Turkey Cutlets, Two Ways

I had a dream

A dream of turkey cutlets.

I also had a dream of achieving five-star reviews for my turkey cutlet recipe.

Let's just see how that turned out, shall we?

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Attempt number 1:

Lemon and Thyme Turkey Cutlets

I set up my breading station with flour, an egg wash and the bread crumb mixture in three separate containers.

The zest of one lemon and 1-1/2 teaspoon dried thyme were mixed in with the bread crumbs before the cutlets were coated.



I have found that it is important to bread any meat that you wish to fry at least a couple of hours before you will be cooking it.
After breading, place the meat, uncovered, in the refrigerator for at least an hour.
About half an hour before you are ready to cook, take the meat out of the fridge and allow it to come to room temperature.

Cook as usual.

This extra step allows the breading to properly adhere to the meat so that the coating will not separate or "blow out" when fried.

The turkey cutlets were cooked in oil over medium-high heat until golden brown on each side.

Do not crowd the meat in the pan.

They were then removed to a serving platter.

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One tablespoon butter and 1/2 cup sherry were used to deglaze the pan and the sherry was reduced before the sauce was poured over the cutlets.

The cutlets were served with roasted potatoes and pea salad.

So how did the ratings go?

I gave this five stars since I liked the balance of the lemon and thyme.

The Foodie Daughter gave it four stars as she thought the lemon flavor was too pronounced.

The Foodie Boyfriend gave it four stars because he thought it needed more zip, more flavor, more spice.

The dear husband thinks that any lemon flavor is too much, so he gave this three stars.

Guess I need to keep working.

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Attempt number 2:

Spicy Turkey Cutlets

After finding out just what the Foodie Boyfriend meant by "more flavor", I looked through my many bottles of herbs and spices to see what flavors I could bring to this mild-mannered meat.

I decided on a Lemon-Pepper Blend,

Ground Cayenne Pepper

and

dried Herbes de Provence from my garden.

The breading station was set up as before and the cutlets were ready to be cooked.

This time around the turkey cutlets were accompanied by macaroni and cheese and a fresh salad.

And now for the ratings:

The Foodie Daughter, Boyfriend and I all gave this five stars and agreed the cutlets were moist, tender and very flavorful.

The dear husband, who has yet to earn his Foodie designation, gave this three stars,
saying it was "just okay and a touch too spicy."

Sigh, what's a Foodie to do?