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Pork Cutlets

Pork cutlets are breaded pork chops fried in lard or dripping.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Sage and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,388 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓

Pork Cutlets

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the pork

  1. Choose a nice loin of young pork and cut it into neat chops.

  2. Trim off excess fat if necessary.

Coat the cutlets

  1. Season the bread crumbs with pepper, salt, and minced sage.

  2. Dip the cutlets into the beaten egg, then coat with the seasoned bread crumbs.

Fry

  1. Heat plenty of boiling lard or dripping in a frying pan.

  2. Fry the cutlets for 15 minutes, turning them once or twice during cooking.

  3. Ensure the pork is thoroughly cooked.

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. Sage + peppertop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,388 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  2. Pork + sagetop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,527 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-hexenal (green, leafy).

  3. Pork + breadtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,371 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).

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

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

  5. Sage + breadtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,778 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

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

What each ingredient does

Loin of pork
Forms the main body of the cutlets, becoming tender and juicy when fried through.
Egg
Acts as a binder so the seasoned bread crumbs stick to the pork.
Bread crumbs
Form a crisp, golden crust that browns during frying.
Sage
Adds a savoury, aromatic flavour to the crumb coating.

The step that matters

Ensure the pork is thoroughly cooked. Pork must reach a safe internal temperature throughout. Frying for a set time alone can leave the centre undercooked if the chops are thick, so check the thickest part is cooked through before serving.

Swap the sage

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pork, egg, bread, pepper):

  1. Parsleyfits about as well
  2. Marjoramfits about as well
  3. Sagethe original
  4. Nutmegfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against pork, egg, bread, pepper. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“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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