Monday, January 17, 2005

for when you're feeling carnivorous

...and no we did not have these all on the same day.

pork schnitzel
when i was young and single...wow, decades ago!...i went with a gung-ho girlfriend on my first foray to Boracay when it was quite unspoiled and in fact was not even hooked up to electricity yet. (now you have an idea how old i really am).
we rented a little hut and the owner cooked all our meals for us. but. after eating fish almost three times a day for about 5 days..we were ready for meat. my friend knew about the Austrian-Filipino couple who ran a wiener schnitzel restaurant down the beach. and that's when i had my first pork cutlet named wiener schnitzel.
what's the big deal? it was a breaded pork cutlet.

for six thin (1/4 inch) cutlets, pork or veal,lightly dusted with salt and pepper:
have three large shallow bowls ready: beat 3 eggs in the first bowl. to the second bowl add about 3/4 cup of all-purpose flour and season with salt and pepper. to the third pour about a cup of plain bread crumbs.

dip cutlet into bowl of flour, shake off excess, then dip into beaten egg. lastly dip into bread crumbs and set over a rack for about 15 minutes.
gently heat your frying pan and melt 4 tbsps. of butter and then add 4 tbsps. of olive oil.
pan fry in the butter and olive oil, about 3 minutes per side.

it was very good with a swish of lemon juice and anchovy fillets on top.
i also made the dish turn into tonkatsu...by serving a sauce of 4 parts sweet ketchup to 1 part of Worcestershire sauce.

here's another meat dish to satisfy your inner carnivore...my children's favorite rib roast. i've served this at husband's family get togethers and our young-adult-nephews rave about it especially and in a conspiratorial whisper, i tell them the secret. "sea salt." they never believe me.
this cut of beef is labeled here as "semi boneless hotel style rib roast" and when it goes on sale i get as much as i can and cut into 2-rib sizes, which is just right for my little kittens, and then wrap well and freeze the rest.
remove the roast from the refrigerator about 2 hours before cooking time. every pound of meat requires 20 minutes for rare, our preference, or until meat thermometer registers 140. (add more time if you want medium--160F on the thermometer.)

rub sea salt (Morton's kosher or Maldon work best for us) all over the roast.
set on a heavy-duty-foil lined rack.

preheat oven to 550F, or the hottest bake setting. put roast in middle rack of the oven and roast 5 minutes. bring down oven temperature to 350F and roast until desired done-ness.
serve with the beef drippings and gravy if desired (husband and i use A-1 sauce stirred with a dollop of good oyster sauce).

mom's rib roast