Which are your favourite recipes for chicken, veal, fish or any other type of piccata?
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I think the key to making it lies in properly pounding the cutlets before dredging them in our. I have my trusty 30+ year old meat beater (literally a battuto carne) and use the side with the points. I always beat the meat in between two layers of plastic. A plastic food storage bag works better than cling film.
The other issue is to not cut the meat too thin. I cut the meat into 3/8" or slightly thicker pieces and beat them to 1/8th inch. This gives them a classic texture that would be harder if the meat is cut thicker.
Also, you need to blast the pan when you add the lemon juice to thicken it before the meat cools off.
I usually deglaze with a touch of vermouth before the lemon juice as I love the aromatics. I use Dolin Dry.
Last, let the deglazing liquid bubble down half way and then add the capers. Earlier and the capers lose their snap and their flavor melds. To late and you get too much of the pickle flavor. Also, before you deglaze a small toss of chopped herbs is nice. Traditionally, only parsley is added, but again, I want aromatics.
For 1# of cutlets, I would add 1 tbsp vermouth, 1/4 cup lemon juice and start mounting the butter when the deglazing liquid is quite thick and dark colored.
And be sure to salt the cutlets before dredging them. Even though the cars are salty, salting meat is crucial for proper taste. But with pounded cutlets, a few minutes standing is all you need.
And for those who never have been in a restaurant kitchen, this was our process:
The order comes in and the sautee station salt the meat and put it in a warm spot to take the chill off the meat. This is why skipping appetizers is a bad idea when ordering ala minute dishes as a main.p¹11¹1 We need the time to prep the protein and count on the time it takes for you to get your appetizer.
Then when most of your ticket is fired, we did the piccata. The last thing plated is the piccata. Even pasta waits for the piccata.
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All of them!
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I found your post to be incredibly informative, well explained, and helpful. Thank you from another picatta lover!
Ditto. I have my own routine with piccata, but this is some good instruction I’ll follow next time 
I slice the breast in half thickness-wise, salt/wait/dredge, brown, reserve.
the sauce I now do a bit different -
plain water
add:
zest of one lemon,
juice of one lemon,
couple spoons of whole capers.
reduce that, use butter to thicken
add back chicken to heat through.
it’s an amazingly refreshing change to all the wine, stock and other goop that typically is used.
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I’m using this sauce on wheat pasta tonight.
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