Years and years ago I tried to duplicate every recipe my mom made on the regular from my childhood. I was very successful in cloning each one.
Then today, I’m trying to find a way to use these chicken thighs I have. I know most of them will get used for Asian dishes. I’ll crisp up the skins for dog treats and save the bones for tomorrow’s turkey stock.
Then some 40 year old memory kicks in and I remember chicken spaghetti. I call my mom and make sure I have the fundamentals right. She has also forgotten she used to make it all the time and decides that she is going to make it for her dinner too.
Cost per person, $1.75 No wonder we ate it as kids.
Provolone, now we’re talking.
And I just learned that “schnitzel” means “cutlet.” Vienna-style.
Also see Mexican Milanesa. It too is a German schnitzel.
So, every once in a while I like to make a hamburger-TexMex-casserole-SCO (steel-cut oats) kind of affair, usually finished by dumping it over a salad, topped with pico de gallo, avocado wedges, et cet. All scooped up with some Fritos or tortilla chips. Friggen’ yum.
A couple times though, I wanted to try upping the flavor and healthy-qualities by using something better then just 85/15 hamburger, and spotted some thin, pounded-beef cutlets (Mexican Milanesa-style, maybe?), in the store. Tried cutting them in to very-thin strips, substituting for the hamburger, and cooking a bit longer, but goldangit, what a tough, teeth-chewing, unwelcome exercise that turned in to.
I dunno, maybe look for a better cut of pounded beef (except IIRC that’s all they had) or just cook longer? It’s weird, though-- sometimes cooking failures motivate me to do MUCH better, and other times just… surrender without a fight.
Fuck.
Was the beef perforated like a cube steak? That’s done to tough cuts of meat to make them tender. My venison comes like that and I have no trouble slicing it with a sharp knife and then cutting other strips into chunks for chili.
Did it have any fat marbling? Comnective tissue?
Or was it just pounded with no perforations? I can’t recall ever seeing pounded meat for sale. It was always something done at home.
Pounded turkey cutlets picture for tax:
Osh… yes, “cube steak” it was indeed!
Foof, it’s been a while, but… I wanna say… “no?”
Side note: my family has sky-high genetic cholesterol / triglycerides, so it’s like a weird miracle that I’m still alive at this point. But yes, I try to avoid anything artery-clogging, animal fat-based (and plant-based) like the dangol’ plague.
Huh. Okay, I’d have to go back and look. But, I mean, that’s the whole point of “cube-steak,” right? That they pound it with that certain perforated-steel, block-sized hammer, no?
Cube steak is cut and perforated. Not pounded. You could take the same cuts and pound them for a similar effect. But on the butcher side it’s cheaper just to put it through the blades to cut all the tissue and make it tender that way.
Usually cube steak has no fat. Like when I use the venison I have to add some kind of fat to it like bacon grease or something because it is super lean.
But when I need to use the meat hammer to tenderize I made my own. To match my cutting boards. If you want one let me know and I’ll make one the next time I’m in the wood shop.
Huh, thank you! Actually, I was thinking… maybe I could order some bespoke stuff from you? Me, I used to love doing it all myself, but this CFS/ME shit ain’t leaving me alone, the older I get. Aching hands, lower back, et cet.
Message me with your bespoke requests and I’ll see what I can do.
My wife loves crushed ice. She is always using them to make crushed ice and. She even has a favorite one.