A “Katsu Sandwich” is a Japanese style cutlet sandwich, that is normally made with a pork cutlet, but using wild turkey breast meat is a sure fire way to impress your guests, and spice up the traditional turkey cutlet sandwich.  And even for those who don’t like too much heat these really aren’t that hot and you can always reduce the amount of spicy ingredients to your liking.

Spicy Turkey Katsu Sandwich
Prep Time: 20min
Cooking Time: 8-10min (per batch of cutlets)

Ingredients

  • 8 Wild Turkey Cutlets (cut from the breast, lightly pounded to ½-¼” thick)
  • 1 1/2 Cup All-Purpose Flour
  • 1 tbsp. Seven Spice (can be found in the Asian or ethnic isle of most grocery stores)
  • 3 tbsp. cayenne pepper
  • 2 tsp. garlic powder
  • 1 tsp. onion powder
  • 1 tbsp. kosher salt, plus
  • 2 Large Eggs
  • ¼ Cup Hot Sauce
  • 2 Cups Panko Breadcrumbs (Japanese breadcrumbs)
  • Sunflower Oil (or extra-virgin olive oil)
  • 16 Slices of Light Rye Bread
  • Iceberg Lettuce (shredded)

Spicy Mayo Sauce:

  • ½ cup Mayonnaise
  • ¼ cup Bread-and-butter Pickles (diced)
  • 1-2 tsp. Sweet Onion (diced)
  • 2 tbsp. Hot Sauce (use the amount of heat that you can handle)
  • 1 tsp. Seven Spice
  • Salt & Pepper

Directions

    1. First make your Spicy Mayo Sauce, combine all sauce ingredients in a small bowl, adjust to taste if need be. Set aside in fridge to let flavours develop for at least 10min.
    2. Slice turkey breast into 1” slices, slicing with the grain. Then working one at a time, place a piece of breast between a large piece of plastic wrap and fold over, pound with a meat tenderizer or even a cast iron pan, until ½ -¼” thick.
    3. Prep your Dredge, Egg Wash and Breadcrumbs. For your Dredge; mix the flour, cayenne pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, seven spice, and 1 tbsp. salt in a large container. For the Egg Wash; mix 2 eggs and a ¼ cup hot sauce in a bowl. For the breadcrumbs, simply pour some Panko Breadcrumbs into a large container that can fit a whole cutlet.
    4. Heat a large cast iron pan to Med to Med-High heat with a good amount of sunflower oil.
    5. Then working one at a time, coat each turkey cutlet; coat turkey in flour dredge, turning to coat well, shake off any excess dredge. Dip into egg mixture and turn to fully cover in egg wash. Place into panko breadcrumbs, turning to coat and pressing down with your hand to fully adhere crumbs.
    6. When oil is heated up and has a nice shine, working in 2 batches, cook 4 turkey cutlets at a time, reducing heat to medium if it’s browning too quickly. Cook for about 2-3min or until golden and very crisp, then flip and repeat on other side. Transfer to a wire rack to rest, the rack will help keep a nice crisp coating, sprinkle with a little more salt as soon as it hits the wrack and is still hot so salt sticks.
    7. When all turkey is cooked you can assemble your sandwich. Spread spicy mayo sauce on both sides of bread slices. Top with shredded lettuce on one slice, then add cutlet, close up sandwich and cut in half.

Recipe by: Michael E. Higgins

 

 

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