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Pork Cutlets, or Chops (INGREDIENTS Loin of pork)
INGREDIENTS. Loin of pork, pepper and salt to taste. AVERAGE COST, 10d. per lb.
Cut the cutlets from a delicate loin of pork, bone and trim them neatly, and cut away a greater portion of the fat. Season them with pepper; place the gridiron on the fire; when quite hot, lay on the chops, and broil for about 1 hour, turning them 3 or 4 times; and be particular that they are thoroughly done, but not dry. Dish them, sprinkle over a little fine salt, and serve plain, or with tomato sauce, sauce piquante, or pickled gherkins, a few of which should be laid round the dish as a garnish.
TIME.-About hour.
SEASONABLE from October to March.
A plain grilled pork chop from the Victorian repertoire, with the seasoning held back until after cooking. The one thing to change is the timing.
- The cooking time is far too longThe cooking time as printed is far too long -- the instructions say about 1 hour, though the garbled TIME line ("About hour") suggests a fraction of an hour was lost in the scan. Either way it is longer than a modern chop wants: too long over direct heat leaves it grey and dry. A 3/4-inch bone-in chop needs roughly 4-6 minutes a side over high heat; work to an internal temperature of 145F at the centre, then rest 3 minutes.
- Why the original insisted on itUnderdone pork was widely distrusted in the period and cooks were taught to cook it right through; parasite risk from pork was recognised in the same era, though the recipe itself gives no reason. Modern pork is raised under controls that make 145F, with a 3-minute rest, the accepted safe endpoint.
- GridironA hinged or flat iron grate set over the open fire. A ridged cast-iron grill pan, a barbecue grate, or an overhead broiler all stand in; the point is to get it thoroughly hot before the meat touches it.
- Cutting from the loinAsk for centre-cut bone-in loin chops, about 3/4 to 1 inch thick. Anything much thinner will overcook before it colours.
- Trimming the fatThe instruction to cut away most of the fat suits a fatty heritage pig. Modern loin is lean already, so leave the fat cap on for moisture and score it once or twice so it does not curl the chop.
- Salt after, not beforeBeeton seasons with pepper before the chops go on the gridiron and sprinkles fine salt only once they are dished. Salting well ahead, 40 minutes or more, is generally held to give better browning and juicier meat; a light finishing sprinkle of flaky salt still helps.
- TurningThree or four turns is sound practice, not fussiness -- frequent turning cooks a thick chop more evenly than one flip.
- Yield and accompanimentsOne chop per person, two if small. Sauce piquante is a sharp brown sauce cut with vinegar, capers and shallot; tomato sauce or a few cornichons round the dish serve the same purpose of acidity against the fat.
- "Seasonable October to March"Pigs were killed in the cold months before refrigeration. It carries no meaning for buying pork today.
Isabella Beeton's pork entries are shot through with the anxieties of a pre-refrigeration kitchen: pork was the meat of autumn and winter slaughter, salted or eaten quickly, and it was a meat English cooks were often warned to cook through. That accounts for both the narrow season given here and the insistence that the chops be "thoroughly done, but not dry" -- an instruction that quietly admits how often the first requirement destroyed the second. The suggested accompaniments all lean acid, which is the standard Victorian answer to rich meat: tomato sauce, sauce piquante built on vinegar and capers, or simply pickled gherkins laid round the dish, a garnish that was ornament and condiment at once. The per-pound costings that head each of Beeton's entries were a selling point of the book, useful to households keeping an eye on the kitchen accounts, whether they kept many servants or few.