japanese dish of meat or seafood that is breaded in flaked panko crumbs and deep-fried. Instead of fine, dense western breadcrumbs, katsu involves meats breaded in light, airy Japanese panko breadcrumbs…
