Wienerschnitzel is Country Fried Steak

I am always amused when someone uses a foreign language to disguise a peasant dish, usually so unsuspecting customers can be charged a haute cuisine price.   Growing up I was told that only unfortunate children in Dickens’ novels had to eat mush for dinner.  Now everyone raves about polenta as an elegant side dish.  Corn meal mush by any other name is just as tasty and filling.  

One dish from my children’s German heritage is schnitzel, praised as one of the “Few of My Favorite Things” from the film, A Sound of Music.  As elegant and satisfying as the film, schnitzel, is really just a tarted up version of country fried steak. 

In my household I follow the advice of one of the restaurant pros I know and use pork loin in lieu of veal in my version of wienerschnitzel.  He claims that only 1 in 100 diners can tell the difference.  I am not sure of that, but I do agree that the two are close enough that I can avoid the cost and moral outrage from vegan lefties.   (I shall still eat foie gras)

Ingredients

• 4 6oz boneless pork loin chops
• 2 cup flour
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 2 cup bread crumbs
• 4 tbsp olive oil
• 4 tbsp butter
• 2 tsp dry thyme, divided
• salt & pepper

Directions

1. Put four dinner plates on your kitchen counter.  Starting on the right, put the flour in the first plate, seasoned with a tsp of thyme, and salt & pepper to taste, the beaten egg in the second plate, and the bread crumbs*, seasoned with a tsp of thyme, and salt & pepper to taste, in the third place.  Leave the fourth plate empty.
2. Butterfly the chops and cut in half.  By that I mean slice the chop in half horizontally to make it half its original thickness.  Then pound to a thickness of about ¼ inch.
3. Working with your right hand, dredge each chop in the seasoned flour, then dip both sides of the chop into the beaten egg, then coat with the seasoned bread crumbs. Using your clean left hand, move chop to the empty plate.
4. When all chops are coated, place in refrigerator for one hour.  Now, if you’re in a hurry you can skip this step, but the coating will cling better to the chop if you refrigerate it before cooking.
5. Cook chops in the olive oil and butter over medium heat, until each side is golden brown, around two minutes.
6. If you would like gravy (and who doesn't?) deglaze the pan with a little white wine.  Add three tbsp unsalted butter and three tbsp of the dredging flower.  Over medium heat, cook the flour and butter for three minutes stirring constantly. Add 1/2 cup chicken stock and whisk until smooth.  Add 1/2 cup half n half and heat until it reaches a simmer. Remove from heat and transfer into a gravy pitcher.

If you want to pretend you’re married to an Austrian baron, serve with buttered egg noodles, or even better spaetzel (That’s German for itty-bitty dumplings).  Me?  I’m eating this with a potato/carrot mash.