Original cotoletta alla milanese: a bone-in veal chop dipped in egg and breadcrumbs and fried in clarified butter. In 45 minutes.
Introduction
Cotoletta alla milanese is a bone-in veal chop, cut from the loin, two or three centimetres thick, dipped in beaten egg and breadcrumbs and fried in clarified butter. Outside, the coating turns golden and crisp; inside, the meat stays pink and juicy, and the bone, which is left attached, works as a handle. In Milan people say «cotoletta», but the name comes from «costoletta», the rib chop, and that is the point: the original version is not a thinly pounded slice of meat, it is a thick cut, with the rib.
There are four ingredients, and the City of Milan put them in writing in 2008, when it gave the cotoletta its De.Co., the municipal designation: veal, eggs, breadcrumbs and butter. No flour, no parmesan in the coating, no oil. The things that make the difference are few. The meat must come out of the fridge ahead of time, because a thick, cold cut stays raw at the centre. The coating must be pressed on firmly, so it does not come away during cooking. And the butter must be clarified, because ordinary butter burns before the cotoletta is cooked. Salt goes on at the end, on the freshly fried crust.
In the glass we pour the Metodo Classico Blanc de Noirs Extra Brut Tre by Buvoli, a Pinot Nero from the Colli Berici refermented in the bottle: the bubbles clean away the butter of the coating and the citrus aromas do the job of the lemon wedge. For those who prefer a red, the Barbera d'Asti DOCG by Tenuta Vallone.
The Story of Cotoletta alla Milanese
The document the Milanese quote most often is a list of dishes from 1134, served to the canons of the basilica of Sant'Ambrogio, in which «lombolos cum panitio» appear, that is breaded loins. Tradition takes it as the cotoletta's birth certificate, and although it does not say how they were cooked, it confirms that breaded meat has a long history in Milan. In Lombard cooking the coating served to protect the lean veal from the heat of the butter, and to give it a flavourful crust without covering its taste.
Then there is the question of the Wiener Schnitzel, the Viennese cutlet, which looks very much like it. A much-told story has it that Field Marshal Radetzky, the Austrian governor of Lombardy-Venetia, described the Milanese cotoletta in a letter to the emperor, and that from there it reached Vienna. The letter, however, has never been found, and food historians consider it a legend. The two recipes are different anyway: the Schnitzel is a boneless slice of meat, pounded thin, also dipped in flour and fried in lard or oil. The Milanese cotoletta keeps its bone and its thickness.
Ingredients
For the cotolette
- bone-in veal loin chops, 2-3 cm thick4
- eggs2
- breadcrumbs150 g
- clarified butter for frying, enough for half a centimetre in the panas needed
- saltto taste
To serve
- green salad200 g
- Extra Virgin Olive Oil Veneto del Grappa 250 ml2 tablespoons
- lemon cut into wedges, optional1
Equipment Needed
- Wide heavy-based frying pan, ideally iron or steel
- Meat mallet or the base of a small saucepan
- Two shallow bowls, for the egg and for the breadcrumbs
- Tongs or a wide spatula for turning the cotolette
- Kitchen paper
- Small sharp knife
Tip: The pan must hold two cotolette at a time without them touching: if they are crowded, the temperature of the butter drops, the coating soaks up the fat and stays greasy instead of turning crisp. The heavy base keeps the heat steady when the meat goes into the pan. Clarified butter can be bought ready-made, but it is also easy to make at home: melt the butter over a very low heat, skim off the white foam that rises to the surface and pour off the yellow part, leaving the milky deposit at the bottom. It is precisely that deposit, now gone, that burns in ordinary butter.
How to Make Cotoletta alla Milanese — Original Recipe
The meat
Take the chops out of the fridge half an hour before. With a small knife, nick the rim of fat and the thin membrane around them in two or three places, without cutting the meat. Cover them with a sheet of baking paper and pound them lightly with the meat mallet, only on the flesh and not on the bone, to even them out: they must stay at least two centimetres thick.
Chef's tip: The rim of fat shrinks as it cooks: if you do not nick it, the cotoletta curls up, no longer sits flat on the base of the pan and colours in patches.
The coating
Beat the eggs in a shallow bowl, without salt. Dry the chops with kitchen paper and dip them in the egg on both sides, letting the excess drip off. Then lay them in the breadcrumbs and press firmly with the palm of your hand, on one side, then the other and along the edges, until the coating sticks all over. Let the cotolette rest for ten minutes before frying them.
Chef's tip: Salt in the egg draws water out of the meat and makes the coating come away during cooking: it goes on at the end. The rest lets the egg dry, so that it holds the breadcrumbs in place.
The frying
Heat a generous half centimetre of clarified butter in the pan over medium heat. It is ready when a pinch of breadcrumbs dropped in sizzles straight away. Lay in two cotolette and cook them for five or six minutes per side, until the crust is golden and even, spooning the butter from the pan over the top side and over the bone. Turn the cotolette only once.
Chef's tip: The butter must not smoke: if it darkens, lower the flame. Over too high a heat the coating burns before the centre of the chop is cooked.
Serving
Take the cotolette out of the pan and stand them upright for a minute, resting on the bone, or on a wire rack, so the excess butter drips away and the crust does not turn soggy. Salt them straight away, on the still-hot coating, and serve them with the salad dressed with raw olive oil and, for those who want it, a lemon wedge on the side. Fry the other two in the same way.
Chef's tip: Do not lay freshly fried cotolette flat on kitchen paper: the steam coming out of the meat gets trapped underneath and softens the coating on the bottom side.
Wine to Pair with Cotoletta alla Milanese
Cotoletta alla milanese looks like a simple dish, and for wine it is not. Inside there is veal, a pale, delicate meat that anything will cover. Outside there is the coating, egg and breadcrumbs, fried in clarified butter until golden and crisp: that is where the flavour of the dish lies, and that is where the fat lies. The butter gets into the crust and coats it, and mouthful after mouthful it builds up on the palate. So the wine has two jobs. It must clean the butter from the mouth, with acidity or with bubbles, otherwise by the third mouthful the cotoletta tastes of nothing but frying. And it must leave the veal alone, so no hard tannins and no obvious oak, which turn bitter on pale meat. A dry sparkling Pinot Nero does both things at once. Those who prefer a red should look for one that is fresh and almost free of tannin, which is a portrait of Barbera.
The Sparkling Wine We Recommend
Metodo Classico Blanc de Noirs Extra Brut Tre — Buvoli — The **Tre by Buvoli** is a Blanc de Noirs, that is a traditional-method sparkling wine made only from Pinot Nero grapes, which come from the Colli Berici. On the cotoletta it works in three ways. The bubbles, fine and persistent, carry away the butter of the coating with every sip, and do it better than any still wine, because carbon dioxide cuts the fat even where acidity alone cannot reach. Pinot Nero gives it a body that a traditional-method Chardonnay would not have: the wine stays level with the meat instead of disappearing behind the crust. And the roughly 36 months on the lees, with a share of reserve wines aged in wood, give it a creaminess that binds with the toasted bread of the coating. On the nose it has bergamot, lemon and citron, and on the cotoletta they do the job of the lemon wedge many people squeeze over it. With 4 grams of sugar per litre it is an Extra Brut, so dry, and it does not sweeten the fried crust. The limit: with 12% vol it is a light wine, and on a cotoletta served with a very savoury side, such as roast potatoes with rosemary, you taste the side more than the glass. Serve it at 10-12 °C, in a white wine glass rather than a flute, so the aromas open up.
Want to know more about the grape? our guide to Metodo Classico sparkling wine
If You Prefer a Red
Barbera d'Asti DOCG — Tenuta Vallone — In Milanese trattorias the cotoletta has always been drunk with a red as well, and the red that suits it best is one with plenty of acidity and little tannin. Barbera is made that way by nature. The **Barbera d'Asti DOCG by Tenuta Vallone** comes from Conzano, in the Monferrato Casalese, and is aged for 17 months in steel: no wood in the foreground, so no toasty notes adding to the fried crust. Its acidity does on the butter of the coating the job the bubbles do in the Tre, and the red fruit, cherry and small berries, accompanies the veal without covering it. The tannin is soft and does not turn bitter on the pale meat. The limit is the alcohol: with 14,5% vol it is a full wine, better suited to a thick, bone-in cotoletta than to a thin «orecchia d'elefante», where the glass weighs more than the dish. Serve it at 16 °C, the lowest temperature the producer gives: any warmer and you taste the alcohol on the fried crust.
Want to know more about the grape? our guide to Barbera
Craft Beer as an Alternative
Bold Helles Beer — pale — Breaded, fried meat with a pale lager is a pairing they know well in Vienna too, where the cotoletta is called Schnitzel. The **Bold Helles by Norah's Farm** is a bottom-fermented Helles from the Venetian foothills, with 4,8% vol: the pale malt tastes of grain and bread, and leans on the coating instead of contrasting with it. The carbonation cleans away the butter, and the slightly dry, bitter finish closes the mouthful. The hops, which the producer marks as low, add no bitterness to the crust. The limit: it is a delicate beer, and on the cotoletta it lets the dish speak, but it removes the butter less decisively than traditional-method bubbles. Serve it at 6-8 °C.
Want to know more about the style? pale craft beers
Serve It With
The cotoletta is served on its own on the plate, piping hot, with a pinch of salt on the crust. The lemon wedge is optional: many Milanese do not want it, because the juice wets the coating and makes it soft, and those who use it squeeze a few drops over at the moment of eating. The most classic side is potatoes, roasted or fried, or a green salad that refreshes the mouth after the butter. For the salad, one thing done well is enough: crisp leaves, a pinch of salt and a drizzle of raw olive oil. The Olio Extravergine Veneto del Grappa has a delicate fruitiness that you taste on raw vegetables without it covering the meat.
In summer in Milan the cotoletta is also eaten topped with a salad of fresh tomatoes and rocket: it is the version many call «alla caprese» or «estiva», the summer one. The vegetables go on only at the moment of serving, otherwise the coating gets soggy.
Variations
- Orecchia d'elefante: a larger slice of loin, boneless or bone-in, pounded to a few millimetres thick and fried for a few minutes per side. It is huge, hangs over the edge of the plate, and it is the trattoria version. It cooks quickly and the meat ends up drier: here what matters is that the butter is good and hot.
- Alla caprese or summer style: the fried cotoletta is topped with a salad of chopped cherry tomatoes, rocket and a drizzle of olive oil, sometimes with mozzarella. Assemble it at the last moment, because the tomatoes wet the coating.
- Double coating: for a thicker crust, after the first pass through the breadcrumbs the cotoletta goes back into the egg and again into the breadcrumbs. Some use coarser crumbs, made at home from stale bread. The crust becomes crisper but absorbs more butter.
- With ordinary butter: if you have no clarified butter, you can use half butter and half seed oil, which raises the temperature at which the butter burns. The flavour changes little, but the City of Milan's recipe calls for butter only.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the difference between cotoletta alla milanese and Wiener Schnitzel?
Cotoletta alla milanese is a **bone-in veal chop**, two or three centimetres thick, dipped only in egg and breadcrumbs and fried in butter. The Viennese **Wiener Schnitzel** is a boneless slice of veal, pounded thin, dipped first in flour, then in egg and breadcrumbs, and fried in lard or oil. The thinly pounded Milanese version, the orecchia d'elefante, is the closest to the Schnitzel.
Is flour used in cotoletta alla milanese?
No. The traditional recipe, the one the City of Milan put in writing with the De.Co., calls only for **egg and breadcrumbs**. Flour is used in the Viennese Schnitzel and in many homemade cutlets, because it helps the coating stick. In the Milanese version the same job is done by the pressure of the hand and the ten-minute rest before frying.
Why is it fried in clarified butter?
Because ordinary butter contains water and milk proteins, which already burn at around 150 °C and leave black specks and a bitter taste on the coating. **Clarified butter** is pure fat and withstands much higher temperatures, the ones needed to brown a thick cotoletta without burning it. The taste of butter, which is the taste of the dish, stays the same.
Why does the coating come away from the cotoletta?
Usually for three reasons. The meat was damp and was not dried before the egg; the coating was not pressed on firmly enough; or salt was put in the egg, which draws water out of the meat. Butter that is not hot enough also makes the crust come away, because the breadcrumbs soak instead of frying. And the cotoletta should be turned only once.
Which wine goes with cotoletta alla milanese?
One that cleans the butter of the coating from the mouth without covering the veal. The safest choice is a dry **Metodo Classico**, ideally from Pinot Nero: the bubbles cut the fat and the body stands up to the meat. Those who prefer a red should look for one that is fresh and low in tannin, such as a **Barbera**. Alternatively, a bottom-fermented pale beer, such as a Helles, works well.
