Recipe: Austrian Weiner Schnitzel

This week, during our virtual visit to #Austria, we cheated a bit in preparing our meal, in that we ordered it in versus making it ourselves! This is because we live in Berlin, and we are able to find delicious Schnitzels at many local restaurants in our neighborhood, and especially during the pandemic, we want to support them as much as we can. (And, before anyone points this out, yes, this version with the mushroom sauce is technically called, Jegaerschnitzel, but I added the sauce from a container after the meal was delivered. When I received it, it didn't have the sauce on top yet, so was still technically Weiner Schnitzel!)

Years ago, back at home in the U.S., we had a good friend - Florian - who was a Postdoc from Germany at the time, studying in the same lab as my husband. His absolute favorite dish that he missed so much was Weiner Schnitzel, and it is nearly impossible to find it in the U.S. So, I remember well the evening he came to our home, taught us to make it, and we enjoyed dinner together with him and his wife that evening. We have been making it with his recipe ever since! So, even though we leaned on the experts this week to deliver perfection to our door, this is a regular favorite in our kitchen and I will share the recipe here that we use when we make it. We love it so much and we know you will too!

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WEINER SCHNITZEL

Serves: 6

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time:

Ingredients:

• 6 Pork or Veal Cutlets (Thin Sliced)

• Flour

• Lightly Beaten Egg

• Plain Breadcrumbs

• Cooking Oil

Instruments:

• Frying Pan

• Three Shallow, wide bowls

• Plastic Wrap

• Meat Mallet (When we bought ours for this purpose, the store didn't have any, so we found a rubber mallet that was designed to drive tent stakes into the ground when camping. It has done the job just fine for us over the years!)

Directions:

1. Fill three shallow, wide bowls - one with flour; one with lightly beaten egg, and one with plain breadcrumbs, and set aside.

2. One at a time, using the mallet, wrap each cutlet in plastic wrap and pound until it is approximately 1/4 inch thick.

3. One at a time, dip and cover a cutlet in flour on all sides; then coat with egg; and finally, coat with breadcrumbs.

4. Immediately fry each cutlet in thin layer of oil in a frying pan - approximately two minutes per side or until crispy and browned.

5. Serve hot with Kartoffelsalat (Potato Salad) and a slice of lemon. Enjoy!