Fried foods were usually reserved for special occasions. It wasn’t until the 1980s that they started to become a more regular feature of home cooking in South Korea. That’s also about the time that deep-fried street foods started proliferating. I’m stunned at how popular Koreanized fried chicken as become over there and in Los Angeles.

Funny thing is packaged panko (Japanese breadcrumbs, the texture seems shaved or shredded, rather than ground or pulverized) were pretty commonly available in stores before sliced white bread became widely available in European style bakeries in South Korea.

I’ve been on line looking unsuccessfully for a description/recipe which we’ve been making in my Italian family for 3 generations called Rovellini (sp?). It’s very thinly slice round or flank steak, pounded, then egged, breaded, and fried. It’s served either dry with lemon, or baked in a seasoned tomato sauce. Could this be a regional name/recipe? Would like any info you could give me.

Adam, how intriguing that there’s such a gap between breaded fried things and collops or escalopes in the eighteenth century. Bears mulling over. It’s just one more of the many cases where culinary innovations that in retrospect seem obvious were just never made at the time.

Never the less, you find breaded fried items in the 18th century:

Veal Cutlets. 1792. YOUR cutlets mufl be about the thicknefsof a half crown ; but the length of them is of no confe- quence. Dip them in the yolk of an egg, and ftrew over them crumbs of bread, a few fweet herbs, fome lemon peel, and a little gra-ted nutmeg. Fry them in frefh butter.

To fry Soles. 1769. Skin your Soles as you do Eels, but keep on. their Heads, rub them over with an Egg, and ftrew over them Bread Crumbs, fry them over a brifk Fire in Hogs-lard a light Brown, ferve them up with good melted Butter, and garnifh it with green Pickles.

To fry Eels. 1796. Cut one or two eels in pieces; cue out the back bone, and fcore it on both fides; marinade it an hour in vinegar, with parfley, diced onions, fhal- lots, and four cloves; then drain it, bafte it with eggs and bread crumbs, fry it of a good colour; garnifh with fried parfley, and ferve with a,relifliing fauce in a fauce- boat.

To Fry Tripe. 1770. Cut your Tripe into Pieces about three or four Inches “long; dip them in the Yolk of an Egg, and a few Crumbs .of Bread; fry them very brown ; then take them out of your Pan, and lay them in a Difh to drain. Have another Difh, that is warm, ready to put them in, and ferve them up, with Butter and Muftard in a Cup

Sheeps Rumps with Parmefan Cheefe. 1737. PU T your Sheeps Rumps in a good Braiie, as before, and when done, put them to cool; then take fome Crumbs of Bread very fine, and as much Parmefan Cheefe mixed together, then take your Rumps and dip them in Eggs, and put the Crumbs of Bread and Parmefan Cheefe over ; and if you find that once doing over is not enough, do them twice, and fry them in good Hog’s Lard of a good Colour, and ferve them with fried Parfley.

What is interesting is that the range of dishes breaded and fried is restricted compared to what we would see in the 19th century. In the 18th century there are thousands of recipes for “collops” (= “escalope” = “slice”) of veal, beef or lamb and many recipes for breaded fried things, but rarely and breaded fried collops, which seems obvious, but apparently isn’t.