Korokke (コロッケ, potato croquette)

Korokke looks like a frying project. It isn't. The filling is only potato, a little browned pork, and onion cooked until sweet, then shaped into ovals and given a coat of panko. The pan does the showy part, which is kind of it.

The one detail that decides it is dryness. Hot, freshly mashed potato carries too much moisture and will slump in the oil. Let it cool, let the steam leave it, then shape it gently. You want a filling that holds together without becoming gluey, because a heavy hand makes a heavy korokke.

This is yōshoku, Western-style food made Japanese, and it sits on the everyday table without apology: rice, shredded cabbage, a little sauce, perhaps miso soup beside it. Honmono here doesn't mean old court ceremony. It means doing the ordinary thing cleanly: sweet onion, good potato, fresh oil, and nothing hidden under too much sauce.