Day 4: Breaded Pork Tenderloin and Mozzarella Stacks

I didn't grow up on pork. According to my mother, when we were little my dad played the "I'm Jewish so I cannot eat pork" card. Since my dad wouldn't eat it, we couldn't either apparently. Note: I catch my brother playing "the Jewish" card every once in a while in regards to various foods too. Like father, like son. Also note, that my dad eats an abundance of pork now...pulled pork, pork ribs, bacon, prociutto, etc. I guess his love for food won out over his need to be a strict Jew :) Dad, since you're reading this, I want you to know I harbor no hard feelings for not eating pork as a child. You taught me about so many other great foods like tongue and corned beef sandwiches and matzo ball soup.

I wasn't really aware of what I was missing until I started dating Paul and going to his house for dinner. They ate pork. In fact, Paul's favorite recipe is a pork dish his mom makes. I will not disclose any more details because it will appear on the menu at a later date. Any who, I was very enthusiastic about pork once I knew what it was and what could be done with it. Being married to a "pork" man, I have experimented with many recipes that focus on the other white meat. Over the years, I have found a few I loved and others I'd rather not remember.

Being the fabulous mother in law that she is, my mom cut this recipe out of one of her gazillion magazines and to quote her said, "make this for your husband. He loves pork." She was very matter of fact about it. When my mom talks, I listen; I made it for Paul 3 days later and he loved it. Thus, adding another pork recipe to my repertoire. I realize I just may have given Paul's rating away, but I'm interested to see whether he goes with a 4 or 5.

Breaded Pork and Mozzarella Stacks

1/4 lb mozzarella cheese, thinly sliced

8 pork cutlets(about 2lbs)

salt/pepper

1/4 cup flour

2 large eggs, beaten

1/4 cup french baguette, finely ground

1/2 cup olive oil

Step 1: Put french bread in food processor to create 3 cups of breadcrumbs

Step 2: Using a mallet, pound cutlets to the thickness of your choice

Step 3: Salt and pepper pork and divide cheese among 4 cutlets. Top with remaining cutlets.

Step 4: Place flour, egg and breadcrumbs in three separate bowls. Coat the stacked cutlets 1) in flour 2) in egg 3) in breadcrumbs

Step 5: Heat olive oil in skillet over med-high heat

Step 6: Add stacks and cook, turning once. Cooking time varies depending on thickness of cutlets.

Step 7: Put cutlets in 250 degree oven to keep warm while you cook the remaining cutlets.

Kitchen Play by Play: Creating your own breadcrumbs is the only way to go for this recipe; it makes a huge difference in taste and texture. I do, however, leave some decent size chunks rather than grind them to the point of powder. It is worth the extra 2 minutes for sure. Plus for those of you who are breadaholics like me you'll enjoy having half a loaf of crusty french bread leftover :) I like my pork tenderloins a little meaty so I don't quite beat it down as much as others. You can't see through my pieces, but if that's how you like it...cool. I do think that the thinner these are, the more difficult it is to coat them. Since mine are a little thicker, I usually follow the 4-6 minute rule on the skillet to get them crunchy on the outside, but finish them off in the oven at 375 degrees for about 10 minutes. They come out PERFECT!!

Austin's vegetable of choice tonight was broccoli. He can eat his weight in broccoli. It makes me so happy!

The Finished Product(plus a few extra pics from tonight's meal)

The Verdict:

Nicole- We were out of applesauce so the meal started off on a bad note for me. Paul could care less, but as a fairly new pork eater I still associate pork with applesauce. I huffed and puffed as I sat down to eat convinced I would not enjoy this meal tonight as much as I have in the past, but as I cut into the crunchy outside of the pork and watched as the mozzerella cheese oozed out I found myself a little giddy. The first bite was miraculous; it was super crunchy(thank you fresh breadcrumbs) and unbelievably tender. Add the saltiness of the cheese and who needs the flippin applesauce. This came from a magazine, but tonight after its third appearence...Congratulations Pork and Mozz stacks you are officially being transfered onto a recipe card and staying with the Fraser family forever. Rating-4.

Paul- gives it a 3. I'm shocked. But he just said that compared to the other recipes so far in this challenge, he doesn't feel that the pork stacks had as much "zip."

Austin- Thought the pork was good. He ate 1/2 of a stack. But for him the brocolli was where it was at. He easily ate 1/4 of a head, if not more.