When we were kids, German children could be easily classified into two types: spaghetti bolognese kids and schnitzel kids, depending on which dish they would go for in a restaurant. Not that the menus didn’t offer anything else: usually given titles from popular fairy tales such as ‘Cinderella’s plate’ or ‘Pinocchio’, you could always choose fish fingers, Spätzle with gravy, or even, for the little ones, a ‘robber plate’ with a fork to rob whatever you like from your parents’ or siblings’ plates.
Once you had made up your mind you usually stuck to it – once a schnitzel, always a schnitzel. Like many German families at the time, we would quite regularly visit a restaurant for a Sunday lunch, probably once a month, And the German post-war president Adenauer’s motto, ‘no experiments’, applied not only for our choice of lunch, but also for our choice of restaurant: it had to be the Haghof, a country inn hidden in the hilly forests nearby, serving traditional Swabian food. No experiments.
The rooms were clad in aged wood panelling, and in the front section they had a giant stuffed hog’s head mounted on the wall, right above a table, tongue sticking out between the fangs of its grizzly head – we could never quite understand why our parents refused to ask for that table! Just imagine! To be able to look at that grinning visage all though your meal!
When we arrived, reading book in hand to pass the time between courses, the waitress would grin and welcome us with a friendly ‘The Schnizelkids!’, never asking what we wanted – only when it came to desserts, as we might occasionally change our preferred ice cream flavour. The schnizel were, in fact, delicious: tender and thin, covered in a delicate layer of breadcrumbs like a thin blanket. The skill is to achieve air pockets between the meat and the breadcrumbs, and their schnitzels had the most perfect cover.
The dish is considered to be of Viennese origin, but you find similar recipes described as ‘Milanese’. The term ‘Viennese Schnitzel’ is protected to describe veal escalopes covered in breadcrumbs – its cheaper cousin, which uses pork escalopes in lieu of the more pricey veal, has to be called ‘Viennese-style Schnitzel’, similar to the distinction between the ‘Zurich Meat Strips’ and ‘Meat Strips Zurich Style‘ I made as part of my World Cup Challenge. We serve Viennese Schnitzel always with potato salad and lettuce, but on the children’s menu it would invariably be fries. Forget about the side salad, that’s just decoration … I decided against the fries on this occasion, growing up and all that, as well as having to fry them myself, has somewhat taken the lustre off.
The challenge was Frugal Hausfrau‘s suggestion to compete head-to-head under a schnitzel-themed Friendly Fire. You might remember I’ve got Cake-Dana’s invention of a timed cook-along: two contestants, two kitchens, but the same dish. It’s a brilliant way to get to know other bloggers as you work out a dish you both like, make it and post about it simultaneously. The results are always surprisingly different, considering that you both worked under the same title! Check out mine and Plate du Jour‘s take on cheesecakes, for example, or Dana’s and Food is the Best Shit Ever‘s Pork Tacos, to get an idea of the fun that’s to be had in intercontinental cooking!
Frugal Hausfrau’s been a real inspiration over these last months: her no-nonsense approach to pricing is an inspiration in itself, but I particularly like her very practical way of cooking. Here’s someone who knows what she’s doing, and enjoying every aspect of it. When she mentioned the schnitzel sandwiches she had as a child growing up in Iowa I was intrigued – I had to find out more about what happened to my favourite childhood dish after it crossed the Atlantic! So I am all tenterhooks now to see how she managed to recreate her childhood dish, as well as looking forward to tucking into a ‘Rumpelstiltskin Plate’ myself…
In order to impress her I have come up with an ingenious way to inspire you to save some money when you make this dish (money you could then use to splash out on veal escalopes, I suppose): make your own breadcrumbs! Don’t buy that overpriced, cardboard-flavoured nonsense when you can have deliciously tasting breadcrumbs for free! Simply keep some leftover white bread in a cotton bag for a few days, or until it has dried out. Grate it over a coarse grater and let the crumbs dry out a little more. Finally wrap them up in a kitchen towel and use a rolling pin to crush them into tiny little crumbs. They’ll last for a month or two as long as you keep them dry. Now, how frugal is that!
As for the veal, the cruel practice of keeping young calves in a dark and confined space to keep their meat white are fortunately mostly over. You can buy responsibly sourced veal and you’ll recognise it by its pink colour. The flavour is ever so mild, in perfect contrast with the breadcrumb cover.
Viennese Schnitzel (serves 4)
- 4 thin veal escalopes (or pork, but then you are required to change the title …), ca. 150g each
- 100g plain flour
- 2 eggs
- 200g fine breadcrumbs
- salt, pepper to taste
- 250g clarified butter (ghee) or lard, to fry
To tenderise the meat, place the escalopes on a wooden board and cover with a freezer bag before pounding them with a wooden mallet or similar until they are around 5mm thin.
Salt and pepper the escalopes from both sides, then prepare three plates with the ingredients for the breadcrumb batter: one with flour, one with the beaten eggs and one with the bread crumbs. It works best if you arrange them from right to left, starting with the flour (until you are left-handed, that is).
Melt the butter or lard in a deep frying pan. Keep it at a medium heat – if the fat is too hot you’ll end up with charcoal-covered raw escalope, which is not a very popular dish at all.
Place a serving plate in the oven and keep it at a low temperature in the oven (ca. 160C/300F) to keep the food warm while you are frying the next batch.
Now hold your first escalope in your left hand and dip it into the flour, turn to ensure it is covered from both sides, and shake off surplus flour.
Dip it into the beaten eggs, turn to ensure it is covered from both sides, lift it up to let the surplus liquid drip off.
Finally dip the escalope into the breadcrumbs. With your – clean – right hand you can cover the upper side with crumbs, this avoiding any unnecessary movements that would mess up the thin cover of crumbs. Lift and lightly shake, then place the schnitzel in the frying pan.
Use a spoon to pour hot fat over the upper side of the schnitzel, to help it brown evenly. When you turn it, use a spatula or similar rather than a fork as you don’t want to pierce the meat. You will notice the batter coming up in bubbles, which means it has the perfect consistency – take care not to destroy it when handling the meat!
Once it has a lovely golden colour, place the schnitzel on a bit of kitchen towel as a token gesture towards your arteries. Keep it on the warm plate in the switched-off oven while you prepare the remaining schnitzels.
Serve with a slice of lemon and a choice of potato salad and lettuce. Or go for fries, for old times’ sake … I’ll be heading over to the Frugal Hausfrau now to see what she’s come up with!
Ginger&Bread 
MyGerman speaking son would definately be a scnitzel kid. He raved about them when he rrturned from Germany. I always enjoyed Wiener Schnitzel in a Hungarian restaurant in Totonto w lots of lemon. Sadly now closed Time to think of making my own w your excellent instructions Ginger
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They are delicious! One German chef, Johannes Lafer, adds single cream to the eggs to create an even better crust – I have to give that a try sometime soon!
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Oh, my goodness, this looks SO good! And I am a bit surprised that the recipes are so close, although the method of serving, so different! I’m also surprised that the using of the clarified butter seems to make such a difference in the texture of the crust – and I didn’t know there were more humane ways of raising the calfs for veal. I will have to search out some so I can recreate this recipe as you’ve made it. 🙂
It’s been so much fun to do this, although I have to admit I was a bit anxious over the timing between the two continents and our hectic schedules! I guess it goes to show how much food (and traditions) can bring us together!
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And by the way, I love your tips on breadcrumbs, and have my own comments, too! I see for this recipe a very fine, dry breadcrumb is used, while on mine, a much coarser, jaggedy one is needed! 🙂
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It’s such an amazing concept, the Friendly Fire challenge, as it really feels a bit like you’re cooking together 🙂 I am really looking forward to giving your ‘Schnitzelburgers’ a try …
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Now you talking!! There is nothing like old good schabowy otherwise known as schnitzel! Which makes me think of that piece of pork I just got from my mom!! Good job- by the way my mom uses your method for making her own bread crumbs, it’s great I admit!
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Not surprised that the Schnitzel made it as far as Poland!
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That’s a gorgeous piece of meat. I came over from Frugal Hausfrau’s blog to admire. Your plate is reminiscent of what my mother would put on the Christmas table when we were affluent enough to afford veal in my teens. Before that it was the pork version … often using pork chops with the bone which she had pounded. My brother and I liked mashed potatoes but she would sometimes make a pan of the scalloped potatoes that she and my dad preferred.
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Scalloped potatoes sound interesting! We mostly use pork now, or even turkey escalopes. And you had them as your Christmas dinner? How interesting!
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My mom would make several meat dishes for Christmas day: the turkey, the schnitzel and a plate of spicy paprika sausages baked in a covered dish to help the fat render out. Along with buns, her giblet and rice stuffing, turkey noodle soup with her home made egg noodles and salad. My brother would start with two bowls of soup and make a sandwich with the buns and schnitzel especially after he married and missed the soup so much that my mom had to turn him down for a third bowl so that he would eat the rest of the meal.
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That sounds like quite a feast! Was your mum making the 12 dishes? I have heard this tradition now from quite a few people! Your brother sounds hilarious – his poor wife though 😉
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Just to finish the story … my SIL enjoyed my mom’s cooking too and had no problem coming over for Christmas, Easter (ham) and Thanksgiving every year. They were always sent home with several large packages of leftover turkey (she liked breast and my brother would get the other drumstick), schnitzel etc. My mom was not going for the 12 dishes (seafood the day before Christmas) but liked not having to cook for a week while the 3 of us lived on leftovers. 🙂
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Delicious, Ginger! This looks just like the schnitzel my German grandmother made (she must have “borrowed” her recipe from her Austrian neighbor). 😉 Love the friendly competition between you and Frugal Hausfrau!
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The Friendly Fire is such a brilliant concept! Although I am currently struggling with a task I am clearly not cut out for … but anytime you fancy a challenge, just pop me an email 😉
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Amazing! I miss Schnitzel so much. Were did you get the veal escalopes from? A butchers or the supermarket?
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Ha ha, the veal was a by-product of an order I made through the internet a while ago! I am sure my butcher would be able to procure it for me, though, as he gets his meat from Smithfield market.
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Loved this post, the peek into your childhood, the fine distinction between Wiener schnitzel and Viennese-style schnitzel. Having completed a cook-along with Marta last week, I totally agree about the fun to be had 😀 the schnitzel looks wonderful!
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I so loved your presentation for the Friendly Fire last week! The semantics of food here in Europe can be a bit daunting, thanks to the European Union granting protected status to regional dishes. I wholly support it, though, as it allows you to see straightaway what’s in the dish you’re ordering. Personally I don’t mind using pork for a Schnitzel or for the Zurich-style Geschnetzeltes, but it saves me having to read the smallprint 😉
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Thank you 🙂
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My two are definitely schnitzel kids! 😀 Yours looks delicious. Although I will admit to getting sick of the sight of them at times, when they are good, they are very very very good! 😀
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I know what you mean – my son had two of them each day when we visited the Black Forest a few years ago … I do like them when they are done well! Which reminds me, I should try out the Haghof restaurant when we visit Germany the next time … 😉
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seems we were a somewhat more progressive family- as we went to different restaurants – or “Wirtschaft” as we called it then. And what I liked most- and what nearly vanished- is “Göckele mit pommes frites” – thats fried chicken with fries. Should make it, and soon, I think.
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My parents would have loved to be more progressive! I could only begin to empathise with their plight a few years ago, when I got sick and tired of my son’s favourite restaurant. Needless to say, it’s now our daughter’s favourite, too … While my mum-in-law is staying with us, my partner and I have been able to visit a few non-Itailan restaurants, on our own. It’s great to sample Peruvian ceviche, Venezuelan arepas and other non-pizza-related dishes, and the fact that we both can use the bathroom independently is an added bonus 😉
Looking forward to your chicken with fries!
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