Day Seven: The Duet

A side note before I begin the post: this is the final entry of this segment of the blog. I'll elaborate on the future of this blog in a later post.

In Novgorod, I went with a bunch of folks in my study abroad group to a little cafe along the Volkhov river. We probably pissed off the locals as we struggled to order from the restaurant's only English menu. I was craving something meaty that day, so I ordered something called a *DUET* off the menu and a Baltika to go with it. I knew it was going to involve chicken, pork, and garlic in some form, but I did not expect to see what arrived at my table:

This is the sort of ridiculous food item I thought I could find only in America. It was a chicken cutlet stuck to a pork cutlet with garlic served with a pretty tasty carrot slaw.

There's the pork.

While the meat was kind of dry, I'd be lying if I said I didn't enjoy every minute of eating this. What a novel meal! It's not difficult to make, either.

Click the link below to get to the cooking!

Keeping it simple today - pork, chicken, salt, and pepper.

As I had a pretty large chicken breast on my hands, I cut the thickest part off and butterflied it. I had enough meat for two amalgamations.

I then pounded the everloving crap out of it.

Same with the pork, which was already butterflied - I separated the halves.

The original duet used raw garlic, but I used freshly roasted garlic. To make roasted garlic, I cut the top of the garlic bulb, drizzled it with olive oil, wrapped it in a aluminum foil pouch, and roasted it in a 425°F oven for 40-45 minutes. I let it cool for 10 minutes before using it.

I seasoned both sides of each pounded filet...

...spread some roasted garlic on top of the pork, and fused the two together. I forgot to take a picture of the fusion, but it involves putting the ugly side of the chicken on top of the garlicky side of the pork.

Sorry, sour cream, but you'll have to sit out of this one.

It wouldn't be Russian cooking without butter.

I sauteed each cutlet, pressing each down with a spatula in an attempt to develop a golden crust on the meat. Since my stove lacks power, it didn't work too well.

Some sort of crust is better than no crust, I suppose. I cooked the meat until it was ready, which is when the meat has the right amount of resistance when pressed on. It's difficult to describe what "right" is - I just know.

A real Russian would serve this with buttery mashed potatoes (which is fine and good!), but I'm a filthy foreigner and I prefer lightly salted rice with my chicken and pork mashup.

Not only was it juicy but the meats stayed together! I'd consider this a success.

This is a canvas for all sorts of spices and I'll consider that next time I'm in the mood for two meats in one meal.