Clem's Weiner Schnitzel
 
Weiner Schnitzel means "Viennese cutlet or cutlet from Vienna". I last had an in situ authentic Weiner Schnitzel in Kreuzberg, Austria (see https://clemkuek.com/photoalbum/photo595.html). The traditional Weiner Schnitzel is made from thin slices of veal, pounded even thinner to make the cutlet tender. It is coated with breadcrumbs and then deep fried. It is traditionally served with a potato salad and a green salad. I came across some veal labelled as "schnitzel" (cut) at the supermarket and so I decided to make the cutlet from Vienna for dinner tonight. So can you:


Clem's Weiner Schnitzel

 

1. Ingredients
 

  • Thinly sliced veal.
    In place of veal, you can make untraditional schnitzel using beef, pork, chicken or even turkey.
     
  • Flour.
     
  • Eggs (for egg wash).
     
  • Breadcrumbs
     
  • Condiments.


 

2. Method
 

  • Put the veal slices in between two sheets of plastic kitchen wrap.
    Use a suitable implement to pound away at the cutlet to render it thinner (and to tenderize it).
    If you do not have a kitchen mallet, you could use the bottom of a saucepan for this purpose.
     
  • I prefer not to season the cutlets directly as I think that seasonings on the surface of the meat will tend to draw out exudates and make the surface wet.
    This makes the formation of a dry and crunchy crust more difficult to achieve later during frying.
    This problem is accentuated when frozen meats are used (they exude fluid from meat tissue cells during defrosting).
    Thus, I only season the flour and breadcrumbs used in coating the cutlets.
     
  • Prepare the following for frying:
     
    • Egg wash (beat up an egg or two).
       
    • Plain flour in a suitably sized tray (big enough to let the veal slices lie flat).
      Season with salt and white pepper.
       
    • Breadcrumbs in a suitably sized tray.
      Season with salt and white pepper.
       
  • Heat up enough cooking oil in a suitably sized pan to at least 177oC.
     
  • As the oil is heating up,
     
    • Dry up any visible exudates on each veal slice with a paper towel.
      This will help produce a crispier crust during frying - moisture oozing from the cutlets will ruin a nice breadcrumb crust.
      You may also try to leave the slices exposed in a refrigerator for some hours to dry before frying.
       
    • Coat a veal slice well with plain flour in the tray.
      This coat will gelatinize with moisture during frying to help control the amount of moisture released into the breadcrumb crust which is formed.
      It will also help the egg wash to stick to the cutlet prior to breadcrumbing.
       
  • Then dip the veal into an egg wash.
    Lift each slice up and let the egg wash drip off.
     
  • Now coat the wet slice with breadcrumbs in the tray.
    Do not press the veal down onto the breadcrumbs - just let the crumbs stick.
    This will allow the crust of the schnitzel to lift off the cutlet in places into folds.
     
  • Deep fry each veal slice thus prepared until the crust is golden brown.
    You will if you have added enough oil if the veal floats in the oil.
    Move the fry pan to let the hot oil baste the top half of each cutlet as the bottom half fries.
     
  • Drain each cooked veal slice well on paper towels.
    It is a good idea to let them drain standing up.
    A good schnitzel crust should have a dry and have crunchy bits, and the cutlet inside tender and moist.
    With good preparation, you should have a crusty crust (not limp and soggy).
    Remember that you have not used a batter and so do not expect a crunchy crust as in fish and chips.
     
  • Plate out with a serving of potato salad and a green salad.
    Serve with lemon slices.

     
The Potato Salad served
 

Here is how I made the potato salad which accompanied the schnitzels:
 

  • Cube up (to your preferred size) some potatoes.
     
  • Cook them in salted water until they drop off a fork when poked and picked up by the later.
     
  • Drain and set aside to cool.
     
  • Finely dice some red onion.
     
  • Slice up some pickled dill (cucumber).
     
  • In an amount of whole egg mayonnaise sufficient to coat all the potato cubes well, mix in
     
    • The diced red onion;
    • Sliced pickled dill;
    • Some dill (dried or chopped up fresh);
    • Some parsley (dried or chopped up fresh);
    • Some sugar;
    • Some salt and white pepper to taste.
    • Some milk and/or pickle juice from the dill to make the mayonnaise sauce as fluid as you would like.
    • If pickle juice is not used, add some lemon juice to tart up the mayonnaise.
       
  • Store in the refrigerator until ready to serve.

 

 

ENJOY!

 

All my cooking (some without recipes) can be found here (click on each photo to go to that dish's page):

 

http://clemkuek.com/photoalbum/photo696.html

 

Video presentations can be found here:

Earlier days: https://youtu.be/BWyHY1h9Y5s

More recently: https://youtu.be/cph2XmwuQLU

 

 

www.clemkuek.com

 

18 August 2025
 

 



Created by Clem Kuek