Veal Milanese recipe: Milan's golden breaded cutlet
Amuse Kitchen's version of cotoletta alla milanese, the bone-in veal cutlet that Jean-Georges Vongerichten just put on his new Venice menu, explained step by step.
Cotoletta alla milanese is a bone-in veal cutlet, pounded thin, breaded and fried in clarified butter until the crust shatters before the meat does; Milan has argued over its exact method for at least two centuries.
The dish showed up this week on the opening menu of abc kitchens in Venice, chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten's first Italian restaurant, alongside pizza and handmade pasta. Amuse Kitchen's version keeps the bone in, a detail that separates a proper cotoletta from a boneless schnitzel and helps the meat hold its shape in the pan.
Ingredients
Two centuries of arguing over one cutlet, and Milan still hasn't agreed on a sauce, because there isn't one.
- 4 bone-in veal chops, about 200 g each, pounded to 1 cm thick
- 2 large eggs
- 200 g fine dried breadcrumbs
- 50 g plain flour
- 150 g clarified butter (or 120 g butter plus 3 tbsp neutral oil)
- 1 lemon, cut into wedges
- Fine salt
Method
- Pound each chop between two sheets of baking paper to an even 1 cm, leaving the bone intact; even thickness is what makes the meat and crust cook at the same rate.
- Dust each chop in flour, shaking off the excess, then dip in beaten egg and press into the breadcrumbs, patting them on firmly so the coating won't separate in the pan.
- Rest the breaded chops on a rack for 15 minutes before frying; the crumb sets and clings better once it has dried slightly.
- Heat the clarified butter in a wide pan until it shimmers, then fry the chops for 3-4 minutes a side, without moving them, until deep gold; clarified butter has no milk solids left to burn at this heat.
- Lift onto kitchen paper, salt immediately while the fat is still hot so the salt sticks, and serve within minutes with lemon wedges.
A green salad, not a sauce
Milan's own rule is to serve the cotoletta with nothing heavier than a squeeze of lemon and a simple salad of rocket or mixed leaves dressed in olive oil; a sauce would soften the crust that took five steps to build. abc kitchens plates its version alongside seasonal vegetables rather than the classic potato side, closer to how Milanese trattorias serve it in summer.
Leftover cutlets reheat badly in a microwave, which turns the crust soft; a hot, dry pan for two minutes a side brings back most of the crunch.
Why does the breading fall off in the pan? Usually because the crumb wasn't pressed on firmly enough, or the chop went straight into the fat without the 15-minute rest that lets the coating bond to the meat.
