Indiana Breaded Pork Tenderloin Sandwich

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 lb boneless pork loin, cut into 4 pieces
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 2 large eggs
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 2 cups finely crushed saltine crackers
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1 tsp onion powder
• 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
• 1 1/2 tsp kosher salt
• 1 tsp black pepper
• 4 cups vegetable oil, for frying
• 4 soft hamburger buns
• 4 tbsp mayonnaise
• 4 tsp yellow mustard
• 16 dill pickle chips
• 1/2 small white onion, thinly sliced
• 4 leaves iceberg lettuce

Before you cook

• Trim the pork of all fat and silverskin, then slice each piece almost in half horizontally and open it like a book.
• Place a butterflied piece between two sheets of plastic wrap and pound it with a mallet or heavy pan, working from the center outward, until it is a scant quarter inch thick and roughly twice the diameter of a bun.
• Repeat with the remaining pieces and season them on both sides with the salt and pepper.
• Whisk the buttermilk and eggs together in a shallow dish.
• Set the flour in one dish and the crushed saltines mixed with garlic powder, onion powder, and cayenne in another.

Steps

1. Dredge a cutlet in the flour and shake off the excess.
2. Dip the floured cutlet into the buttermilk and egg, letting the extra drip off.
3. Press the cutlet firmly into the cracker crumbs on both sides, packing the crumbs on with your palm.
4. Set the breaded cutlet on a wire rack and bread the remaining three the same way, then let them rest for 10 minutes so the coating sets.
5. Pour the oil into a wide deep skillet to a depth of about an inch and heat it to 350 degrees.
6. Slide one cutlet into the oil, easing it away from you.
7. Fry for 3 minutes, until the underside is deep golden and the edges have gone lacy.
8. Turn the cutlet with tongs and fry for 2 minutes more.
9. Lift it onto a clean wire rack and season it with a pinch of salt while it is still glistening.
10. Fry the remaining cutlets one at a time, letting the oil recover to 350 degrees between them.
11. Spread mayonnaise and mustard on the buns and add lettuce, onion, and pickles to the bottoms.
12. Set a cutlet on each bun so it hangs far over the edges, close the sandwich in the middle, and eat the overhanging edges first.