I wish I were eating this right now

(Not this blog.)

SuperT asked me how to make the chicken cutlets that I brought to Woolfcamp. OMG someone asked me for a recipe from something I cooked that they ate several months ago. I'm in shock.

Get some extremely thin slabs of chicken. I mean really really thin. If I'm going to make this recipe I usually buy 2 pounds of chicken because it's a pain in the ass to make and you might as well make a lot of it. (You know, this is why my thesis grew to be so huge. If it's going to be painful it might as well be enormous and worth the pain. Can I digress or what? Also, can I relate everything to my thesis, even chicken cutlets?) Rinse them and pat them dry with a clean dishtowel. I don't really grok why, but my mom did and my grandma did and that's enough for me. Perhaps hygiene, perhaps making the egg stick better. Break some eggs into a bowl. Maybe 2 or 3. Have another big flat pan... I use a big glass casserole dish or a big rectangular plastic dish... and put a whole bunch of bread crumbs in there. I use the progresso "italian flavor" breadcrumbs, and I put fresh chopped parsley, oregano, and optionally basil and garlic into the breadcrumbs. If you don't have the fresh stuff or the garlic, it still comes out good. Heat up a jesusfuckload of olive oil in a big pan. Good olive oil. Get the big giant gallon things of it in metal cans from Italy. I get at least 2 pans going to speed up the process. Pound the chicken EVEN FLATTER with a mallet. Then dip it in the egg and into the bread crumbs. Really mash it around in the bread crumbs to make a lot of them stick, and flip the chicken over and mash it around again. Then fry it all up. I like them a little bit burned around the edges and very thin. You'll have to add a lot more olive oil during the frying. Just keep adding it between batches. Flip the chicken just one time, I don't care about that one physics experiment about cooking meat and flipping it constantly being more efficient (ROOK.) When you take the chicken out of the pan put them on a big plate or a pan lined with paper towels.

They're good hot but even better the next day or 2, cold from the fridge. You can also reheat them in a toaster oven. They make good sandwiches. Damn I wish I had a plateful of them right now.

recap:

- 2 lbs chicken breast sliced very thin
- 3 eggs
- 1 large or 2 small cans of progresso italian bread crumbs
- (optional) chopped fresh parsley and oregano
- (even more optional) chopped fresh basil and garlic or whole garlic cloves
- nice olive oil

1. pound the chicken even flatter
2. beat eggs in a big bowl
3. prepare a big flat pan of breadcrumbs
4. dip chicken pieces in eggs
5. mash eggy chicken pieces around in breadcrumbs
6. once you have enough of them ready, heat up olive oil medium hot and fry the chicken
7. Bring the chicken cutlets to me right now.... do not let minnie have the thinnest pieces because that bitch always tries to get the best ones.

Comments

[Iris]

It is interesting that this is so similar to the classic 'wiener schnitzel' .. although I see that in my ancient Austrian cookbook they mix the oil with lard (delicious).

[savtadotty]

I make mine the very same way, with one additional ingredient mixed together with unseasoned breadcrumbs: some grated parmesan cheese. (I'm getting so Green and time-rich in my old age that I home-blend breadcrumbs from stored-in-the-freezer leftover bread.)

[Joshua Macy]

Um, unless by dish-towel you mean a paper-towel, patting raw chicken with anything you're going to touch other surfaces in the kitchen with isn't a recommended practice. Not even if your mom and grandma did it....

[badgerbag]

Silly, but it's just to dry the chicken off and of course then you WASH the dishtowel....

I forgot about the parmesan - optional but if you do it, it's best if it's real parm and you hand grate it. not the powdered kind you buy.

[minnie]

always make a batch of fresh breadcrumbs to mix in with the progrsso ones.

this is after making it with Grandma one day.

put all this stuff in the cusinart:
stale bread - any kind really
garlic - lots of it
parmesan cheese - get the good kind (this is of vital importance)from the italian deli near you
fresh italian parsely.

[lori]

don't eat the blog!

[RJ Mical]

yay! thank you for this. i know what i'm serving at the next movienight. this and your favorite cookies...

[Melissa]

The chicken sounds YUMMY!

[Debra]

Rinsing chicken is an old wives tale that it will wash some of the germs off. That part's not really necessary, but do it if it makes you feel better.

Pat dry with a paper towel (old-timers, yes, would use a dishtowel).

Normally you first dredge the flattened meat in flour, then egg and seasoned breadcrumbs. (wet to dry/dry to wet...). Even after being patted with a towel, chicken is considered a "wet".

Since this is so similar to weinerschnitzel, try a squeeze of lemon on top. (I like it; Steve.. not so much).

Also a good way to cook pork tenderloin.

[Mary]

Remind me to invite you over for a potluck.

[badgerbag]

Look, you crazy wienerschnitzel people, what you don't understand is that the chicken cutlets are merely a delivery system for the main and best food group: really good olive oil.

[liz]

I pound chicken breasts flat using my smaller cast iron skillet. Seems to work better than the mallet. You put the chicken breasts between waxed paper sheets. Since I'm usually making chicken piccata, I sprinkle them with lemon juice first.

David in Israel just published his Great Grandma Dora's flounder recipe:

http://bogieworks.blogs.com/treppenwitz/2006/04/cold_fish.html

A 'Warm' Tradition

One of the most cherished traditions Zahava and I inherited from my mother's family is a delicious recipe for lightly breaded fried sole flounder fillets. I'll be happy to share the recipe so long as people don't mind measurements like 'a pinch'... 'a smidgen'... 'a sprinkling'... etc., but be prepared... because the true greatness of this oniony, peppery dish is the fact that it is served cold.

In order to do this recipe justice it needs to be prepared well in advance. As each batch is passed carefully from the frying pan to the platter and stacked gently between layers of paper towel to absorb the excess oil, the house fills with the intoxicating smell of fried onions and pepper that are part and parcel of the breading.

Once finished, all the fish is placed lovingly in the refrigerator to await the hungry crowd that will hungrily devour every last crumb and stray burnt onion.

Complete instructions for making the dish follow at the original post

http://bogieworks.blogs.com/treppenwitz/2006/04/cold_fish.html