The Katsusando!

[S]What the f*** [M]is happening in the background?

Now when you hear 'sando' the first thing we thought of was like, sand? Like is this involving sand or something?

Sando is short for: sandwich

It's a katsu sandwich. Now 'katsu' comes from the 'donkatsu'. 'Don' is Japanese for pork, 'katsu' is actually short

for 'ka-tsu-re-to'. So it's supposed to be pork cutlet, so there's the short of katsureto,

and then the short of the 'sandwich'

It's the 'katsu-sando'. [M]It's very complicated if you think about it. [S]Why are there so many abbreviations and words put together?

[M]Jamming things together

[S]I'll tell you the one thing I really like about Japanese food is when they name it, there's never anything like

ambivalent like: "Here's a

foghorn legless" in which you look at the title and have no idea what it is. [M]Oh! Like in Britain when they're like "A spotted dick!" and

I'm like what am I about to eat right now? Why would you make that name? [S]There's no guesswork in the names,

they say what they are. This is a cutlet sandwich.

[M]Now I hear you, you guys might be saying something like

"Are you really, doing a video on a cutlet sandwich?"

[S]The answer is yes

[M] Yes we are.

So we got two different kinds of katsusandos today. This one here is kind of like the traditional one that I would say

you can find everywhere, and this one we got from like a hiri katsu shop

They also make sandwiches on the side, this one was more expensive this one was $5.

[S]Don't laugh, this package is a lot smaller than expected, but it's enough!

It's enough to be satisfying.

[M]I only bought the like, three-piece set because I knew we were eating two sandwiches.

[S]What the f***... [M]... listening to what's happening in the background there

[S]What the f*** this happening behind us?

[S]I think we picked the wrong spot in the park today

[M] (giggles) We picked the weird place, [S]We picked the weird place.

[M]Oh, look at that perfectly sauced, little piece of magic right there. [S]You ready?

[M]Yep

[S]Here we go [M]Time to get messy

[S&M] Mhh

Believe in your dreams. This one was: Hiri katsu

which means that [they] cut off all the fatty bits so that when you bite into it,

you don't hit any like nubbles of fat or tendon. [S]Right. Perfectly smooth meat. [M]Smooth is always a terrible description that we do,

[M]But, it's true! [S]No, you don't want crunchy meat, you want smooth meat!

[M]But it's not like the heavy breading that you get with like a cutlet in Europe and in Canada

Like the cutlets that I grew up with, coz I'm European or you know like pounded down meat

and then you bread it,

and it's got like egg and flour and then it's deep-fried and then when you like cut into it and you try to like bite

into the sandwich, this whole like breading would like slide off.

[S]It's just a fried pork cutlet with sauce on the cutlet and just pure white bread with the crust cut off.

And what's so amazing about that is that you would think: "Don't you need more?"

You don't, this has all the flavor that you need. The sauce is also perfect because it's added to the cutlet rather than the bread,

because if you add for the bread it might soak through the bread, but it stays onto the cutlet perfectly.

[M]Now he's juggling.

He was throwing sticks in the air, but now he's juggling!

The other thing that's amazing about it is they add the sauce to the outside of the crust when it comes right out of the fryer so when

It's like super, super hot, they sauce it and then it kind of like both: soaks in and almost doesn't, because I think the oil

so creates that little bit of a barrier and the panko crust on the outside

I think is key as well.

So panko is like a Japanese type of breadcrumb and it's soft and airy. It's not like a heavy drudging of flour

That's the right word right? Drudging? [S]Dredging. [M]I'm drudging making this.

[S]I have a question. [M]Question is: [S]There's an old dude that just walked past us with a marijuana hat on, [M]Yes? [S]Does he know what

it means? Yes? No? What do you think? [M]Leave a comment in the comment section below...

If he floats up behind us and goes:

"Oh man I could really go for that katsusando."

Then we'll be like: "Yeah, we know what's happening here."

Also look at the bread right here, you see how thin that is? None of the sauce has gone through the bread.

This is holding the cutlet perfectly, for bite sized nibbles.

[M]"For bite, sized, nibbles". That sounds like, I don't know, nibbles are nibbles and bites are bites,

I think those two shouldn't come together.

If you're sharing with Simon though, that makes sense because he's like I'll just have a nibble bite.

And then I look down and there's like, half my sandwich is gone. You ate half my sandwich.

[S]Yes! [M]It's only this big!

[S]What? It's half for us, we're sharing.

[M] It's like the size of a dice.

[S]You know what else is super important about this too?

Look, I'm an adult. We're all adults here watching right? Hey everybody?

I want my sandwiches to have the crust cut off.

Why is it that we only had the crust cut off as kids and as soon as we hit a specific age

you're like "hey, we have to have the crust on." Nah. I don't want to have crust on my sandwich.

Just give me the perfect amount of soft, milky

fluffy Wonder Bread kind of dough that's all I want.

[M]They do have other types of bread here like European breads, hard crust on the

outside you know. But when it comes to the katsusando, it's made with that wonder type bread

that you were saying. But it's a little bit sweeter,

and I would say it's not as doughy.

When you have Wonder Bread,

and you kind of bite into it, it kind of sometimes sticks to the roof of your mouth, almost like paste-y

And it's super porous at the same time as well. It's not that gluey kind

[M]Gluey! There it is, that's the description

It's more like a milky,

fluffy type taste of bread, like if you've ever had a meatball sub on like a crusty bread when you bite into it the bread

is so crusty and it just so hard, and you bite that it just shoots out your

meatballs likes like spit ball pellets and what not, that that is a terrible realization of a meat sandwich. Japan does it right.

So, I'm so confused. They're playing really creepy music in the background as well.

[M]I am gonna step in there for a second, you made a terrible mistake by not getting any water or milk.

[S]The flavors are in our mouths so we can describe them more.

[M]I'm so thirsty! So thirsty...

[S]Are you thirsty for another sandwich?

[M]We're going onto the second sandwich,

and I'm gonna say from the get-go that this is not the traditional kind that you would get at a convenience store.

[S]No. [M]Every single katsusando we've ever seen, ever! always has the crust cut off.

This motherf***** right here.

[S]They got crusts on!?

They got crusts on!? (slower)

[M]Now the only reason we're giving them a forgiveness pass, is because this is not actually a katsusando shop, this one makes the

cutlets and they serve it over rice.

And then on the side they happen to have like a couple of sandwiches that you can buy. We think that this is kind of

like, could be, an ante up version of a normal katsusando. [S]We're not sure, we're gonna experience this together

Have a smell of that, what's that smell like? [M]Oh yeah. [S]Hey, here you go, grab yours

[M]I, feel uncomfortable, and worried about my well-being

I think what's happening with this one is that you're supposed to order it at the shop, and like eat it right away

like it's supposed to be for lunch cuz you can already see that

this is soaking through and that's a big sand-don't if you ask me, not a sand-do.

Huh? Usually you're the one with the bad jokes. [S]You you know what? When we were walking and talking Martina actually thought of that

joke a while ago. This isn't on spot Martina has been reciting this in her head. This could be delicious

I'm so weirded out by...

He literally has a ball on his head. [M]Now he has a ball on his head

You know what this is like?

"Hey, do you have any talents that aren't that talented, but like you can bounce ball on your head? Well come on down..."

[S]Okay no, we got to eat our sandwich. Here we go.

[M]Oh man, [S]Whoa! I was being really judgy, but this is vastly superior in taste. Oh man, this is still crunchy!

[M]Yeah, because it was just straight out of the fryer right? [S]Oh man.

[M]So the crust is quite unoffensive because it's like a Wonder Bread one. [S]Oh, I was so judgy. I was so wrong

[M]Mmm now something we didn't talk about before was the katsusando sauce.

It's usually a tonkatsu sauce and the sauce to me is like

the Japanese answer to barbecue sauce. [S]It's got like a barbecue with a worcestershire blend to it [M]meets something fruity

But this place has a totally different sauce on it. I'm sorry I ever doubted you hiri katsu place!

Please, please

Guys, if you're coming to Japan you cannot skip out on this. If you're going to a train station and you're traveling on the shinkansen,

you can get them at any train station. You got to look for 'em cuz everyone's gonna go for the bentos

but this is also a really good equivalent to go for.

[S]Let us know, what is your

country's special sandwich that we should know about if we go there and visit, as we introduced you to the katsusando.

Wow I really wanted to talk more about katsusandos

but I think we picked the wrong spot to film [M]Or the right spot.

[S]I think we should just film this guy.

[M]That's what we're gonna do guys. Just enjoy another uhh... [S]Enjoy.

We're gonna watch this dude, all right. [M]He's coming closer. I'm scared.

Oh he's interacting with people.