My recipe featured in the Waitrose Weekend magazine;
Eating schnitzel reminds me of the noisy family dinners at my parent’s house. My sisters, brother and I would crowd into our small kitchen, elbow each other to the table and literally grab a piece of schnitzel to throw onto our plates for dinner. Growing up in a family of four children teaches you to get what you can at dinner. There’s no fussy eating when your little brother is about to swipe food off your plate!
I usually make schnitzel with pork (and veal for special occasions) and it also tastes so good when made with mini chicken fillets. Even though the meat is fried it does not absorb any oil. The oil has to be at the highest temperature so when the breaded meat slides in, the breadcrumbs brown and seal to form a crust within seconds and stop the oil seeping through to the meat. The meat then steams inside the crust to become tender.
With my children, we sometimes just eat a huge pile of schnitzels with our fingers and nothing else for dinner as they are so good.
Miraculous ingredients: pork loin steaks (free range or organic), Japanese panko breadcrumbs
Ingredients 3 x pork loin steaks (trimmed well of all fat) 100g Japanese panko breadcrumbs
1 egg (Burford Brown), beaten
20g flour
groundnut oil for frying
Coarse sea salt
Method Place a medium frying pan on a low heat to start warming while you prepare the schnitzel.
Put one pork steak between 2 large sheets of parchment paper on a wooden board and then bash the meat with a wooden rolling pin or a meat tenderising hammer until the steak has flattened to a few millimetres in thickness and tripled in overall size. Bashing the meat makes the schnitzel soft and tender to eat. Repeat with the remaining pork steaks.
Set up a line of bowls with the flour, beaten egg and breadcrumbs along your kitchen counter to create the schnitzels. Take the first bashed pork steak, sprinkle with a little salt and lay it in the flour on both sides, pressing lightly with your finger tips so all the meat is covered. Pick up the steak and shake any excess flour back onto the plate.
Next, slide the floured pork into the beaten egg. Use a fork to turn the pork so egg covers both sides.
Finally, lay the pork in the breadcrumbs. Crumb both sides of the pork and press down with your finger tips to get a much breadcrumb stuck onto both sides. Place the breaded schnitzel onto a fresh plate and repeat the process with the other steaks.
The dry frying pan should be very hot by now. Turn the heat up to high. Pour in all the oil so it is about 2cms deep and leave to heat through for a minute.
Carefully slide in just one pork steak (don’t crowd the pan with meat otherwise the temperature will drop and the schnitzel will boil). If the oil is hot enough you will hear that wonderful crackling, popping sound as the breadcrumbs sizzle in the pan. Leave to fry for 2 minutes and then using long handled tongs, turn the schnitzel over to fry on the other side for 2 minutes. The schnitzel is ready when the breadcrumbs turn a light golden colour. Place the schnitzel on a plate that has a few sheets of kitchen paper to absorb any oil. Repeat with the remaining steaks.
Preparation time 10 minutes, cooking 20 minutes, serves 4