I am saying the sauce for Japanese pork cutlet aka TONKATSU, yet, these iconic Japanese dipping sauces are for any deep-fried food which everyone loves.
Deep-fried…the comfort food for people all over the world, and once you know these Japanese dipping sauces, you’ll be obsessed more and more.
Delicious and flavorful, Japanese dipping sauces should be stored in your pantry to jazz up the classic dipping sauces for deep-fried food.
Want To Try Tonkatsu Sauce Once?
For deep-fried dishes, we typically use TONKATSU sauce (or Worcester sauce) in Japan.
Tonkatsu sauce, the name has been already popular worldwide, it’s a type of Japanese-style Worcestershire sauce.
Tonkatsu sauce is one of the Japanese-style Worcestershire sauces and they are completely different flavored sauces while remaining the original tangy flavor.
Once you try the Japanese Worcester sauce (ウスターソース) that we call it, you’ll understand why the Japanese pour the sauce over everything crazy.
Tonkatsu sauce is a richer, thicker sauce which has definitely fully packed with natural sweetness and rich Umami flavor.
You can use a store-bought TONKATSU sauce or you can make homemade TONKATSU sauce in this post.
If you want to stock Japanese Tonkatsu sauce in your kitchen all the time, it is a good idea to buy a product with a guaranteed savory taste.
Bull-Dog Sauce is a seasoning manufacturer headquartered in Tokyo.
For over 120 years, “Bulldog sauce” has been loved mainly in the eastern side of Japan. (From Nagano through Hokkaido.)
The company produces mainly a variety of Worcester sauces, including three types of Worcester sauces and cooking sauces for “Okonomiyaki” and “Yakisoba” based on Worcester sauce.
Use Miso Sauce To Make Tonkatsu Nagoya-Style
Tonkatsu sauce is enough appealing for Japanese pork cutlets, but, I personally like sweet Miso sauce, oh, because I am from Nagoya.
By the way, Tonkatsu served with Miso sauce is called “Nagoya-style Tonkatus” or simply “Miso Katsu”.
Speaking of “Miso Katsu”(味噌カツ), the pork culet served with Miso sauce is one of the popular “Nagoya Meshi” (名古屋めし), mostly you can find it only in the central region.
To make sweet Miso sauce, red miso is the best, you still can use “yellow miso” called “Awase Miso” if Aka miso is not available.
Miso Sauce is a local traditional versatile sauce that is great to keep in your fridge for any grilled recipes, salads, stir-fry sauce, and even for marinating the meat.
To make sweet miso sauce, please check out this post.
The Easy Aurora Sauce With Mayo & Ketchup
Aurora sauce is a creamy sauce that is often served with meat, seafood, and egg dishes which is the one of mother sauces in France, made by adding tomato puree (paste) to béchamel sauce.
Somehow, aurora sauce in Japan is a sauce made from mayonnaise and tomato ketchup. (often, added Japanese Worcester sauce.)
This sneaky easy Aurora sauce is actually tasty and addictive, and no doubt, kids love this creamy mild sauce.
Needless to say, it’s great for deep-fried food including pork cutlet, chicken nuggets, and potato croquette.
Japanese-Style Easy Aurora Sauce
Ingredients
- ½ cup Japanese Mayonnaise
- ½ cup Tomato Ketchup *Heinz preferred
- A few dashes of Worcestershire sauce or tonkatsu sauce *optional
- Hot sauce *optional
- ½ TSP grated garlic *optional
- Fresh ground black pepper *optional
Instructions
- Simply, Mix the equal volume of Japanese mayonnaise and tomato ketchup.
- Add a dash of Worcestershire sauce or hot sauce optionally.
- Also, add freshly grated garlic and ground black pepper if desired.
Notes
Japanese Style Egg Tartar Sauce
Not only deep-fried seafood such as fried oysters, clams, shrimp, fish… (Woo, yum!), french fries, fried okra, fried green tomatoes…tartar sauce also goes well with a pork cutlet.
Tartar sauce has been around in many countries today, it was first marketed in Japan in 1966, and the sauce became popular with the spread of Yoshoku, which refers to a style of Western-influenced (American & European) cooking.
Japanese tartar sauce has also a wide variety of recipes, and often Japanese pickles are used instead of pickles and capers.
The most appealing Japanese tartar sauce is a minced boiled egg, so it is really filling your stomach.
In fact, there is the Japanese dish called “Chicken Nanban”, which is the chicken cutlet dipped in a sweet teriyaki-like sauce served with Tartar sauce.
For more details and a homemade Japanese chunky tartar sauce recipe, please check out this post!
Final Notes
Tonkatsu is one of the popular main dishes in Japan, thus the sauce with it has been invented from region to region.
Generally, Worcestershire sauce or Tonkatsu sauce is preferred for deep-fried food including Tonkatsu throughout Japan, however, in the central region, Miso sauce is more popular and A1 sauce is very common in Okinawa prefecture.
It is interesting the Japanese Worcester sauce evolved uniquely from the original British sauce, and the Japanese are looking forward to new uses and recipes that may emerge from it.
So I am hoping you find the new favorite dipping sauce when you read this post and try it!
My Japanese pork cutlet reicpe (deep-fried and baked) is here.
