Vkusno! This Must be What God Eats! (Plus - the Eros of the Pork Cutlet Bowl)

I have started watching Anime. I love manga and graphic novels, and anime can be hugely entertaining. The characters are always so vibrant and there are some really great storylines out there.

Recently I started watching 'Yuri on Ice'. Released in 2016, this anime tells the story of an unsuccessful Japanese figure skater - Yuri Katsuki - who is badly defeated at the skating Grand Prix final. He leaves the US where he has been training and studying and returns to Japan to lick his wounds and decide what to do next.

Yuri loves eating Port Cutlet Bowls other wise known as Katsudon.

Yuri has a skating idol who has won five skating World championships and the Grand Prix Final and lots of other stuff. He is the Russian skating god Viktor Nikiforov.

Yuri has always idolised Viktor and emulated him from a very young age and he does so again. He learns the same routine that won Viktor the gold medal at same Grand Prix Final at which Yuri was decimated.

Some sneaky children film Yuri skating Viktor's program and it goes viral on the Internet. When Viktor sees it he decides to become Yuri's coach. 

He just lands on Yuri's doorstep (without telling him first) at the hot springs and inn owned by Yuri's parents. The story of Yuri's return to the ice, rivalries, learning, love and family begins.

When Viktor arrives in Japan he is tired and hungry and so Yuri's mum prepares the hotel speciality the 'Pork Cutlet Bowl'.

It certainly looks nicer than my attempt. 

When Viktor first tastes the pork cutlet bowl he yells

 'Vkusno, this must be what God eats'!

And I was intrigued 🤔 👀 

Watch it here 

https://fb.watch/b-LEI2dreR/

Meanwhile Yuri is banned from eating this heavenly dish because although it is his favourite food, it is fattening for him because he puts on weight so easily.

Then Yuri's rival shows up at the hot springs chasing after Viktor. The rival is young Russian skater called Yuri Plitsesky (nicknamed Yurio by Yuri's sister). Victor had promised to develop a skating program for Yurio and he has come to drag Viktor back to Russia

Viktor then decides to develop a programme for each Yuri based on two different versions of the same tune, 'On Love Agape' and 'On Love Eros'. Yuri and Yurio will then skate against each other and Viktor will coach the winner.

Yuri has to skate to 'On Love Eros' and to skate with meaning.  He needs to be able to express Eros as he skates.  He struggles with this  because he has never experienced romantic love. As he reflects he realises that eros is something that would make him lose his senses and lose his ability to make rational decisions. 

For him eros can be found in his love of the Pork Cutlet Bowl.

All he has to do when he skates is to think about the delicious and heavenly taste of the Pork Cutlet Bowl.

Well it works, because the Pork Cutlet Bowl is just so great. Yuri wins the competition. Yurio returns to Russia to continue training there and Viktor stays in Japan to coach Yuri and his journey to the Grand Prix Final begins.

The story the proceeds to go through training, skating, courage, love and many adventures until he reaches the Grand Prix and has to skate against Yurio (and others) once more.

Of course watching this I too wanted to eat what God eats and to experience the eros of the pork cutlet bowl. Who wouldn't? 

Obviously if God is eating it then it has to be good. Theologically, I don't think God in the Old or New Testament would have been eating pork but I was intrigued.

Katsudon or the Pork Cutlet Bowl is actually an everyday day Japanese dish and Yuri fans have been trying it for themselves, and there are lots of videos recipes and tons of videos on YouTube etc etc. 

I don't cook a lot of Japanese food. When I think of Japanese food I think of Wagamama's or sushi but I decided to give this a go.

I flattened the pork a bit and seasoned it with salt and pepper overnight. You don't have to do that, but I like to season my ingredients beforehand where possible. I then dipped it in egg and covered it in panko bread crumbs.

Then came the frying. I am not a great fan of fried food because of calories. Apparently a large bowl of this is can be up to 900 calories and that's  why Yuri had to cut back on this dish.

You then fry onions, dashi or chicken stock, soy sauce, mirin, and place the fried pork on top and then pour the egg over every thing and let it cook slowly.

I made one large dish for us to eat from. It didnt last long. It was very tasty and reminded me of egg fried rice.

Anyway, I had a good time making this and an even better time eating it. It is pure comfort food and I will definitely be making it again. 

If you want to watch Yuri on Ice it is on Amazon Prime in English and also on Crunchyroll. It is great fun and a lovely story with some excellent skating animation and a huge fandom who have been demanding series two and the release of a planned movie.

When the movie and the second series eventually emerge I shall be first in the queue.

Also I forgot to mention that Viktor has the most adorable dog called Makkachin. He is greedy and also has some adventures in the series. 

 I want a dog just like this.

Photos from 
https://yurionice.fandom.com/wiki