Cotoletta alla Milanese

A bone-in veal chop crumbed and fried in butter, served with nothing but lemon.

Veal, Egg. Not vegetarian — contains veal.

Ingredients

• 4 veal rib chops, bone in, about 250 g each
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 200 g fine dry breadcrumbs
• 150 g butter
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 lemon, in wedges

Method

1. Beat the chops out to about 1 cm, keeping the bone attached. THE BONE STAYS ON. It is not decoration: it holds the meat flat in the pan and stops the thin end curling away from the heat.
2. Dip each chop in egg and press it into the breadcrumbs on both sides. No flour first — the egg goes straight onto the meat and the crumb straight onto the egg.
3. Melt the butter in a wide pan until it foams and the foam begins to subside. FRIED IN BUTTER, not oil: the browning of the milk solids is the flavour of the crust and oil gives you a paler, blander one.
4. Lay the chops in and cook 4 minutes a side over a medium heat, spooning butter over the top as they go.
5. If the butter darkens past hazelnut, pour it out and start with fresh. Burnt butter is bitter and there is nothing else on this plate to cover it.
6. Drain briefly, salt, and serve with lemon. No sauce, no cheese, no tomato — those belong to the other two cotolette on this site.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under Italy · All recipes