Whether or not it’s for schnitzel, hen fried steak, or a superbly fried hen thigh, practically each meat-eating, critical dwelling prepare dinner has experimented with three-step breading a cutlet of some selection or one other. Possibly they’ve even tried knocking that down to 2 steps, skipping the flour and utilizing solely the egg and breadcrumbs, as is usually achieved for a veal milanese or milanesa de res.
However if you happen to’re like me, making that degree of mess simply isn’t one thing you’re eager to do fairly often. There are all of the bowls that don’t match within the dishwasher. There are the invariably gloopy fingers, even if you happen to’re utilizing a fork or three. Regardless of how comfortable the ensuing cutlets make everybody, you hesitate to make them once more any time quickly, a reluctance shared by whoever is caught cleansing the kitchen.
Enter: flash-fried cutlets, made with a easy one-step breading technique. They’re impressed by silpancho, a dish my sister, Leah Su Quiroga (a former Chez Panisse head chef), discovered in her husband’s hometown of Cochabamba, Bolivia. Silpancho, the city’s signature dish, is a comforting plate of rice, fried potatoes, and an excellent skinny, fried beef cutlet, topped with salsa and a fried egg (or two).
Most silpancho makers press — or pound — the meat straight into fantastic breadcrumbs, and a few even use floor meat reasonably than a real cutlet. Stunning, I do know. No flour or egg required? Doesn’t the breading simply slide proper off the meat?
Seems, it doesn’t. Certain, if you happen to’re breading one thing slick or dry — say, mushrooms, onions, or zucchini slices — you’re going to want that flour and egg. However that’s not essentially the case with meat, particularly if it’s pounded paper skinny — or simpler but, floor.
Within the years since we discovered learn how to make silpancho, we’ve been urgent meat straight into breadcrumbs frequently. We desire utilizing floor meat, which makes it simpler, quicker, and cheaper. Plus, it’s exceptionally versatile. You should use any kind of floor meat you need, even together.
To make the cutlets, all it’s a must to do is pour a good layer of breadcrumbs onto a flat, rimmed floor (a baking sheet is nice, however I desire one thing sufficiently small to pop into the dishwasher, like a flat plate with an outer lip). Roll a bit meatball, set it on the breadcrumbs, and flatten it as skinny as you may with out it falling aside. Press some breadcrumbs on high or flip it over to coat either side. To save lots of time (and keep away from dirtying a mixing bowl), we simply sprinkle a bit salt and pepper on the breaded cutlets earlier than frying. (You might season whereas flattening, however you then run the chance of oversalting the breadcrumbs as you’re employed by your whole meat.) Then a fast shallow fry and also you’re achieved. We’re keen on serving them merely, alongside a vivid salad. They’re additionally nice in a sandwich with a fried egg, crisp lettuce, and one thing pickley, or, recalling conventional silpancho, served with rice, a fried egg, and salsa. The youngsters devour them any which approach — together with chilly, straight out of the fridge — so long as ketchup is concerned.
To make the cutlets Asian type, use half floor pork and half crumbled tofu, together with some grated onion and salt and pepper. (You’ll want one mixing bowl for this model.) Or, as a substitute for tofu, use thawed riced cauliflower, which is my favourite approach to sneak extra greens into my kids. These take a bit extra care to bread, and also you’ll need to maintain them a bit thicker in order that they don’t disintegrate. As an alternative of urgent them into breadcrumbs on a plate, I press the cutlets between two barely cupped fingers filled with breadcrumbs (panko guidelines right here). Impressed by our favourite Japanese katsu eating places, we serve them with a plate of steaming short-grain white rice, finely shredded inexperienced cabbage, and a giant dollop of pink sauce (mayo meets ketchup or sriracha).
So put your three bowls away. This one easy technique offers you many terrific meals!
Cammie Kim Lin is a writing professor at New York College and co-author of (Severe) New Cook dinner: Recipes, Suggestions, & Methods,
Molly DeCoudreaux is a meals photographer primarily based in San Francisco.