All Hail the Chicken Cutlet
universally beloved.
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One of my all-time favorite things to make and eat is a chicken cutlet. The combination of crispy exterior and juicy interior just can’t be beat. I love it served with a dollop of Dijon on the side (to drag it through as I slice off bites) and with a vinegary salad for balance—it’s perfect. Leftovers are, again, eaten with Dijon or some other kind of condiment or sauce, often cold, directly from the fridge.
Countries around the world all have some variation on a cutlet. Italy, Germany, Brazil, Japan, Argentina, and Poland all have beloved recipes that include breading a piece of pounded meat.
I love a breaded chicken cutlet on a sandwich. If I go to a deli and they have a breaded chicken cutlet as an option, I’m hard pressed not to order it. Sometimes layered with other cured meats, sometimes with a spicy mayo, often with something pickled and something crunchy, and, more often than not, cheese.
I typically use chicken when I make cutlets. I don’t always brine it, especially if I’m using chicken thighs. But lately I’ve been using chicken breasts and marinating them in fresh lemon juice for an hour. The lemon juice helps to tenderize—and flavor!—the chicken; just be sure not to marinate for longer than an hour, otherwise the proteins in the chicken breakdown, leaving you with kind of mushy chicken.
This is one of my favorite ways to cook chicken breasts. Even without the lemon juice, cooking chicken breasts as cutlets helps them to retain their moisture because they cook evenly and more quickly. You don’t necessarily have to pan-fry chicken cutlets, but it’s definitely my favorite way to cook them. Adding different seasonings (parmesan, sesame seeds, nuts, coconut) to the breadcrumbs is *fun*, although, I guess you could also just tenderize the chicken and quickly cook it with a pan sauce, like Chicken Paillard.
When I’m home, I’ll often make a version inspired by a katsu sandwich.
A katsu sandwich is a Japanese sandwich consisting of a pork or chicken cutlet (the name “katsu” is an abbreviation for the Japanese word for cutlet) sandwiched between fluffy white bread (Japanese milk bread, called shokupan) sometimes with mayonnaise and always with tonkatsu sauce and a cabbage slaw.
My cousin, chef Elena Yamamoto, makes some of the best pork tonkatsu I’ve ever had. She brines the pork overnight. The pork is tender, juicy, and flavorful. When she texts me that she’s making tonkatsu and invites me over, I drop whatever I’m doing and go straight there.
For my chicken cutlet sandwich, I use a mixture of red and green cabbage and toss it with olive oil, salt, pepper, and lemon juice (plus a little bit of scallion) and also add sliced pickles and mayonnaise. Japanese milk bread is so light and fluffy, so if I can get my hands on that, it’s what I use.
The beauty of a sandwich lies in its portability. I recently took the leftovers after testing and shooting this sandwich with me on a flight. I kept all of the ingredients separate and assembled it when I was ready. (I didn’t want the slaw to sog-up my bread.)
My fellow travel companions were more than just a little jealous. While they sat eating airport food, I casually assembled my perfect sandwich, smearing mayonnaise on the bread, then topping it with a chicken cutlet, sliced pickles, and the slaw. I sliced it in half, showing off the cross-section. Man, I really am an a-hole.
Recipe below. I just saw Arielle Nir Mamiye post a chicken schnitzel breaded with kataifi and I gotta try it! What’s your favorite way to cook // eat a chicken cutlet?
Chicken Cutlet Sandwich Recipe
INGREDIENTS
Serves 4
Prep time: 20 minutes
Total time: 1 hour
