Without a doubt, this is one of our family’s staple dinner dishes. And there is a good reason for it. I learned to make them cooking with my grandma when I was very young. I think I could make schnitzels when I was 10 years old or even younger.
I have mentioned in the past, that my grandma used beer in lots of her recipes – and I continue to do that as well. For these schnitzels, I used out favorite beer – The Steam Whistle. Personally – I really like the company’s statement: Do one thing and do it well – it does say a lot and they really do!
For the meat, I always buy a whole pork loin from our local butcher, cut the pieces to about 1/2 thickness, tenderize them (that mean beating them up with a wooden mallet) so that they end up about 1/4 thick. I wrap each piece individually and freeze it for later use.
freezing individual pieces allows you to take out as many as you need at the time. After defrosting them, i salt them lightly and stack them on top of each other before getting ready to batter them
For the next step, you need to get ready to bread the meat. Use 3 bowls big enough to comfortably place meat pieces into it.
First bowl – fill about 1/2 full with flour.(depending on depth of the bowl, just remember that you need to cover both sides of the meat.)
Second bowl – I used 3 eggs, beat them to uniform consistency and added half a bottle of Steam Whistle beer, mixing it all together.
Third bowl – My favorite bread crumbs are Panko – they really makes for a very tasty and nice crust. You can use regular crumbs and it you want, add seasoning – e.i. Italian seasoning mix work well.
Now start breading your meat:
First – into the flour bowl, making sure both sides are evenly covered – this will make a difference in how the egg mixture sticks to the meat
You can use your fingers to do this step – I prefer to use a fork, gently piercing edge of the meat and turning it over to make sure both sides of the meat are covered.
From the egg mixture – into the bread crumbs, patting the meat to help bread crumbs to stick. Once you bread all pieces, you are ready to cook them
And here is one of the most important points that will make your schnitzels taste great: use butter to fry them in – they really taste different then if you use margarine or oil. I tried it several different ways and butter makes a huge difference.
Melt couple tablespoon of butter in a large frying pan and once it is hot, place schnitzels in. You will need to watch for couple of things here: butter can burn quickly, so adjust the burner heat accordingly. I usually end up cooking on a medium level of flame (I use gas stove) gently lift edge of teh schnitzel to check on cooking progress – you only want to fry them to golden brown. And you will need to be adding butter – the bread crumbs will soak up some of it.
Fry your schnitzels to golden on both sides – don’t make them too dark, since it is a good idea to place them into the oven after frying them to ensure they are cooked through
I like serving schnitzels with masked potatoes and a vegetable or homemade potato salad – one of my family’s absolutely favorite dinners!
You can use this process to make breaded chicken breasts as well – if you add Italian seasonings to your bread crumbs, melt cheese on each portion and place it on a bed of pasta – there you will have another fabulous dinner!
Please send me your comments and suggestions – I do hope this recipe works well for you! And remember – I love receiving your input anytime!
