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Chicken Cutlets

Canned chicken and bacon are mixed, seasoned, formed into cutlets, coated in egg and breadcrumbs, and fried.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Parsley and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 34,122 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Chicken Cutlets

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the filling

  1. Remove the flesh from the canned chicken and pound it with the diced bacon until it can pass through a sieve.

  2. Add the minced parsley, onion, white sauce, and beaten eggs (reserve some egg for coating) to the meat mixture.

  3. Cook the mixture in a saucepan over medium heat for a few minutes, then boil for 2 more minutes.

  4. Spread the mixture on a buttered surface to about ½ inch thick and let it cool completely.

  5. Cut the cooled mixture into strips 5 inches long and 1 inch wide.

Coat and fry

  1. Coat the strips in the reserved beaten egg and breadcrumbs.

  2. Fry the cutlets in hot lard until golden brown.

  3. Drain the cutlets and arrange them in a dish, leaving space for a vegetable medley or peas in the center.

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. Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  2. Chicken + oniontop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,814 recipes

    Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, sweet).

  3. Parsley + oniontop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together25,843 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  4. Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together68,474 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  5. Chicken + peppertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,958 recipes

    Shared aroma: piperonal (bitter, coconut).

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

What each ingredient does

Canned chicken breast
Provides the main meaty body of the filling once pounded smooth.
Eggs
Bind the mixture so it holds its shape when cut and fried, and form the outer coating.
White sauce
Adds moisture and creaminess so the filling stays tender rather than dry.
Fat bacon
Adds fat and savory flavor to the chicken filling.
Breadcrumbs
Form a crisp, golden outer crust when fried.

The step that matters

Cooling the mixture completely before cutting. A warm, soft filling will not hold its shape when cut and coated, so the strips may break apart in the hot lard. Chilling firms the binding eggs and starches so the cutlets keep their form while frying.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (chicken, sauce, egg, parsley, pepper):

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Shallotfits better
  3. Carrotfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against chicken, sauce, egg, parsley, 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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