Cotoletta alla milanese
Cotoletta alla milanese
A dish of veal loin on the bone, coated in breadcrumbs and fried in butter. In Milan the traditional form is thick and bone-in, with a golden, fragrant crust while the meat near the bone stays rosy. The modern, boneless version pounded very thin is distinguished by its own name, "oregia d'elefant" (elephant's ear).
Milan (Lombardy). Recorded under the name "cotoletta alla milanese" in Giuseppe Sorbiatti's 1855 Gastronomia moderna
Milan — On March 17, 2008, the City of Milan granted "costoletta alla milanese" De.Co. status (municipal denomination of origin)
Main ingredients
- Veal (bone-in loin)
- Breadcrumbs (made from the crumb of white bread)
- Beaten egg
- Butter
- Salt
- Lemon (optional)
How it goes
These are the bones of the method. Quantities and detail live in the sources.
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Prepare the meat
Trim the sinew from the bone-in veal loin. The traditional form keeps its thickness; pounding it very thin belongs to the boneless modern version (elephant's ear).
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Coat it
Dip in beaten egg, then press on breadcrumbs made from the crumb of white bread until well adhered. Bread that has gone slightly stale is considered best.
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Fry in butter
Fry both sides in butter until golden brown. Using butter rather than olive oil is traditional, and judging the heat correctly determines the result.
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Finish and serve
The traditional form is served with the butter left in the pan spooned over the top. In the modern version, no butter is spooned on; lemon is served alongside for the diner to squeeze themselves.
Pasta it follows
Why it works
Pasta al LimoneThe lemon served with the cotoletta shares an axis with this pasta. Placing a lightly acidic primo first, then the butter-fried meat secondo after, follows the menu order of rising weight through the meal. 
Bigoli in salsaBoth from the same northern Italian table: a humble primo of just anchovy and onion, moving up to Milan's festive meat dish. Keeps the regional lineage in the north while raising the weight of the meal. 
PomodoroThe lightest possible primo, tomato alone. With no dairy fat and no meat, its flavor does not compete with the butter-fried secondo that follows, and the primo-to-secondo order of increasing weight holds.