From the history
Schnitzel is a large thin piece of meat. This dish came to us from Austria. Introduced at the end of the 19th century, it quickly became popular in Europe. Translated from German, the name means “piece” or “slice”. Viennese chefs prepared it from veal. They took a thin layer of meat and fried it in hot oil, without even beating it. Later, chefs came up with minced and minced schnitzel. A distinctive feature of the dish is that the meat is in a crispy crust, but the inside is tender and juicy. Today it is prepared from veal, lamb, poultry, but the best is pork.
Choosing the right meat
You need to understand that the classic Viennese dish called schnitzel is made from beef. Beef is a fairly lean meat, unlike pork. Therefore, when choosing pork tenderloin, you must be guided by the rule - the less fat on the piece of meat you purchase, the better. Pork loin is best suited for making schnitzel at home. This is one of the leanest parts of the pig, yet juicy and tender.
When choosing meat, you should pay attention to its freshness. How to determine the quality of a meat product? The piece should not smell like spoiled meat or have a sour smell.
After all, often at the market or in a store they can slip anything under the guise of an expensive and high-quality product. When choosing meat, you should pay attention to the following signs:
- Avoid cured meat - it usually has a darkish color and a dried out crust.
- A good cut of pork loin should not be overly sticky.
- The color of young pork should be reddish-pink, without any spots or inclusions.
- Also avoid buying dark-colored meat, or green or brown pork. Such a product has most likely been sitting for too long and is not suitable for preparing Wiener schnitzel.
Once the product is selected, it needs to be prepared. Before making schnitzel at home, all veins, cartilage, and bones must be removed from the pulp.
This must be done so that when frying, the veins and veins do not draw juice out of the meat piece, and the schnitzel does not decrease in size. If this is not done, the dish will turn out dry and not juicy.
To the festive table
The main “highlight” of this recipe will be the addition of hard or processed cheese to the classic version. The components are taken in the following proportions: 4 pieces of pork 1.5-2 cm thick, 125 grams of cheese, mayonnaise, vegetable oil, salt, spices. It would be appropriate to use tomatoes and a few green olives.
Rinse and dry the meat pieces. Fry for a couple of minutes on each side in a frying pan using a small amount of oil. Then place them in a baking dish, pre-season with salt and pepper. Apply a layer of mayonnaise to each slice. Cut the tomatoes into slices and place on top. Do the same with olives. A layer of cheese completes the preparation. It can be sliced or grated. This dish should be kept in the oven for about half an hour at 180 degrees. Melted cheese will give it an unsurpassed taste and aroma. Ordinary products will make a real culinary decoration for any table.
Cooking and garnishing options
Cooking is an international science, and in each country the original recipe is necessarily modified a little, “adjusting” to the tastes and cuisine of another nation.
The original schnitzel, which the Austrians prepare from veal, is a very tasty dish, but too fatty. The breading absorbs the oil in which the chop is fried. Thus, you get a thin (about 5 mm) piece of meat plus a lot of flour and fat, because the breading is more than 50%. It’s difficult to afford such a dish in your everyday diet. Another thing is pork schnitzel in the oven. It contains significantly fewer calories, and most importantly, harmful fats that are dangerous for blood vessels. At the same time, the taste of the dish does not suffer, and it still looks great. It’s easier to cook it in an electric oven with convection and the ability to set high temperatures.
You can serve this chop with lemon and cucumbers, with vegetable or potato salads, or you can prepare a rich mushroom gravy or cheese sauce. Schnitzel looks very appetizing served with tomatoes, Korean carrots, and celery.
Chopped
Recently, schnitzel made from minced meat has become incredibly popular. This alternative option is used when the meat pulp received is not the best. Perhaps such a treat is not suitable for a celebration, but it will be appropriate for a family dinner or friendly gatherings. To prepare it you will need the following ingredients: pork - 600 grams, egg, crackers, salt, pepper to taste.
Wash the meat, dry it and cut it into small cubes. Wrap the resulting mass in cling film and beat with a hammer. Salt, pepper, beat in the egg. Form into pieces and roll them in breading. Bake in the oven with added butter for 30-40 minutes.
Ingredients: how to choose pork
The main thing in meat for schnitzel is the absence of veins and excess fat; the flesh itself should be quite tender. If you decide to cook pork schnitzel in the oven, then it is better to choose pork tenderloin. As a last resort, instead of tenderloin, you can take the pulp or the back of the carcass, but this meat is tougher and therefore will require a long cooking time.
Schnitzel differs from a regular chop in that it has a looser consistency and a crispier crust. The size of a schnitzel is twice as large as a chop, because its diameter reaches 20 cm or more. Therefore, to serve Wiener schnitzel, you need to choose a flat plate of large diameter.
If you decide to make pork schnitzel, the recipe requires the following ingredients (for 3 servings): 600 gr. pork (200 grams per serving), 3 eggs, 160-200 grams. flour, 150 gr. sour cream, 300 gr. breadcrumbs (or 400 grams of white loaf), salt, ground black pepper, dried basil, 200 grams. butter and the same amount of vegetable oil.
From minced meat
Minced schnitzel will be an excellent replacement for cutlets and meatballs. The main difference is the shape of the meat dish, it is oval and flattened. The ingredients are as follows: pork - 350 grams, eggs - 5 pieces, a piece of dry white bread, a large onion, a little milk or water, salt, spices. These proportions are for 4 servings.
Wash the pulp, dry it, cut into pieces. Then pass it through a meat grinder, add the twisted onion and the bun. Salt, pepper, knead the minced meat. The base should be dense and not sticky. Form the semi-finished products and place them on a baking sheet covered with parchment paper. Bake in the oven for 25-30 minutes at 180 degrees.
Option 11: Pork cheese schnitzel in the oven
Even pork that is not very young or has been frozen is ideal for this recipe. Thanks to the special marinade, the meat softens very well, is filled with flavor, and the result is a royal dish. We choose hard cheese, as it will be used for breading.
Ingredients
- 70 g crackers;
- 600 g pork;
- 100 ml soy sauce;
- 50 g flour;
- egg;
- 100 g hard cheese;
- 20 g mustard;
- 0.3 tsp. pepper;
- 30 ml oil.
Step by step recipe
Step 1:
Combine mustard with the recipe amount of soy sauce, add ground pepper, but you can add a little adjika. Stir, this will be a marinade.
Step 2:
Cut the meat into centimeter-sized slices, beat them and pour in soy marinade. Leave for at least half an hour, but it’s better to let it sit for a couple of hours so that the pork is well soaked.
Step 3:
Preparing the breading. Grate the cheese into fine shavings and combine with crackers. It is important to use white bread breading. Separately, beat the eggs in a plate. They are needed so that the breading sticks and the schnitzel is covered with a fluffy coat.
Step 4:
Remove the schnitzels from the marinade, squeeze them out, roll them in flour, then dip them in the egg, and then in breadcrumbs. Place the coated meat on a baking sheet coated with oil.
Step 5:
Cook the schnitzels in the oven for 15 minutes at 200 degrees, then turn them over, keep them for another 5-8 minutes, take them out, add side dishes, and serve.
The breading can be prepared not only with cheese, but also with sesame seeds, adding walnuts, sometimes crackers or corn flakes are used instead of crackers, but it must be without sugar and glaze.
With vegetables
If you want to immediately prepare a full lunch or dinner, consisting of a main part and a side dish, then you should use this recipe. A successful combination of ingredients will make schnitzel with mushrooms and potatoes your favorite treat and culinary pride. Its preparation requires the following components: pork pulp - 600 grams, 7 potatoes, mushrooms - 200 grams, 2 eggs and onions, hard cheese, 200 ml of milk, salt, pepper, flour.
Wash the pork, dry it and cut it into slices. Beat the pieces on a board with a hammer, add salt and pepper. Next, they need to be lightly fried in a frying pan on both sides with a small amount of oil. Peel the potatoes, cut them and fry them in a frying pan. Do the same with mushrooms. It is better to use champignons or oyster mushrooms. Then the prepared products are placed on a baking sheet and poured with a mixture made from eggs, warm milk, 2 tablespoons of flour and grated cheese. In half an hour, an interesting and tasty dish is ready. You can add carrots to the proposed vegetables. It will add its own taste and decorate the appearance.
Recipe with egg
An original pork schnitzel that looks very beautiful on the table if you carefully break the egg without damaging the yolk.
| Ingredients | Weight |
| Pork | 500 g |
| Bulb onions | 100 g |
| Egg | 6 items |
| White bread | 100 g |
| Milk | 100 ml |
| Cheese | 150 g |
| Salt and spices | Taste |
Cooking time: 70 minutes.
Nutritional value: 312 kcal.
- Trim the white bread from the crusts, leaving only the crumb. Soak in milk.
- Chop the pork into small pieces. Peel and chop the onion.
- After about 10 minutes the bread will soften, after which you can mix it with the pork. Season with salt and spices.
- Mash all the minced meat well until smooth. Each schnitzel will require about 200 grams of minced meat. Place it on a baking sheet, creating a cutlet shape. Using a spoon, make a medium sized well in the center of the cutlet.
- Cook for about 20 minutes in the oven (temperature 200 degrees). At this time, you should grate the cheese. After 20 minutes, remove the baking sheet from the oven, place the egg in the cavity and sprinkle with cheese. If desired, you can add herbs for taste. Continue cooking for the same amount at the same temperature.
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Cordon bleu (or cordon bleu)
This is one of the options for pork schnitzel in the oven. The only difference is the presence of filling.
For 2 servings we need
- pork cut into schnitzels - 4 chops;
- hard cheese - 2 strips;
- ham - 2 pieces;
- raw egg - 1 pc.;
- breadcrumbs;
- salt, black pepper, other spices for meat;
- mayonnaise;
- vegetable oil.
Cooking steps
- Between two pieces of pork we place a filling of thin strips of ham and cheese.
- Mix the egg with mayonnaise, salt, and spices.
- Dip the two connected pieces in the breading, then in the lezone, then again in the breading. To be sure, you can first fasten the edges of our “pie” with toothpicks.
- Place our stuffed schnitzels on a hot, greased baking sheet. Spray the tops of the chops with oil.
- Fry in a hot oven at 200°C. “Bottom and top heating” mode. Bake for 20–25 minutes on each side.
The result is a very tasty and original dish that goes great with rice, boiled potatoes, and vegetables.
Space for imagination
You can make schnitzels from any meat. The main thing is to subject them to intensive heat treatment. Then the chops will remain juicy and appetizing. You can safely experiment with sauces and add grated cheese to the breading. So your family will have a new tasty and very satisfying dish waiting for you every time.
