Okay, so I am not going to even pretend that Milanesas (Breaded Cutlets) are Mexican. What is distinctly Mexican is how we often eat them, in a big, fat, exquisite Torta de Milanesa. Tortas, as you probably know, are the Mexican version of sandwiches, only bigger, better, epic! The bread in tortas is a type of roll. We call it Bolillo or Virote, similar in texture and flavor to a baguette (soft inside, crusty outside). Bolillos are sold in most grocery stores, in the Bakery section. If you fail to find them, you can use a ciabatta or baguette cut to size.
You can also enjoy your Milanesa sans the torta ingredients. Accompany it with potato salad, mashed potatoes, french fries or simply your favorite salad.
Milanesa means, literally, “from Milan”, as in Milan, Italy. It is thought that Milanesas were imported to South America by Italian immigrants. And from there, it made the jump to Mexico. Thank God for that! I am not sure how they made the long, long jump. I guess it is safe to say some smart traveler brought the recipe back with them.
The beauty of Milanesas is that you can use almost any meat for your breaded cutlet. You can use chicken, pork, beef and there are even vegetarian versions with soy meat and eggplant.
I am going to pass on the last two, thank you very much! And today we are making the Milanesas with beef. They sell the steaks at the grocery store, labelled simply as “Milanesas”. This cutlets are really thin. They need to be because the frying will be over medium-high heat in a relatively brief period of time. Everything needs to be safely cooked. This medium-high heat method prevents the bread coating the cutlet from absorbing too much grease while the cutlet cooks inside.
Like I said, use your favorite meat. Whatever thin cut you have handy. Chicken thighs, for example, are especially juicy. If the cut you will be using is thicker than, say, .5″ (1 cm roughly) pound it a little bit. Again, this is to ensure that while the breading outside gets golden and crusty/crunchy the meat will reach safe doneness.
Regarding the “breaded” part of the Milanesa, feel free to use dried bread crumbs, crushed crackers or Panko crumbs, like I did.
Some people consider it sacrilege to fry the Milanesas in anything other than clarified butter. But, since we are full of chutzpah and don’t care about this type of transgression, we used vegetable oil. The Milanesas are still delicious and, besides, I am not that much of a purist!
Milanesas (Breaded Cutlets)
Ingredients
- 4 .5 " thick cutlets Beef, pork or chicken for Milanesas grocery stores have them packed and labelled "Milanesas" in the meat department.
- salt and freshly ground black pepper
- For dredging:
- 1 cup all purpose flour
- 3 units eggs lightly beaten
- 1 cup bread crumbs, Panko crumbs or crushed butter crackers
- vegetable oil, for frying the Milanesas
- To assemble the Tortas:
- 4 units Bolillo, Virote or Telera rolls or Ciabatta, or Baguette. (Bolillos are sold in the Bakery section in most grocery stores)
- 1 cup shredded lettuce
- 2 units tomatoes sliced (1/4")
- 2 units avocados sliced (1/4")
- 1/3 wedge white onion thinly sliced
- sliced pickled Jalapeno or halved canned Chipotles you can remove seeds and veins with food-grade latex gloves, if you so desire.
- mayonaisse
- 1 cup black refried beans
Instructions
- Prepare the cutlets:
- Generously season the cutlets with salt and pepper. Place the dredging ingredients in deep dishes or baking pans 9a bowl works better for the eggs) and line them up in this order: flour, then beaten eggs and finish with bread crumbs. Season flour with salt and pepper. Dip the cutlets into the flour, then the eggs (make sure they are completely covered in egg so that the bread crumbs stick and don't fall off) and finally into the bread crumbs, pressing down on both sides of each cutlet so that the bread crumbs stick.
- Heat 1/2-inch of oil in a large, heavy skillet to 350 degrees F. Fry the cutlets in batches in the skillet until golden, about 3 minutes per side (it will depend on the thickness; that's why we need the cutlets to be thin). Drain excess oil on paper towels.
- To assemble the tortas:
- Halve the Bolillo/Telera rolls horizontally and lengthwise. Pull out and discard the soft center of the slices. Spread each roll evenly with refried black beans and mayonnaise. Place the cutlets on the bottom halves of the rolls and top with lettuce, tomato, avocado, onion, jalapeno or chipotle slices and then the other half of the roll.
- Enjoy!
Notes
Recent Comments