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Fried Pork Cutlets
Take off the skin and extra fat from a loin of pork, chop it into cutlets; fry them in a lump of butter till a bright brown. Have ready the bones and any trimmings from ham or bacon, and brown them with a couple of sliced onions; cover with water and boil for two hours; then strain and skin. Pour this liquor into another saucepan, and thicken with a little isinglass, and add a small quantity of browning for a color. Brush this glaze over the cutlets, put them on a hot dish, and turn over some hot tomato sauce; serve immediately.
A Victorian two-part dish: plain pan-fried pork chops, then a meat glaze built from ham bones, brushed on for shine. The glaze is the whole point, and it is where the archaic ingredients sit.
- The hinge: reduce, don't just thickenA proper glaze comes from boiling the strained stock down hard until it is syrupy and coats a spoon, which is what makes it cling to the cutlets. The isinglass is a shortcut to that body; reducing two hours' worth of ham-bone stock by three-quarters gives a better result and needs no setting agent.
- IsinglassA gelatin made from the swim bladders of fish, sold in sheets or shreds and once standard for clearing and setting. Powdered or leaf gelatin does the same job; a scant teaspoon of powder per cup of stock gives a glaze that is tacky rather than rubbery.
- BrowningCommercial gravy browning, essentially burnt-sugar caramel, sold in bottles. Modern gravy browning or a few drops of caramel colouring is the direct equivalent; a teaspoon of dark soy or a spoonful of home-made caramel will also darken the liquor without sweetening it.
- "Cutlets" from a loinThese are simply loin chops, cut about three-quarters of an inch thick. A boneless loin cut to the same thickness works, though the bone helps keep the meat juicy over a hot pan.
- Cook to temperature, not colourBrowning both sides in butter takes four or five minutes a side and will not reliably cook a thick chop through. Pull them at 145F at the centre and rest five minutes; period recipes routinely took pork well past that, and trichinosis is in any case no longer a meaningful risk in commercial pork.
- Skim the stock coldHam and bacon bones throw a great deal of fat. Chilling the strained liquor lets the fat set into a cap you can lift off whole, which matters here because a greasy glaze will not set or shine.
- Salt at the endHam and bacon trimmings are already cured, and reducing that stock to a glaze concentrates the salt sharply. Season only after the reduction is finished.
- YieldA loin cut into eight chops serves four; since the liquor is brushed on as a glaze, only a small quantity of reduced stock is needed. The tomato sauce goes over the cutlets on the hot dish just before serving, so have it hot and thin enough to pour.