Traditional Wiener Schnitzel: the Viennese breaded veal cutlet, thin, golden and crisp

The Wiener Schnitzel is protected by law in Austria: it can only carry that name if it is made of veal. The pork version, equally popular and cheaper, must be called Schnitzel Wiener Art, Viennese style. The legend that the recipe came from Milan with Field Marshal Radetzky in 1857 has already been disproved by historians, but the kinship with the cotoletta alla milanese is obvious.

The Viennese technique has details that make all the difference: the meat pounded thin and even, the breading done without pressing, and frying in plenty of fat, basting the meat with the pan tilted, so the crust puffs and lifts in waves. It is this souffliert, the rippled and loose breading, that separates a Viennese Schnitzel from any breaded cutlet.

It is served with a slice of lemon, fried parsley and the Erdäpfelsalat, the warm potato salad with onion and vinegar, no mayonnaise. Or with parsley potatoes. Never with sauce on top.

Recipe card

• Origin: Vienna, Austria
• Category: Main course, breaded meat
• Difficulty: Easy
• Preparation time: 25 minutes
• Cooking time: 15 minutes
• Yield: 4 servings

Ingredients — Schnitzel

• 4 veal cutlets (or pork loin) of 150 g, trimmed of fat
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 3 eggs
• 2 tablespoons cream or milk
• 2 cups fine breadcrumbs, preferably from dry white bread grated at home
• 300 g clarified butter (or half butter, half oil)
• Salt to taste
• 1 lemon in slices or wedges
• Sprigs of parsley

Ingredients — warm potato salad

• 800 g waxy potatoes boiled in their skins
• 1 small onion, finely chopped
• 150 ml hot beef or vegetable stock
• 3 tablespoons white wine vinegar
• 3 tablespoons oil
• 1 teaspoon mustard
• 1 pinch sugar
• Chopped chives, salt and pepper to taste

Method

1. For the salad, peel the potatoes while still warm, cut into thin slices and mix with the onion. Heat the stock with the vinegar, sugar, mustard, salt and pepper, pour over the potatoes, add the oil and chives and mix gently. Let it absorb while you prepare the meat.
2. Place each cutlet between two sheets of plastic and pound with a meat mallet until 4 mm thick, without tearing.
3. Season the meat with salt on both sides.
4. Prepare three plates: flour, eggs beaten with the cream, and breadcrumbs.
5. Dredge each cutlet in flour, shake off the excess, dip in the egg and coat with breadcrumbs without pressing, just shaking to make them stick.
6. Heat the clarified butter in a wide skillet to about 170 °C (340 °F); the breadcrumbs should sizzle at once and brown in seconds.
7. Fry one Schnitzel at a time, 2 to 3 minutes per side, swirling the pan and spooning the hot fat over the top, so the crust puffs.
8. Drain on paper towels, salt lightly and serve immediately with the lemon, parsley and potato salad.

Tips and variations

• Very fine industrial breadcrumbs give a smooth, hard crust: grate dry bread at home for an airier one.
• The fat should come halfway up the meat; too little fat makes the crust stick and not puff.
• Do not bread in advance: the crumbs get damp and the crust does not lift.
• Chicken pounded thin makes an honest everyday Schnitzel.
• The potato salad needs waxy potatoes and must be dressed while warm.
• Parsley fried for 10 seconds in the same fat is the classic Viennese garnish.
• Cold leftover Schnitzel in bread with mustard is a real Austrian snack.

A true Wiener Schnitzel covers the whole plate, the crust lifts away from the meat and crackles when cut. With lemon and potato salad, it is Vienna on a plate.