Milanesa a la napolitana

Ingredients

• Beef — thin cuts for pounding700 g
• Eggs3
• Breadcrumbs250 g
• Garlic4 clove
• Parsley30 g
• Tomato sauce300 ml
• Ham200 g
• Mozzarella250 g
• Oregano1 tsp
• Oil for frying250 ml
• Salt and pepperto taste

Salt and spices grow more slowly than the rest: doubling a dish does not double the pepper.

Weight converts to ounces and volume to cups. Grams of flour are not turned into cups, because that depends on how tightly it is packed.

Method

1. 1

   Pound the meat to five millimetres and season it.

   15 min

2. 2

   Beat the eggs with crushed garlic and chopped parsley; that garlic in the egg wash is the Uruguayan touch.

   6 min

3. 3

   Dip the pieces in the egg, then press them firmly into the breadcrumbs.

   10 min

4. 4

   Let the coating set for fifteen minutes in the fridge.

   16 min

5. 5

   Fry in hot oil three minutes a side, to a golden crust, and drain on a rack.

   14 min

6. 6

   Lay the milanesas on a tray, spoon on the tomato sauce, cover with ham and cheese and dust with oregano.

   8 min

7. 7

   Grill for four minutes, until the cheese melts and colours.

   6 min

About the dish

The milanesa is fried first and assembled afterwards. Sauce on raw breadcrumbs soaks straight through and no crust survives.

It goes under the grill only as long as the cheese needs — three or four minutes. Longer, and steam softens the coating underneath.

Despite the name it has nothing to do with Naples: it was invented at a Buenos Aires restaurant called Nápoli in the 1940s and crossed the Plata from there.

Worth knowing

• — Drain the fried cutlets on a rack rather than on paper. On paper the underside sweats and the coating lifts.
• — Use little sauce — a spoon per cutlet. Drowned, a milanesa loses everything the breading was for.
• — Garlic in the egg wash is a Uruguayan and Argentine habit. Without it this is an ordinary schnitzel under cheese.

Nutrition

Per serving at the base yield, calculated from the ingredients rather than measured in a lab.

Calories

820 kcal

Protein

54 g

Fat

46 g

Carbs

48 g

More from Uruguay

• Chivito — A sandwich of thin steak, ham, bacon, cheese and a fried egg. Uruguay's national dish.
• Torta frita — Flat rounds made on rendered fat and deep-fried, which Uruguayans make when it rains.
• Buseca — A thick tripe soup with white beans, chorizo and vegetables, Uruguayan winter food.