Milanesa de Carne — Print Recipe

Thin beef cutlets pounded flat, breaded with egg and breadcrumbs, and fried until perfectly golden and crispy. The everyday staple of Argentine home cooking.

Ingredients

4 beef cutlets (top round or eye of round), pounded thin
2 eggs, beaten with a splash of milk
1.5 cups fine breadcrumbs
1/2 cup flour
Salt and pepper to taste
Oil for frying (enough to cover the bottom of the pan generously)
Lemon wedges for serving

Instructions

1 Place each beef cutlet between two sheets of plastic wrap and pound with a meat mallet until uniformly thin, about half a centimeter thick. Season both sides with salt and pepper.
2 Set up three shallow dishes: one with flour, one with beaten eggs mixed with a splash of milk, and one with breadcrumbs.
3 Dredge each cutlet first in flour, shaking off the excess, then dip in egg mixture ensuring full coverage, and finally press into breadcrumbs on both sides.
4 Heat a generous amount of oil in a large frying pan over medium-high heat. The oil should sizzle when a breadcrumb is dropped in. Fry each milanesa for about two to three minutes per side until deep golden and crispy.
5 Drain on paper towels briefly and serve immediately with lemon wedges. Squeeze lemon juice over the milanesa just before eating.

Did You Know?

Argentine families consume so many milanesas that supermarkets sell pre-pounded and pre-breaded cutlets as a convenience item. The average Argentine eats an estimated one milanesa per week.