A cutlet is really a small piece of meat. A cutlet can be grilled, or fried, or cooked wrapped up in paper. Cutlets can be cooked plain, or dressed. They can be served with almost an infinite variety of sauces.

Plain Cutlets

Cutlets are sometimes grilled quite plain on the gridiron, especially mutton cutlets. (See No. 5).

Cutlets, Dressed Ordinary

The ordinary method of dressing cutlets is to egg-and-bread-crumb them.

(See No. 20.) In doing this, pepper and salt the cutlets before flouring them. In the case of veal cutlets it is an improvement to sift some mixed sweet herbs (see Herbs) over the raw meat as well.

Mutton cutlets are best boned and egg-and-bread-crumbed (see No. 20). If the fat be sufficiently hot they will not take more than thirty seconds to fry (see No. 6), if cut thin (three-eighths of an inch thick). They should then have a rich brown colour.

Lamb cutlets will take a few seconds longer to cook than mutton.

Veal cutlets will take double the time of mutton cutlets.

If the veal cutlet is large, and an inch thick, the fat must not be too hot, and plenty of time allowed - perhaps fifteen minutes.

All cutlets, especially small ones, should be sent to table very quickly after being cooked.

When cutlets are not boned, have ready little tiny paper frills to tie round the bone.

The best part of the meat for all cutlets is the loin. The fillet part only is best for veal, but any little piece of raw meat will make a nice cutlet when cut thin. You cannot cook cutlets when small unless the fat is very hot. The bread-crumbs must brown nicely in thirty seconds.

You cannot warm up cutlets without spoiling them. The best way to serve cold cutlets is to arrange them neatly in a dish, with some vegetable salad in the middle - such as mixed cold boiled carrot, turnip, etc., cut up in neat little pieces. (See Macedoixes).