# Chicken cutlet.  How to season?



## rcald2000 (May 16, 2008)

One of my favorite bars cooks this chicken sandwich on a bread roll.  It's a grilled chicken fillet on a roll with mozarella cheese and bacon.  My question is: What seasoning do I use on the chicken?  I'm a newbie (obviously).


----------



## rcald2000 (May 16, 2008)

Oh !  Also, what's a simple but good recipe for mashed potatoes.  The bar always serves the chicken sandwich with mashed potatoes and it's really good.


----------



## Barb L. (May 16, 2008)

I always use s&p and garlic powder -yum, one of my favorites.


----------



## rcald2000 (May 16, 2008)

Thanks Barbara, I will try it.  I'm really eager to cook my own food, so I don't have to waste so much money buying lunch at work everyday.  Do you by any chance know a good mashed potatoes recipe?


----------



## Jeff G. (May 16, 2008)

Seasoned salt is usually nice.  I have come to enjoy Emerils original spice mix.


----------



## DaveSoMD (May 16, 2008)

There are lot of fairly good pre-mixed rubs and seasonings out there on the market in the spice aisle.  You might what to try some of those.  When you find ones you like you can try making your own.  

You can also just use S&P and then use different sauces and toppings on the sandwich.  Take it from a sometimes brown-bagger - just keep the dressing and the toppings separate and put the sandwich together just before you eat. 

lettuce/tomato/mayo
bbq sauce and jack cheese
blue cheese dressing and spinach
sun dried tomoto dressing and mozarella cheese


----------



## Andy M. (May 16, 2008)

Peel and cut up a russet or Yukon Gold potato(es). Place in a pan and cover with cold water. Add a healthy amount of salt to the water. Bring the water to a boil and continue to boil gently until the potatoes are cooked through. If you stick a knife into the potato, it should go in easliy and come out without a fuss.

Drain the potatoes and mash them using a ricer (my first choice) or potato masher. Add butter, salt, pepper and cream and mix gently with a spoon or fork.

You can dress up the mashed potatoes by adding sour cream in place of the cream, garlic powder or roasted garlic cloves, chives, grated parmesan cheese. Let you imagination go wild.


----------



## rcald2000 (May 16, 2008)

Whoa!  I'm serously excited because I plan to make lunch for tomorrow while I'm at work.  I work 12 hours on both Saturday and Sunday, so I have to make sure that I have some hardy things to keep me going.


----------



## Katie H (May 16, 2008)

One step should  be added to Andy M.'s mashed potatoes.  After you drain them, put them back into the  warm pot and let them dry out a bit.

I don't usually add salt when I cook the potatoes.  I usually salt  when I add the butter and  milk  when  I mash them.

You can also add fresh chopped chives  to the mashed  potatoes,  too.  Yummy.  Chopped cooked bacon is good  to add, too.


----------



## DramaQueen (May 16, 2008)

rcald2000 said:


> One of my favorite bars cooks this chicken sandwich on a bread roll. It's a grilled chicken fillet on a roll with mozarella cheese and bacon. My question is: What seasoning do I use on the chicken? I'm a newbie (obviously).


 
*This comes across as a fabulous sandwich just the way it is.  If you want to season it,  I would go along with Jeff G. and use Emeril's Essence.  This is what I use too and it does make a great cutlet.   The other method, for my grandkids who love to  eat spicy food, is to season the cutlet with Mrs. Dash's Original as it is sauteeing in the pan, then douse the cutlet  with Tabasco or Frank's Hot Sauce.  Excellent!!!  Now top it with the cheese and bacon.  Oh my gosh,  I'm salivating.  *


----------



## DaveSoMD (May 16, 2008)

One thing I do with my mashed potaotes is to warm the milk a little in the microwave. It seems to make the potatoes a little less gummy.


----------



## Thinehost (May 17, 2008)

> Peel and cut up a russet or Yukon Gold potato(es). Place in a pan and cover with cold water. Add a healthy amount of salt to the water. Bring the water to a boil and continue to boil gently until the potatoes are cooked through. If you stick a knife into the potato, it should go in easliy and come out without a fuss.
> 
> Drain the potatoes and mash them using a ricer (my first choice) or potato masher. Add butter, salt, pepper and cream and mix gently with a spoon or fork.
> 
> You can dress up the mashed potatoes by adding sour cream in place of the cream, garlic powder or roasted garlic cloves, chives, grated parmesan cheese. Let you imagination go wild.


I don't know the Yukon Gold potato variety, but my hubby's a bit puritanical when it comes to potatoes and always looks for dry, floury varieties.  When you're boiling them they tend to "go through the pot" - a great Scottish technical term LOL - in other words, one minute they're still hard in the centre, the next, they're disintegrating.  If you manage to drain the water just before the last little hard bit disappears, you're usually just about right with the texture.  I'm in agreement with the ingredients you can put into the mash - hmmmm, I just became hungry!  I love cheddar cheese in potatoes - or just plain butter and a little milk or cream.  Parsley's good as well.

Sometimes I buy chicken breasts, wrap them in bacon/gammon and bake them in a greased casserole dish for approximately half an hour.  I sautee some leeks and mushrooms and add them to a fresh cream sauce to serve with the chicken.  Quite often we have boiled rice with this - but mashed potatoes would be a good accompaniement as well.

Best
Margaret


----------



## Nancy Jane (May 17, 2008)

Personally, I would go with Chef Paul Prudhommes poultry magic seasoning blend.  Always just perfect.


----------



## Mama (May 17, 2008)

McCormicks makes a great fried chicken seasoning that is great on any kind of chicken. Sprinkle it on boneless skinless chicken breast and cook them up in a olive oil.

As for the mashed potatoes, cut a whole head of garlic in half, sit it on a piece of aluminum foil, drizzle with olive oil, wrap it up, throw it in a 375 degree oven while you peel, cut and boil the mashed potatoes. When they are done, squeeze the garlic out of the bulb into the potatoes, add butter, sour cream, salt and pepper and a little half and half and you're good to go!


----------



## rcald2000 (May 17, 2008)

Keep the suggestions coming; I'm going to try as many of these technique as I can, over the weekend.  Right now I'm staying up late just to cook.


----------



## rcald2000 (May 17, 2008)

Andy M. said:


> Peel and cut up a russet or Yukon Gold potato(es). Place in a pan and cover with cold water..


Does the type of potato make a difference? (e.g. Yukon Gold, Russet, etc).  I live in New York City, and I started out supermarket shopping in Whole Foods, which is known to have very high quality ingredients.  Well a 5 lb bad of of potatoes was $5, which I thought was obsessive.  So I went to the budget supermarket and the price was only $4, but the potatoes didn't have a label of being a specific type.  The labeling on the bag suggested generic potatoes.  So I wanted to know if the type of potatoe made a major difference.

I suppose my real question is much broader, which is how big a difference in cooking is determined by the quality of the ingredients?  Thanks.


----------



## rcald2000 (May 17, 2008)

*Seasonings so far...*

I _just_ grilled some chicken on a non-stick skillet with olive oil.  I seasoned the chicken fillet with seasoning salt, pepper and dash of garlic powder.  The taste was kind of bland and slightly salty.  Anything that I can do to improve the taste for my lunch tomorrow?  After work, I plan on looking for some of those spices you all have mentioned, but I'd also appreciate a simple solution just to hold me over for the next 18 hours.  Thanks guys, you all have been wonderful.
Rob


----------



## DaveSoMD (May 18, 2008)

Seasoning salt is more salt then seasoning so I'm not surprised at the flavor. Use it in moderation with other seasoninig. if you have the time you can try seasoning the chicken by rubbing the seasoning all over the meat and letting it sit in the fridge for 30 min or more and then cooking it.


----------

