The Southern Cone · Volume 25, The Río de la Plata Table
Milanesa a la napolitana
Buenos Aires
An illustration of the dish, not a photograph of it cooked.
- Time
- 40 minutes
- Reviewed
- Not yet reviewed from inside the tradition
- Cooked
- Not yet cooked and reported
A documented account places its origin at the restaurant Nápoli in Buenos Aires, run by Jorge La Grotta, on Bouchard street opposite the Luna Park boxing stadium, created and first served in the late 1940s under the name milanesa a la Nápoli. La Grotta's descendants describe it as a deliberate combination of southern Italian custom, pizza, with northern Italian custom, cotoletta alla milanese, not, despite the name, a dish connected to the city of Naples at all. A competing, more colourful legend, that a burnt milanesa was rescued by covering it in sauce, ham and cheese, is explicitly flagged by the documented source itself as unlikely folklore, and this chapter keeps both accounts separated rather than preferring the better story.
As tradition built it
Serves 4. About 40 minutes.
Ingredients
- 4 thin beef escalopes (peceto or similar)
- 2 eggs, beaten
- 200g fine breadcrumbs
- as needed flour, for dredging
- as needed oil, for frying
- 200ml tomato sauce
- 200g sliced ham
- 200g mozzarella, sliced
- to taste dried oregano
Method
- Dredge each escalope in flour, then beaten egg, then breadcrumbs, pressing gently so the crumb holds.
- Fry in hot oil until golden and just cooked through, then drain on kitchen paper.
- Top each milanesa with tomato sauce, a slice of ham and a layer of mozzarella.
- Grill or bake briefly until the cheese melts and turns golden, finish with a scatter of oregano.
What a modern chef changes
The crumb controlled for a crisper base under the toppings, and the cheese finished separately for a cleaner melt
Rung 2
Method
- Fry the escalope slightly under target doneness, since it will finish cooking under the grill once topped; this avoids the base drying out by the time the cheese has properly melted.
- Use a spice grinder to make a coarser, drier breadcrumb from stale bread rather than fine shop-bought crumb, giving a crust that stays audibly crisp under the sauce and cheese rather than softening into the meat.
- Melt the cheese under a salamander or a very hot grill for a short, intense blast rather than a longer, gentler bake, so it browns in spots without the base beneath it overcooking.