Beef Cutlets

    One of my favorite comfort foods is breaded beef cutlets. I picked up some cutlets cut from sirloin at Spera’s on Sunday night. I have said this before on my sandwich blog: Spera’s has the best meat around, whether it is cold cuts, beef, chicken, pork, or anything else they carry. The package I bought had a little over 6/10ths a pound which was perfect for the two of us. Six sand dollar sized pieces were cut to about a quarter of an inch in thickness. For the breading, I use Italian style bread crumbs which you can buy in any grocery store. If you just have regular bread crumbs like I did, just add some Italian seasoning, onion powder, garlic powder, and some extra parsley. Use one egg per pound of cutlets to moisten them enough for the bread crumbs to stick. I added a bit of milk to the egg instead of water when making the egg wash just as a personal preference. Heat up about three tablespoons of olive oil in a large skillet and add the cutlets after breading them. Since the cutlets come so thin, I only cook them for about 3 minutes on each side at a medium high heat. Do NOT turn your attention away from them because they can burn very easily. Mine came out to the dark brown I was looking for.

     For sides I had pierogies and mixed vegetables. The mixed vegetables were the steam in bag type so I didn’t do anything extra to them. The pierogies were also frozen but I decided instead of baking them like I normally do, I would sauté them per suggestion of my co-workers. So like most of the stuff I make, I started by sautéing some minced garlic in olive oil and then added the pierogies. They cooked for about 12 minutes which heated them through but didn’t give them the crunch that I had hoped for. Since the cutlets were already out of the pan and onto the plates, I had to pull the pierogies before they could crisp up.

     The pierogies were soft but tasted fine and the garlic added some extra flavor. I don’t think I will sauté them again without adding more to the pan like onions. The beef cutlets came out just the way my mom makes them which is how I wanted them to come out. The meat was tender but cooked through to the point there was little to no pink in any of them. The breading stayed together for the most part; more oil would have ensured that. The simple breading mixture used in this dish can be used on any meat really but it is just the best on beef cutlets. No changes are need to these cutlets, just more practice in the act of making them.

Rating: Yummy - A quick and easy comfort food.