Schnitzel, picatta, chicken parm… it all starts the same. Boneless chicken breast either thinly cut or pounded flat, salt and pepper, flour, egg wash, then…

For chicken parmesan the final breading is a mix of two parts italian seasoned bread crumbs and one part parmesan cheese. A while back I started grating my own parmesan because any pre-grated you purchase will have some sort of anti-caking agent (cellulose) in it, which is made from sawdust. So instead of serving your family sawdust, grate your own. It may take longer, but it’s well worth it. The breaded final cutlet is now ready to be fried in vegetable oil. This takes about 4 minutes total (2 minutes per side). If the oil is too hot you will burn your food – not good, so take care.

The next and very awesome step that makes it great is to bake those bad boys in some sauce. Should you make your own sauce? Sure if you have time, but a nice jar of marinara will work fine for this. Begin with a layer of marinara of some sort in a 9 x 13 glass baking dish. Add a layer of chicken on top of the sauce. Now put a thin layer of sauce on top of the chicken, then mozzarella cheese slices. Next, more sauce on the cheese, then grated parmesan on top of that. This gives you these awesome blotches of saucy cheese on top.