Speaking of the cutlets in Kobe,
how in the world do they decide the price for beef cutlets? I’m not talking
about wiener schnitzel or cordon bleu here, I mean plain old beef cutlets.
I
think it’s a real shame that you can’t get them in Tokyo. A capital city
without any beef cutlets? It’s like we’re in 1942 Stalingrad.
You
know, whenever I start thinking about them, I immediately turn into a beef
cutlet fanatic like I’ve been swept along by a bullet train.
Beef
cutlets and bread are a truly delicious combination. I like to take beef
cutlets and slather them with some mustard and butter, placing them between
pieces of bread that are sliced just a little thin. Into the toaster oven they
go for a light toasting, along with just two slices of watercress. To drink,
maybe a glass of unsweetened ice tea, or perhaps a bottle of Märzenbier. Oh...
oh yes...
Plain beef cutlets are best when
they’re as large as the soles of size-9 sneakers. The meat can’t be too thick
or too thin either. Meat that’s too thin just makes you look poor, and having
it too thick is a let-down as well. Above all, the meat mustn’t have any
gristle. The crust should be fried until crispy; its texture slightly firmer than
that of pork cutlets. Also, you have to make sure that the breading isn’t too
thin.
It may
be just a side-dish, but you definitely need shredded cabbage as well. Adding
shredded cabbage to a plate of beef cutlets is like adding a Playboy bunny
sticker to a Rolls-Royce. Noodles that are lightly boiled in salt water, kidney
beans, watercress, and other simple sides are OK, but if it comes with a carrot
demi-glace, you might as well throw it in your ashtray.
Now for
the rice. A mix of barley and rice would be ideal, but since most restaurants
don’t carry it, you’ll just have to settle for white rice. Something like a
bread roll wouldn’t be proper at all.
The way
to eat a beef cutlet is around the same as how you eat a pork cutlet. The only
difference is the sensations you get when you put a knife to it. The crispness
of the breading, the meat’s tenderness that’s normally obscured by the
characteristic firmness of beef, the breading again, and then finally the clack
of your knife against the plate: it’s to die for!
When I
was a child, my father would take me to the movies, and on the way back we’d
always have beef cutlets. From the window of the restaurant I could see the
harbor, and the peaks of mount Rokko standing out in all directions.
In the
guide books for Kobe, all you’ll see are restaurants serving beef steaks (and
if you just want that, there’s no point in going all the way to Kobe when you
can get it at restaurant 10 minutes away in Tokyo!), with no mention of beef
cutlets. Why is that?
-m
