Fry to greater heights with crispy, restaurant-worthy pork milanese
My husband and I joke that our marriage is held together by a pork cutlet.
For years, Wildair, a natural wine bar on New York’s Lower East Side, was our personal Cheers, where everybody knew our names. We felt perfectly at home there, and it wasn’t just an opportunity to eat inventive and impeccably executed food, but also a chance to see chef-owners Fabián von Hauske and Jeremiah Stone, who had become our friends. We’d joke that the milanese was inscribed in our ketubah vows, and that if one of us ever ate at Wildair without the other and came home without the cutlet in hand, it would automatically trigger divorce proceedings.
Sometimes, I’d wind up at Wildair for a work dinner, and toward the end of the meal, I’d order a milanese to go. The cutlet was sacred, the “holy milanese.” The staff had caught on to this being a thing and would send me home with the dish elaborately wrapped in foil swans or other hilariously sculpted animals. When we moved to the Washington, we became homesick for Wildair and its milanese.
Naturally, I wanted to be sure that making this milanese at home wasn’t going to be a safety hazard. Many cooks are apprehensive about deep frying; the vat of hot oil seems dangerous, the leftover oil wasteful. But – perhaps counterintuitively – I find deep-frying simpler and faster than shallow-frying. With the latter, oil splatters all over my stove top (and counters and microwave, which hangs above), and I always dread scrubbing afterward. But deep-frying, with its sheer volume of oil and a deep pot, produces no such mess. Letting the oil cool, then straining and reusing it a few times, is economical and less wasteful. (It’s not even that much oil, after all – about three cups or so.) And it helps that the hotter oil temperature and faster cooking time ensure the coating stays adhered to the meat, instead of puffing out and separating. It not only makes for a prettier presentation, but it’s also nice to get a bite of deliciously seasoned, crispy breading with each bite of tender, flavorful pork – and not be forced to eat them separately.
Minutes after you lower the meat into the hot oil, it’s done – gorgeously golden and glistening. The cutlet is served alongside gribiche, a French cold egg sauce spiked with capers, cornichons, shallot and herbs, and lemony mustard greens, which cut through the richness of meat with their punchy, herbaceous notes and bright acidity.
When I made milanese at home, I heated my oil to 400 degrees and super carefully lowered my breaded meat into the pan. To my delight, the flash deep-frying went without a hitch, and minutes later we were eating flavorful pork while feeling transported. We missed our friends, as well as a foil swan, but we were giddy that we could re-create the experience in our own kitchen without much effort. The plating sure looked fancy, but it was simple, delicious, stepped-up home cooking – the very best kind.
It’s a relief to know our marriage – bound by this glorious, breaded cutlet – is safe.
PORK MILANESE WITH GRIBICHE Active: 45 minutes | Total: 1 hour
4 to 6 servings
Behold, the crispiest, more flavorful milanese of your dreams. Flavorful pork shoulder does most of the work here in the taste department, along with briny, delightful gribiche (French egg sauce with capers and cornichons). Using flour helps to dry the meat and helps the eggs adhere better. A quick flash-fry ensures the finished product stays thin and doesn’t inflate.
Get a butcher to thinly cut the pork shoulder for you; it’s a tricky cut, and an inexperienced person will cut lumps. Alternatively, you can buy the pork shoulder and slice it yourself.
Note: Should you have leftover gribiche, it makes for excellent (and far from boring) egg salad.
Make Ahead: The gribiche can be made and stored, covered, in the refrigerator up to 4 days.
Where to Buy: If possible, ask a butcher to cut cutlets from the boneless pork shoulder.
Ingredients
FOR THE GRIBICHE
4 large eggs
¼ cup olive oil
2 tablespoons finely chopped shallot
2 tablespoons finely chopped drained capers
2 tablespoons finely chopped cornichons (about 4)
2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
1½ tablespoons Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar Kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper FOR THE PORK
Canola oil, for frying (about 3 cups) Four (5-ounce) pork shoulder cutlets, pounded thin between ½- to ¼-inch thickness
½ cup flour
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1½ cups panko bread crumbs Kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper Lemon wedges, for serving
Photo by Justin Tsucalas for the Washington Post
FOR THE SALAD
Generous 4 cups (3 ounces) baby mustard greens or baby arugula
Juice of ½ lemon, or more as needed Extra-virgin olive oil
Flaky sea salt, such as Maldon
Steps
Make the gribiche: Place the eggs in a small saucepan, cover them with 2 inches of water and bring to a boil. Meanwhile, prepare an ice bath in a large bowl. Cook the eggs at a rapid boil for 9 minutes, then transfer them to the ice bath. Let the eggs cool for about 5 minutes, then peel.
Finely chop the eggs and transfer to a medium bowl. Add the olive oil, shallot, capers, cornichons, parsley, mustard and vinegar and mix well to combine; the gribiche should be the consistency of paste. If the gribiche is too thick, stir in 1 tablespoon of water. Season lightly with salt and pepper.
Make the pork: In a large, heavy-bottomed pot, such as a Dutch oven, heat 3 cups canola oil over medium heat until it reaches 400 degrees.
Pat the meat dry with paper towels and, using a meat mallet, pound each pork cutlet between two large pieces of parchment paper. If necessary, pat the pork dry again.
Put the flour, eggs and panko in 3 separate shallow containers and set them in a row. Season the pork with salt and pepper and lightly dip in the flour, just to coat. Dip the cutlets in the egg and then in the panko, pressing to help the crumbs adhere. Let the cutlets sit, undisturbed, for about 10 minutes – this helps the panko absorb the egg. When the oil is ready, working in batches, fry the pork cutlets, turning once, until golden and crispy, 3 to 4 minutes. Transfer to paper towels to drain and immediately sprinkle with kosher salt.
Make the salad: In a large bowl, gently toss the mustard greens with lemon juice, a drizzle of olive oil and a few pinches of flaky salt until combined. Taste and season with more lemon juice or salt, if desired.
Serve with a dollop of the gribiche, the mustard greens, and lemon wedges for squeezing over the meat.