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Chicken Cutlets

Chicken cutlets are breaded and fried chicken patties made with chopped chicken, butter or gravy, eggs, breadcrumbs, and crackers.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and bread are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,232 recipes. Both carry delta-decalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Chicken Cutlets

Ingredients

Directions

Make the mixture

  1. In a saucepan, heat the gravy or drawn butter.

  2. Stir in the chopped chicken, seasoned with salt and pepper, and the bread crumbs.

  3. As the mixture heats, add the beaten eggs and mix well for three minutes.

  4. Pour the mixture onto a broad dish to cool until stiff.

Shape and fry

  1. Once cooled, cut into oblong cakes, three inches long and two inches wide.

  2. Dip each cake in the beaten egg, then coat with rolled crackers.

  3. Fry in hot lard until golden brown.

Serve

  1. Drain and arrange on a flat dish in a log-cabin style before serving.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Butter + breadtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).

  2. Egg + breadtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together22,662 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).

  3. Chicken + breadtop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,258 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity).

  4. Chicken + buttertop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together13,902 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-furfurylthiol (coffee, roasted).

  5. Bread + peppertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,964 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Chicken
Forms the bulk of the cakes and gives them their main flavor and body.
Eggs
Bind the chopped chicken and bread crumbs together and set when heated.
Bread crumbs
Absorb moisture and help the mixture hold its shape while it cools.
Gravy or drawn butter
Adds moisture and richness so the chicken mixture stays tender.
Rolled crackers
Form a crisp, golden coating that browns when fried.

The step that matters

Cooling the mixture until stiff. The mixture must cool fully so the eggs and crumbs set and it holds its shape; cutting it warm makes the cakes fall apart during dipping and frying.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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