Mar 16, 2011
Pozharskie Kotlety (Pozharsky Cutlets)
While I still eat chicken… I should post as many chicken recipes as possible :) I plan to breastfeed until Ivanka turns 1 year old, so I still have 6 months ahead to test and post chicken recipes. What’s the connection between breastfeeding and eating chicken? As I already wrote here, I have been eating poultry in order to maintain my animal protein balance since I got pregnant. And I’m planning to quit eating poultry as soon as I stop to breastfeed.
This time I would like to tell you about Pozharsky Cutlets. My Mom made these for me the other day, when I visited my parents to take pictures of something beautiful… something I’ll show you later.
There are two versions of the story behind this old Russian recipe. The first version suggests that Prince Dmitry Pozharsky, whose home chef was famous for his veal cutlets, once wanted to make them for the Great Prince of Moscow, but the chef had run out of veal and, instead, made analogous cutlets with chicken. The high guest liked the chicken cutlets so much that he asked for the recipe, and soon Pozharsky’s chicken cutlets became a hit among the Russian nobility.
Another version says that this recipe was invented by an inn owner Pozharsky’s wife. This legend says that Russian Tzar Alexander the First once stayed in the inn and ordered veal cutlets. The inn’s owner was shocked to realize that there was no veal at hand, and so his wife Darya suggested that he made similar cutlets of chicken fillets with plenty of white bread and butter, coated them in breadcrumbs and served as veal cutlets. Just as in the previous story, the trick worked so well that the cutlets became a popular dish on Tzar’s menu and beyond.
Yet another legend says that Darya Pozharsky learned this recipe from a French man who didn’t have money to pay for lodging and “paid” with this great recipe.
You see how many legends there are behind these simple cutlets? I’m quite sure there might be even more. Whichever version you prefer, I can tell you for sure that thanks to a perfect proportion of meat and other ingredients, these cutlets are extraordinarily juicy, buttery, and tender. Well, I find it morally unacceptable to eat veal, so I have never even tried it and I can’t compare, but I’m absolutely content with these chicken cutlets. My Mom used chicken breasts, so her cutlets were snow-white inside - a quality that makes a cutlet much more visually appealing! And of course the golden-brown breadcrumb coating is irresistible. If you eat chicken meat, go try these now - highly recommended!
Pozharsky Cutlets
Ingredients
3 medium-sized chicken breasts
150g white bread, crust removed
1 cup milk
4 tbsp butter, melted
1 egg
Salt to taste
Breadcrumbs
Vegetable oil
Makes 8 cutlets, serves 4
Cut bread into cubes and soak it in milk. Carefully drain off all excess milk.
Mince chicken breasts and mix chicken mince with bread, butter, and egg. Add salt.
Divide the cutlet mix into 8 parts and shape them into round cutlets, gently pressing each cutlet. Coat the cutlets in breadcrumbs and cook them in a skillet with a few tablespoons vegetable oil for approximately 20 minutes.
Print This Post
Facebook
Flickr
FriendFeed
RSS
StumbleUpon
Twitter
Bloglovin
they do look great! and the fries too. I wish i was invited to that meal :-P….
Thank you so much CR! Where do you live? :D just to know if we can invite you next time :D
They look really delicious, much better and bigger than McD’s chicken nuggets! Did you eat all those chillis?:)
Thank you Three-Cookies! Oh I’ve once tried McD’s chicken nuggets… I would never have guessed they were made of chicken! I secretly like Filet-o-Fish though :D tsss… don’t tell anyone!
Oh I was really going to eat all those chilies, but I was stopped by my parents! I like hot foods and I didn’t give up eating chili while I was pregnant, but now as I breastfeed it probably does influence the flavour of milk, so I shouldn’t be eating too much spice indeed!
These sound delicious, and I think I’ll give them a try. I have a question though- do you cook the chicken breasts before you mince them? Or are you mincing/mixing raw chicken in w/the bread?
It looks like it would be cooked first but I want to make sure.
Thank you for sharing this recipe!
Hi Rey, thanks so much for stopping by! No no, you don’t need to cook chicken before you mince it! Just mince raw chicken breasts and mix them with the bread and other ingredients. Maybe it takes a little bit longer to cook the cutlets than 20 minutes in fact, I should check cooking time… anyway, I’m sure you will see when the cutlets are cooked through, tender, and white inside!
They look lovely. So neat and tidy. Anytime I need to form a meatball or whatever, there is always a mess and some odd shaped ball. These look delicious.
Aww thank you :) one of the key points here is to drain off all excess milk after you’ve soaked the bread in it, or else the cutlets won’t hold their shape!
Oh, I’ve made these! But they were by the Polish name, which escapes me at the moment but also know them as Bitki. Very tasty!
Really? Great, I’d love to know the Polish name if you recall it later! There’s the word Bitki in Russian too, I believe it’s a synonym of cutlets :)
These are gorgeous! A wonderful blog you have going, will look forward to more posts : )
Oops that comment was for the Ivanka cupcakes :p
Thank you so much Ulyana!! I’m heading to explore your blog now ^_^ and read about the exciting business you run!
LOVE your blog! Those cherry cupcakes look sooo tasty. I’m going to try them. XOXO
Thank you Jenny ^_^ I rarely use whole wheat flour so it was pretty fun to play with it… I really enjoyed the extra flavour it adds!
they look perfect, really want to try this recipe