Pan-fried veal cutlets with ham and sage – a classic of Roman cuisine. When preparing this dish, we follow a recipe from the famous cookbook *Il cucchiaio d’argento* (The Silver Spoon). It dates from the mid-20th century, although the dish itself was first featured in a cookbook in 1891. However, our quantities differ slightly, and we also use Marsala, the fortified wine from Sicily.
The name comes from the Roman dialect. ‘Salta ’n bocca’ means ‘jump into the mouth’.
As is so often the case in Italian cuisine, you only need very few ingredients. Small veal cutlets, a slice of raw ham (Italian prosciutto) the same size as each cutlet, and a large sage leaf.
Ask the butcher to cut the veal cutlets for you. They should be 3–4 mm thick. If they are thicker, you can carefully flatten them between two layers of oiled cling film using a meat tenderiser or a saucepan.
Season the top side of the cutlets with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Be sparing with the salt, as the ham is already quite salty.
Place the ham and a sage leaf on the seasoned side, then secure everything with a wooden toothpick:
Next, dip the cutlets in a little flour, on the underside only. They should be coated very lightly, so shake off any excess.
Heat a little olive oil in a frying pan. The meat must be fried briefly so that it doesn’t dry out. Therefore, the temperature needs to be quite high. Sear the cutlets on the floured side for 2 minutes until they have taken on a deep colour.
Then turn them over and fry them on the side with the ham for just 1 minute.
You want the Maillard reaction – browning adds flavour. But you don’t want to overcook the meat at this stage. So remove it from the pan straight away and keep it warm by covering it or placing it in an oven preheated to just 50 degrees Celsius (do not use the fan setting).
Once all the cutlets have been seared, it’s time to make the pan sauce. It’s very quick to prepare, so everything needs to be ready in advance. Measure out the olive oil, white wine, Marsala and butter. It’s essential that the butter is cold.
Add the white wine and Marsala to the frying pan whilst the heat remains high, then allow the mixture to reduce to about a third of its original volume. As this happens, the roasting aromas from the pan infuse the sauce.
Once this stage is reached, reduce the heat to medium, add the cold butter in pieces to the pan and stir it in thoroughly with a whisk.
Once a smooth liquid has formed, return the cutlets to the pan and coat them with the sauce using a tablespoon.
That’s all there is to it. The whole process takes about 20 minutes.
We recommend serving this with new potatoes and leaf spinach. We parboil the potatoes in their skins and then fry them gently in olive oil and butter, with a sprig of rosemary in the pan. For the leaf spinach, we simply sweat a little garlic in butter, allow the spinach to wilt in it, and season with salt and pepper. Italian cuisine is minimalist.
Enjoy.
And may the taste be with you.
Ingredients (for 4 people):
640 g veal cutlets (50–60 g each, approx. 3 per person)
100 g prosciutto (raw ham)
1 large sage leaf per cutlet
Toothpicks
4 tbsp flour
Salt and freshly ground pepper
2 tbsp olive oil
150 ml dry white wine
70 ml Marsala (fortified wine) – alternatively, more white wine
60–70 g butter (important: it must be cold)
Recommended accompaniments:
New potatoes
Leaf spinach
