Korean Fish Cutlet Sandwich.
Once every few months, I get a craving for some McDonalds. (Is that just me?)
3 items come to mind. The first is that delicious Sausage McMuffin - easily a 9 out of 10! The second is of course, the Big Mac (6/10).
And finally, that Filet-O-Fish (7/10)!
I hated Filet-O-Fish when I was young. But my mom loved to order it. (This was during our first years in the US – back in the early 90’s.)
When eating burgers, my mom had (and still has) a habit of leaving behind a few bites. As a hungry student, I would finish my Big Mac within a few minutes...
And swoop in on her Filet-O-Fish like a vulture!
I believe that’s where I grew a fondness for that simple but tasty Filet-O-Fish.
Isn’t it interesting to see that the foods you grew up eating become the best comfort foods in the later years?
This past weekend, I was a hit with one of those cravings for McDonalds. I resisted my impulse (which was not easy) and decided to challenge myself to make my own fish cutlet sandwich from home:
I know what I want...
A Nice & Thick Filet with Homemade Tartar Sauce, spread over freshly-baked bread.
A sandwich worth making for my mom.
COOKING NOTES:
This tartar sauce is so goood! I would highly recommend to make it from scratch - much better than store-bought.
I would recommend using Japanese Mayo (Kiwi). Of course, you can use regular mayo too!
If you don’t have a Korean mart nearby, skip the perilla leaves! Or you could also replace it with some dill.
To get the cabbage extra thin (as show in the video), you’ll have to use a mandoline. But be extra careful with it! (I’ve heard and seen one too many cook slice their fingers on it)
And please throw on some cilantro! Gives the sandwich a nice herbal, fresh lift.
Note: This tartar recipe is not an original recipe – it’s from Chopstick Chronicles.
Alrighty, if you do decide to make this sandwich at home, send us a pic on IG! (We love to see you cook 😀.)
Ingredients
Sandwich ingredients
- 2 Slices of Sandwich Bread
- Small handful of Thinly Sliced Cabbage
- 2 Gherkin (Baby Pickles)
- 1 Large Fish Cutlet
- Few pinches of Red Chili Flakes (Optional)
- Few pieces of Cilantro
Homemade Tartar Sauce
- 2 Eggs
- ¼ whole Onion
- 2 whole Gherkin
- 2 Perilla Leaves (Optional)
- ¼ cup Mayonnaise
- ½ teaspoon (!) Lemon Zest
- 1 Tablespoon Lemon Juice
- Few shakes Salt (Optional)
- Few cracks Black Pepper (Optional)
Instructions
Make Tartar Sauce
- Let's start by boiling 2 eggs - give it a hardboil for 10 minutes.
- While you wait, finely dice the onion (¼ a whole) into very small pieces. Then finely dice the gherkins (2 whole) as well. Next, roll up the perilla leaves (2 leaves) and dice them into small pieces as well (Perilla Leave is an optional ingredient).
- Grab the lemon and grate the skin to make lemon zest (½ teaspoon!). Then squeeze the lemon for fresh lemon juice (1 Tablespoon).
- Now back to the eggs. After 10 minutes, drain the water. Peel and mash the boiled eggs with a fork in a mixing bowl. Once they're evenly mashed, add-in the diced onions, gherkins and perilla leaves. Next, add in some Mayonnaise (¼ cup). Mix it up evenly.
- Next, add-in Lemon Zest (½ teaspoon) and Lemon Juice (1 Tablespoon). Give it a good mix. Then give it a taste. You can add-in a few shakes of salt and black pepper if you'd like.
Prep Sandwich Ingredients
- Cut green cabbage into very thin slices with a knife. If you have a Mandoline, use it - makes for extra-thin slices!
- Grab 2-3 additional gherkins. Slice them thin with your knife.
- Next, pull the leaves off the cilantro and put them into a small pile. You can mix in some stem too!
- Fill a pot with enough oil. Then fry your fish cutlet until it's dark golden-brown.
Assemble Fish Cutlet Sandwich
- If you'd like, spread some butter over your sandwich bread slices and give it a toast.
- Then places the bread slices on a cutting board. Spread your homemade tartar sauce on both slices.
- Then add the sliced cabbage onto one slice. Followed by the gherkins. Then the fried fish cutlet. Add another layer of tartar sauce over the cutlet. Then sprinkle-on some chili pepper flakes over the tartar sauce. Finally, finish by adding the cilantro leaves.
- Close the sandwich lid. Cut in half - or diagonally. And Bon Appetit!
Alison Crabtree says
Hi Daniel. Love your recipes.. How do you make the Fish Cutlet?
Sandra says
I was finally able to get perilla leaves and Kewpie mayo. I know the recipe says you can use regular mayo, but I wanted to make it as it was shown in the video. I wasn't able to find premade breaded fish cutlets (or at least none that looked decent to me), so I ended up breading fresh fish in panko (I used your donkatsu recipe to bread the fish).
I made sandwiches for my entire family and we all agreed that it was one of the best sandwiches we've ever had. Definitely the best fish sandwich we had anywhere. And, we also agreed that it was the best tarter sauce we had anywhere (and we have had a lot of tarter sauce everywhere)!
Thank you so much for posting this recipe! It was simply delicious!
Doreen K Nyarko says
Hi Daniel. I love your recipes. Do you have any goat meat recipes hiding somewhere? It's my favorite meat but I don't know any korean dishes that feature it
Dan-yul says
Hi Doreen! Unfortunately, goat meat is not common in Korea. It's not sold in any Korean supermarkets. I reckon I had some goat curry at a Pakistani restaurant in Dubai before... would enjoy having it again!
Doreen K Nyarko says
I figured! I made the braised kimchi with 1/2 pork belly1/2 goat. Yummy. Next I'm gonna try the braised mackerel recipe and sub goat instead of mackerel haha! Thanks for all your recipes!