Did you ever watch the Jetsons as a kid (or adult)? It was a fascinating cartoon about life in the future. (Okay, maybe fascinating is stretching it but it truly was awesome Saturday morning entertainment when it was in syndication during the 1970’s.)

Just in case you lived in a cave or had a mom who limited your cartoon viewing, it was the story of George Jetson and his family who live in the future. It essentially was the epitome of every sitcom produced in the 60’s….BUT IN A CARTOON!!! I was in my 30’s before I realized that every episode was like the Flintstone’s except IN THE FUTURE. (For some reason I am screaming the last part like Regis Philbin because that is how I feel like I need to emphasize my love of that show.)

George was married to Jane. She seemed nothing like my mom so I thought she was a little unrelatable. She liked to shop and was kind of “society” lady. She was a homemaker but really only had to push a few buttons to get stuff done. (Jane also had a robot maid named Rosie but I’ll talk more on her in a bit.)

George and Jane also had two kids, Judie and Elroy. They were typical TV kids with her being a boy crazy teenager and Elroy was the precocious little brother. (The younger sibling on TV was always the precocious, adorable one that people loved the most. Speaking from experience, I think that rings true in life too.)

But Rosie was where the show was ingenious. Here you have a robot (in a apron) that essentially does it all. With laugh track timed out perfectly, Rosie would deliver one-liners that were showstoppers! (Or maybe Mom just told me to turn off the TV and the show continued, I’ll never know.)

Rosie cleaned, gave sage advice and cooked like no one’s business!!!  (Seriously, what did Jane do?   She didn’t even WALK THE DOG. George did that on the treadmill!)

I started thinking about Rosie today because sometimes I’m in the kitchen and feel like a robot. I go through a systematic routine after having my buttons pressed and pop out a result. (I also pop out fantastic one-liners!)

There are just things I cook that I go through the motions and never really think about it. It is like I’ve been programmed to cook this way and have trouble rebooting my system. I know there are better ways but I just scoot about the kitchen with my apron on and ruffles on my collar. (Was I the only one who wondered why she didn’t have a blouse? It was just a bunch of buttons stuck to her metal surface. )

Maybe Rosie just needed a new hard drive inserted. (I wonder if Ol’ George ever…you know…never mind.) Maybe she just needs an updated data pack for the kitchen so she could think outside of her metal box of a head.

I read an article online about common mistakes when cooking cutlets. It was like I had a surge of new information to process. I felt my circuits overload and I almost shut down. I made so many of the mistakes this article discussed. All I kept thinking was that I could not compute!

After a moment, I rebooted and read the article again. I am not Rosie. I don’t have to keep following my same routine. I’m not answering to Mr. J anymore, I’m going to try some and stop MAKING MISTAKES! (Still talking like Regis….don’t know why…BUT I AM.)

New Age Pork Cutlets

Ingredients

1 pound pork thin cut pork chops (I’ll explain this in a minute)

½ cup flour

1/2 – ¾ cup panko crumbs, in a bowl

1 egg

1 lemon

salt and pepper

Olive oil

Additional lemon halves that you char on the stove or grill

Directions

  1. Oven 325.
  2. Trim excess silverskin and fat off of pork chops and use your knife to put a couple of hashmarks in the meat. I used the thin cut chops for one reason alone…they were in the freezer!
  3. Use your favorite mallet and pound your meat! (Do not talk to your mom while you are pounding because she will ask you what you are doing and telling your mom that you are pounding meat sounds dirty and might get you grounded.) This should be somewhere between ¼ inch to ½ inch thick.
  4. Season pork BOTH SIDES and set aside.
  5. Zest your lemon into bowl of flour. Set aside.
  6. Juice the rest of the lemon into egg and beat.
  7. Dip each seasoned cutlet into the egg then flour/zest and then panko. Set aside. You will be cooking them in batches so you could start getting your pan ready as you finish coating them.
  8. Heat a sauté pan over medium/high heat and heat oil until it glistens. I used about a tablespoon per batch.
  9. I only cooked two at a time. It took about 2 minutes per side and then I put them in an oven safe dish in the preheated oven. On the first side, I watched the side of the cutlet. You can see the infusion of heat and how fast the cutlet is cooking.
  10. Finish all your cutlets and serve with the charred lemon halves. (Don’t skip charring the lemon halves. It adds a nice flavor to the cutlet!)

I think the future has a lot to offer but I’ll have to remember to reboot my own robot every now and then so my meals get better.