Donkkaseu: An old-school Korean pork chop

Su Scott, author of the recently published cookbook, Rice Table: Korean Recipes and Stories to Feed the Soul, fondly remembers her first taste of donkkaseu, a thin slice of lean pork, typically cut from the loin, breaded and plunged into seething hot oil until golden and crunchy, then drizzled with a brown sauce similar to thick gravy.

Donkkaseu is often compared to Japanese tonkatsu, a panko-coated pork cutlet that's served sliced, though the Korean version is served whole. Scott remembers her first donkkaseu being blanketed under "thick, rich brown sauce" which, she writes is "loosely based on demi-glace”, a reduction of beef or veal stock used as the base of countless French sauces, with a perfect touch of acidity. The fried pork shared the plate with cold macaroni salad and shredded cabbage swirled with vinegary ketchup and mayonnaise.

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Scott first tried donkkaseu as a child in Seoul, where her family enjoyed weekend dinners at gyeongyangsiks. These restaurants, which were popular in the 1970s and 1980s, served Korean food with Western twists; dishes were eaten with a knife and fork as opposed to chopsticks. It was at one special gyeongyangsik where Scott had that memorable first bite of the crispy pork cutlet.