Image: Wikimedia Commons
Sauce Katsudon, beloved mainly in Kiryu City, Gunma Prefecture, is a local specialty within Japan's “sauce katsudon” food culture: freshly fried pork cutlet is dipped in a special Worcestershire-sauce-based sauce and served over rice, without being finished with egg. It is said to have originated at Shidamiya, a Kiryu eatery founded in 1926, which created a distinctive sauce by combining an eel-basting technique with Worcestershire sauce. In Kiryu, a city that once flourished through the textile industry, sauce katsudon — which tastes good even after going cold — became a staple of food delivery. Even today, in Kiryu, simply saying “katsudon” usually means sauce katsudon rather than the egg-topped version, and it is so deeply woven into daily life that the “Kiryu Sauce Katsudon Association” was formed to promote it as a local specialty citywide. There is no fixed rule for the sauce blend or the cut of meat used, so comparing the differences between restaurants and households is part of the fun.
Origin
The roots of sauce katsudon are said to lie with an eatery in Kiryu City opened by a family that had run an eel wholesale business around the Watarase Yusuichi wetlands. While devising a new dish that made use of their eel-basting technique, they are said to have created a special sauce with a finely balanced blend of Worcestershire sauce, dipping freshly fried pork cutlet in it and serving it over rice.
History
Shidamiya, founded in Kiryu City in 1926, is regarded as the originator, and the dish has been loved ever since in the textile town of Kiryu. Because it tastes good even after cooling, it became established as a dish suited to the delivery orders of weaving craftspeople, and it also came to be made at home. Today the “Kiryu Sauce Katsudon Association” has been formed to promote it citywide as a local specialty.
Features
The Kiryu Sauce Katsudon Association defines the dish as one made with pork, in which the freshly fried cutlet is dipped in a Worcestershire-sauce-based sauce and placed over a bowl of rice. Its defining trait is that it is never finished with egg; there is no fixed rule for the cut of meat or the sauce blend, so the flavor varies from restaurant to restaurant and household to household. Gunma Prefecture being a noted pork-producing region is also part of the background for how this dish took root.
Main Ingredients
Food Culture
In Kiryu, a city that thrived on the textile industry, sauce katsudon — which stays delicious even after cooling — was prized as a delivery dish for weaving craftspeople. Even today, in local life, simply saying “katsudon” usually means sauce katsudon rather than the egg-topped version.
How It Differs from Home Cooking
At home, the dish is often made easily with store-bought sauce, whereas specialty restaurants take care to dip the freshly fried cutlet in a sauce blended in-house using techniques adapted from eel basting, giving it greater depth of flavor.
Famous Shops
志多美屋 本店
群馬県桐生市浜松町1-1-1
Founded in 1926 (Taisho 15), this long-established eatery is regarded as the originator of Kiryu sauce katsudon. Its sauce katsudon set with four pieces of fillet is priced around ¥940 and comes with miso soup and pickles.
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