Oh, get your minds out of the gutter. We’re not talking about anything dirty here. We’re talking about our growing fascination with using a pounder to flatten and tenderize our proteins.
It started years ago, when our brother taught us to make a delicious chicken paillard. He would pound boneless skinless chicken breasts, coat them with bread crumbs and sometimes egg, fry them up quick and serve with a side of pesto pasta and some sauteed onions and yellow peppers.
We often would make a variation of this meal when we were trying to stretch some chicken either for economy or calories. You get a lot of real estate when you pound it flat and thin.
Our trip to Austria two years ago showed us the delights of wiener schnitzel, which we ate with potatoes and pretzel breads and wonderful beers and wines. We saw on the menus versions with pork, so when we returned home, we were delighted to find a recipe from Jacques Pepin that called for pounding pork medallions, a pork scaloppine from his book Fast Food My Way.
And no. We’re unsure the difference between paillard and scaloppine, although one is French and the other, well, Italian. Or maybe the paillard doesn’t have the coating of wheat, not officially anyway?
In any case, we suggest getting out a few pieces of wax paper or plastic wrap and letting go with all your inner frustrations. Pound that pork, pound that chicken, pound that veal! Make it thin and then cook it up!
Your family will feel so satisfied on so much less, and you’ll have been able to work out some of your latent aggression.
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