Schnitzel

Schnitzel is a thin slice of meat, usually pounded flat, breaded and fried. It originated in Austria, where its best-known form, the Wiener schnitzel made with veal, is considered one of the national dishes.

History

The name comes from German, where Schnitzel is a diminutive of a word meaning 'slice'. The term Wiener Schnitzel is first attested in 1845, which places its establishment as a named dish in nineteenth-century Viennese cooking.

From Austria the dish spread to Germany and to neighbouring countries in central and eastern Europe, where cooks adapted it to local meats and tastes. Pork, chicken and turkey became common, partly because veal was more expensive, and schnitzel came to mean almost any breaded, fried flat cut of meat. Because it resembles the escalope, the two names are often used interchangeably.

The dish also travelled overseas with European settlers. In Namibia, chicken and pork schnitzels are common because of the country's German colonial past, and they became widespread in South Africa during the colonial era. In Japan, tonkatsu, first made in Tokyo in 1899, applies a similar method of breading and frying to pork.

Culture

In Austria the Wiener schnitzel is a festive and everyday family dish, traditionally served with a slice of lemon and either potato salad or potatoes with parsley and butter. Austrian law requires that a Wiener schnitzel be made of veal; versions with pork or turkey are named differently, such as Wiener schnitzel from pork. Outside Vienna, unbreaded variants are popular, including the Jägerschnitzel with mushroom sauce, the Rahmschnitzel with cream sauce and the Zigeunerschnitzel with a tomato, pepper and onion sauce.

The custom spread widely. In Finland the Wieninleike, almost always made with pork, is a staple of lunch restaurants and roadside stops, with variants such as the holsteininleike served with egg, anchovy and capers. In the Czech Republic, smažený řízek is an everyday dish and was once a typical packed lunch for day trips. In Croatia the dish is known as bečki odrezak and is served with French fries or potato salad. Today schnitzel remains on restaurant menus and family tables across much of the world.

Trivia