Four cutlets, a three-stage breading, a short fry, then sauce and cheese under a hot oven. Weights are for four plates. Scale the batch before you shop — the cup is not the unit.
A cutlet is 170 g before breading. Marinara and mozzarella put more mass on the plate than the crust does. Pasta is optional and counted apart, so it cannot pretend to be part of the cutlet.
Base recipe is 4. Volume is a translation, not the measure.
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Pound to ½ inch. Thick centers finish late and the crust burns. 170 g is the target piece.
Salt the meat, not only the crumbs. ¾ tsp kosher salt on the chicken. The breading gets the rest.
Rest 10 minutes. The crust sets. Wet cutlets steam instead of fry.
Oil at a shimmer. About 4 tbsp to start. Add a spoon if the second batch looks dry.
Sauce under and over. Bare chicken against the dish sticks. A naked top browns cheese, not sauce.
Set a rack in the upper third. Oil a 9×13 inch dish, or two dishes if you scaled past 4.
Four boneless breasts, about 170 g each. Pound to an even ½ inch. Salt with ¾ tsp kosher salt and ½ tsp black pepper.
Flour. Two eggs beaten with a spoon of milk. Panko mixed with 50 g Parmesan, oregano, garlic powder, and the remaining salt.
One hand for wet, one hand for dry. The crust stays on the chicken instead of on your fingers.
Flour, egg, crumbs. Press the panko on. Set the cutlets on a rack for 10 minutes.
Heat 4 tbsp olive oil in a wide skillet over medium. Fry in two batches, 3–4 minutes a side, until the crust is deep gold and the center hits 165°F / 74°C. Drain on a rack, not a paper towel pile.
Spread 240 g marinara in the dish. Lay in the cutlets. Spoon on another 400 g. Save the rest for the table or the pasta.
225 g mozzarella over the cutlets, then 40 g Parmesan. Bake 12–15 minutes, until the cheese is melted and the sauce bubbles at the edge. Broil 1 minute if you want color.
Boil 340 g spaghetti in well-salted water. Toss with the reserved sauce. Cutlets go on top, or beside, not buried.
Basil at the end. It blacks if it rides through the bake.
Pull a cutlet when a thermometer in the thickest point reads 165°F / 74°C. The oven will not cook a raw center through cheese without drying the rest. Fry does the cooking. Bake melts the cheese.
Rest 3 minutes before you cut. The cheese sets enough to portion.
Leftovers keep 3 days covered. Reheat at 350°F, covered, until hot. A microwave makes the crust a sponge.
House estimate for one of four plates. Breading sticks at about two-thirds. Fry oil uptake is a guess, not a lab weight.
| On the plate | Mass | About |
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