My Mother's Cotoletta
We had cotolette (the plural of cotoletta because who can eat just one, really) at least once a month growing up. It's not fancy or complicated, instead it was a quick, satisfying way to get dinner on the table for my working mom. I don’t have kids yet, and I know that when I do I’ll be churning out a lot of cotolette.
Every country has their own version of a cotoletta, like wiener schnitzel, veal cutlet, chicken parmesan, tonkatsu, and the tragically underrated chicken fried steak, to name a few. THE Cotoletta alla Milanese, a recipe that we know dates back to at least the 1100's (!!), is a bone-in veal cutlet, dredged in egg and finely ground bread crumbs and then fried in clarified butter. But other regions in Italy have famous versions of the cotoletta as well, for instance in Sicily, the Cotoletta alla Palmitana has spices and cheese mixed in with the breadcrumbs and in the north they also have a version that is pounded thinly before breading. What I’m getting at here is that, while there are indeed a few sacred, gold-plated, museum bound recipes that involve a cotoletta, in many Italian households, like my mother’s, it just means piece of breaded and pan-fried meat. It can be made with any meat (or, hey, a meaty vegetable too) but I like pork and mom loves chicken. I’m not sure why we put parmigiano in the egg, I can't find that addition in many other recipes, but it does taste good. Just make sure the breadcrumbs and the cheese are finely grated, otherwise you’ll have clumps fall off as you try and cook.
SERVING DETAILS
4-6 servings as a main with a few side dishes like Patate Fritte and a crunchy salad (see below for an option)
INGREDIENTS
- 6 cutlets of meat, pounded or split to ½ inch thick cutlets (see below)
- 3 large eggs
- ½ cup of freshly grated parmesan cheese
- 2 cups of unseasoned fine-ground breadcrumbs
- Vegetable oil, salt & pepper
*Optional: 1 head of Savoy Cabbage
METHOD
- Lay out each cutlet between two pieces of cling film and pound to 1/2 an inch thickness with a cleaver. Alternatively, if you have a thicker cut of meat and you don’t have a cleaver, you can use a sharp knife to butterfly it into two pieces and use each one separately.
- In shallow bowl, beat the eggs, a few turns of cracked black pepper, and the cheese.
- In a second shallow bowl add the breadcrumbs and a pinch of salt.
- In a heavy bottomed fry pan, heat a ½ inch of oil over medium heat
- In the meantime, take your first cutlet dip into the egg mixture and shake off excess, then into the breadcrumb mixture. Make sure the cutlet is fully coated and shake off any egg or breadcrumbs after each dip.
- Add the cutlet to the pan and cook until a pretty golden brown, then flip and repeat on the other side, until both sides are crispy and the cutlet is cooked through.
- Move the cutlet to a cooling rack, or plate covered in a paper towels while you cook the rest.
- Serve with big wedges of lemon.
*Optional Savoy Cabbage Side: wash and very thinly slice the cabbage and toss in a bowl with salt, pepper and good quality olive oil.
