Menchi-katsu Sando (メンチカツサンド, minced-pork cutlet sandwich)

Menchi-katsu sando is not a delicate sandwich. Good. It is a butcher-shop thing: minced pork, onion, panko, sauce, and soft shokupan that gives way under the knife. The part that looks crude is the part that needs care. Use pork with enough fat and knead it with salt until it turns sticky, because that stickiness holds the juice inside the patty instead of letting it run into the oil.

People make frying sound like a small courtroom drama. It isn't. Keep the patties cold, coat them in flour, egg, and panko, and fry at a steady 170 C until the crust is deep gold and the center is done. The oil can't be too cool, or the crumbs drink grease before they crisp. Too hot, and the outside browns before the pork is ready. A thermometer is not a confession of weakness. It is a sensible friend.

The sandwich is finished while the cutlet is warm, not scorching. Sauce the bread, add dry shredded cabbage, set the menchi-katsu in, and press lightly so the loaf and cutlet become one meal instead of two objects arguing. Cut it then. A little juice should wet the bread, not flood it. That's honmono here: nothing hidden, nothing fancy, just the method kept honest.