Home › The Principles of Cookery › Pork Cutlets, Marinaded
Pork Cutlets, Marinaded
Mince an onion finely, and lay it at the bottom of a shallow dish, with a bay-leaf, a table-spoonful of chopped parsley, a salt-spoonful of salt, and a salt-spoonful of pepper. Lay the cutlets upon this mixture, and cover with oil. Let them lie for two hours, turn them, and leave them two hours longer. Fry them in the marinade till they are thoroughly cooked; drain them, place them round a hot dish, pour a little tomato sauce into the centre, and serve. Time to fry, fifteen to eighteen minutes. Probable cost, 1s. per pound. Sufficient, one pound for two or three persons.
A simple oil marinade with onion and herbs, then a shallow fry in the same oil. The only real adjustments are to the quantity of oil and to the cooking time, which reflects a much thicker, older-style cutlet and a fear of undercooked pork that no longer applies in the same way.
- Salt-spoonA salt-spoon holds roughly a quarter of a teaspoon. So about 1/4 teaspoon each of salt and pepper for a pound of meat — season more generously at the pan if it tastes flat.
- "Cover with oil"Taken literally this is a great deal of oil. In a small shallow dish that fits the cutlets snugly, 1/2 to 3/4 cup of a neutral oil will do; turn them at the halfway mark as directed rather than submerging them fully.
- What a cutlet meantMost likely a rib chop or a slice from the loin, bone in; the recipe itself does not say, and the long frying time implies something thicker than a modern chop. Modern boneless loin chops are leaner and thinner, and will cook far faster than the recipe allows.
- The frying timeFifteen to eighteen minutes suits a thick Victorian chop and will dry out a 3/4-inch supermarket chop entirely. Cook to an internal 145F and rest for three minutes; on a thin chop that is more like four to six minutes a side.
- Frying in the marinadeThe onion in the oil will catch and blacken over high heat. Keep the pan at a steady medium, or lift the cutlets clear of most of the onion before they go in and add it back for the last few minutes.
- Bay leafOne dried leaf in an oil marinade for four hours gives very little. A fresh leaf, bruised, or two dried ones will actually register.
- The tomato sauceA plain cooked tomato sauce, not a ketchup and not a pasta sauce heavy with garlic and herbs. It is there as a foil to the oil, so keep it sharp and thin enough to pool.
- Yield and costOne pound for two or three people, as stated, which is modest by current portions — reckon on a pound for two. The shilling a pound is a period price note.
Marinading — from the French mariner, connected with steeping in brine or sea water — had by the nineteenth century come to mean any soaking in an acid or aromatic liquid before cooking. Cassell's places this among a run of pork cutlet variations, which is characteristic of the dictionary format: one basic preparation given several ways so a household cook could ring changes on a cheap joint. The oil-and-onion steeping here seasons meat that could otherwise be bland.