My mistake❌

Hey there, Florida Foodie friends,

It’s the one and only Thomas Mates. Well, I’m the only one since my twin “disappeared.” They’re never going to find that guy.

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Anyway, I need to make a correction from last week’s newsletter. I said the recipe came from Turkey and the Wolf, but my lovely spouse was quick to point out that I was wrong. She loves to correct me, especially in public and in front of people. She also likes to point and laugh when she does it.

I usually only cry a little.

Anywho, the real source for last week’s recipe was a book called Sally’s Cookie Addiction. I apologize to Sally and her whole family. I also hope she is getting the help she needs to combat that debilitating addiction.

Before we get into the meat of today’s newsletter, I just wanted to remind you all to share your foodie pictures on ClickOrlando.com/pins.

Look at this picture from PinIt! user k_moeller.

Looks tasty, doesn’t it?

You could have other people looking on at your meal with envy in their hearts, just like k_moeller here.

OK, that’s it for the shameless plugs.

Let’s get into it.

Food and fun🍣

Robert and Teresa Ly like to say that fun is one of their core values. It’s a concept that they have brought into their restaurant, Sus Hi Eatstation, since it first opened in 2011 before they were married.

Even as they worked more than 100 hours a week, the pair kept their sense of playfulness alive in their restaurants — giving their employees ninja nicknames and doing special promotions for holidays. Now, 12 years later, the pair are getting ready to open their 10th location in Orlando.

The couple talked all about their journey with Candace Campos on the latest Florida Foodie.

> You can listen to the episode here <

And you can also find every episode of Florida Foodie on YouTube, as well.

Small bites🧄

Burger brawl 🍔: YouTube mega-star MrBeast, also known as Jimmy Donaldson, is now embroiled in a legal battle with Orlando-based ghost kitchen operators Virtual Dining Concepts. First, MrBeast sued Virtual Dining Concepts. Then, Virtual Dining Concepts countersued MrBeast. It’s a pretty wild story. Click the links for all the details.

Winging it 🍗: Who doesn’t love chicken wings? Monsters, that’s who. The Space Coast Wing Battle is coming to Brevard County on Aug. 19. For the price of admission, you get unlimited wings and drinks, along with live music. What’s not to love? Click here for all the details.

Artistic bites 🎨: Some delicious new food and drinks have raced into Disney’s Saratoga Springs Resort & Spa. Disney rolled out some new offerings to the menu at The Artist’s Palette. Click here to check out the offerings.

Something to try at home 🍽️

I am once again dipping back into the archives for this week’s recipe.

We are going to make chicken katsu with curry. I made this recently and it was great.

For those of you unfamiliar with the dish, katsu is a Japanese method of frying proteins. You could use it on anything from chicken to tofu. We’re going to do chicken in this recipe because it is nice and easy and still tastes great.

This recipe is slightly adapted from Josh Weissman. I tried to simplify it a bit.

Ingredients:

Katsu chicken:

• 2 chicken breasts, butterflied
• 1 egg
• 2 tablespoons of water
• 1 cup panko bread crumbs
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• oil, for frying
• salt

Curry:

• 1/4 cup of butter - (first measurement)
• 1-3 onions, julienned (depending on size)
• 1-quart chicken stock
• 4 dried shiitake mushrooms (optional)
• 1 apple, grated
• 1 tablespoon tomato paste
• 1/2 cup butter - (second measurement)
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup curry powder (I like S&B brand, but you can use any curry powder you like)
• 2 teaspoon MSG (Despite what you may have heard, MSG is perfectly safe to consume)
• 1 tablespoon dark soy
• 2 tablespoons Worcestershire or fish sauce (I prefer fish sauce)
• 2 tablespoons of cold butter (third measurement)
• 1 tablespoon honey
• white rice for serving

Step 1: Start with the curry, since it takes the longest. First, melt your first measurement butter in a large saucepan over medium heat. Then add your onions and salt them. You’ll want to caramelize them slowly. This will take about 20 minutes to a half-hour. Stir your onions occasionally and add a splash of water if they start to stick to the bottom of the pan. Once the onions are a golden brown color, add your grated apple to the pan and let it brown.

Step 2: Now, warm your chicken stock, you can do this on the stovetop or in the microwave. Then add your mushrooms to the stock to hydrate. While those hydrate, remove your onions and apple mixture from your saucepan. Then add in your second measurement of butter and flour. The butter and flour should form a thick paste, called a roux, cook it until the raw flour smell goes away.

Step 3: Now, add your tomato paste, curry powder, fish sauce, honey and MSG to the roux. Combine all those elements thoroughly and cook until the raw tomato smell goes away. Then return your onion mixture to the pot. Stir until the mixture is coated.

Step 4: Add your stock and mushrooms to the saucepan and let it simmer until the mixture starts to thicken. Then place the contents of the saucepan into a blender and puree. Be very careful when blending hot liquids. The blending process releases a lot of steam and it can blow the lid off your blender, so be sure to use a rag to hold it down.

Step 5: After the initial blitz, you should be able to leave the blender running continuously without needing to hold the lid down. While blending, add your 2 tablespoons of cold butter, 1 tablespoon at a time, to the mixture. This will help the curry to become silky smooth. If you want to, you can then return your curry to a saucepan, add some carrots, potatoes, peas or whatever veggies that you like to the curry so you can treat it more like a stew. That is entirely optional and it works great as a smooth sauce.

Step 6: Now, the katsu. First, heat a large skillet or wok of oil over medium-high heat. You want to bring it up to about 350 degrees. Combine your egg and water into a bowl and beat thoroughly. Place your flour and panko in separate bowls as well.

Step 7: Now, take your butterflied chicken breast and season it generously with salt on both sides. Then dredge it in flour. Now, dip it in the egg wash. Lastly, press your chicken into the panko and make sure to coat it completely with the breadcrumbs.

Step 8: Take your coated chicken and place it in your frying oil one breast at a time, so as not to drop the temperature too rapidly. Fry the chicken until it is a deep, golden brown and then place it on a wire rack to rest for a few minutes.

Step 9: Now, we plate. Heap some rice into a bowl, add some of your curry and place the katsu over the top. It should end up looking something like this:

Looks pretty good, right? By the way, that stripe down the middle there. That is the D’arce chili oil from past Florida Foodie guests Tapped.

That’s it for today.

Please, send me your recipes so I can share them with everyone. My email is tmates@wkmg.com.

Don’t forget to send in your foodie pictures as well through our PinIt! program.

Also, please take the time to rate and review the Florida Foodie podcast.

- Thomas