Iberico Secreto “Tonkatsu” with Infused Curry Butter Panade, Yuzu Kosho Cabbage, and 100-Year Kamebishi Soy

Iberico Secreto “Tonkatsu” with Infused Curry Butter Panade, Yuzu Kosho Cabbage, and 100-Year Kamebishi Soy

This is the dish that makes every Japanese grandmothers and Spanish abuelas hold hands and weep. The secreto (the hidden, insanely marbled cut from the Iberico pork shoulder) is brined, coated in a cannabis-infused fresh panko made from milk bread soaked in 20-year aged curry butter, then fried at exactly 340 °F until the crust shatters like glass and the inside stays blushing rose. Sliced thick, fanned over a mound of barely-wilted cabbage punched up with yuzu kosho, drizzled with a reduction of 100-year-old Kamebishi soy that costs more than vintage Bordeaux. Served with a tiny copper pot of warm curry sauce on the side for dipping. One bite and you’ll understand why some people sell their cars for pork.

Serves 6 civilized monsters  
Active time: 3 hours | Total time: 3 days + 10-day infusion  
Dosage: 25 mg THC per portion (150 mg total in the curry butter)

Infusion (start 10 days ahead)  
Decarboxylation  
4.29 g cannabis flower testing 22 % THC  
240 °F for 40 minutes, cool in oven.

Infused 20-year-aged curry butter (makes 2 cups, exactly 150 mg usable THC)  
1 lb best unsalted butter  
30 g Japanese curry roux blocks (S&B Golden or Vermont)  
1 tbsp Madras curry powder  
1 star anise  
4.29 g decarbed flower  
1 tsp sunflower lecithin

Brown butter gently with curry roux, powder, and star anise until fragrant and mahogany. Strain solids, add weed and lecithin while hot. Water-bath 185 °F for 2 hours, shaking every 20 min. Strain again, chill solid.

Pork & panko  
3 lb Iberico secreto (or two whole pieces)  
Brine: 5 % salt + 3 % sugar + yuzu peel + sansho pepper, 24 hours  
1 loaf Japanese milk bread (shokupan), crusts removed, torn into pieces  
1½ cups infused curry butter, melted  
2 cups fresh panko (process milk bread pieces in food processor until coarse)  
4 eggs, beaten with ¼ cup milk  
AP flour for dusting

Soak torn milk bread in the melted curry butter until completely saturated. Fold in fresh panko to make a wet panade. Chill 2 hours. This is your coating.

Remove pork from brine, pat dry. Slice into 1¼-inch thick steaks. Pound gently to even thickness. Coat in flour → egg → thick layer of curry-butter panade, pressing firmly. Rest 30 min in fridge. Deep-fry 340 °F for 4–5 minutes until deep golden and 140 °F internal. Rest 8 minutes (carryover to 148 °F).

Yuzu kosho cabbage  
1 head Napa cabbage, shaved paper-thin  
2 tbsp yuzu kosho (red or green)  
Juice of 2 yuzu (or 1 lemon + 1 lime)  
1 tsp sea salt  
1 tbsp toasted sesame oil

Massage everything together 5 minutes before serving. It should be bright and barely wilted.

100-year Kamebishi reduction  
½ cup 100-year Kamebishi soy (or 20-year if you’re merely wealthy)  
2 tbsp mirin  
1 tsp sugar

Reduce by half until syrupy.

To serve  
Warm curry sauce (remaining infused curry butter melted with dashi to dipping consistency  
Black sesame seeds  
Shiso flowers or micro shiso

Slice the tonkatsu thick on a brutal bias. Fan over the cabbage. Drizzle with the soy reduction. Serve the warm curry sauce in a small pot.

25 mg THC per portion.  
Eat with chilled Dassai 23 and silence.  
You might not speak Japanese or Spanish afterward, but you’ll feel both languages in your soul.