Wiener schnitzel

Wiener schnitzel is a thin veal cutlet, breaded and pan-fried, and one of the best-known specialities of Viennese cuisine and one of Austria's national dishes. Its name means 'Viennese cutlet', although similar preparations are much older and existed in other German-speaking areas.

History

The earliest known relative is a recipe for fried partridge slices from the Nürnbergisches Kochbuch, published in Nuremberg in 1691, which were flattened, coated in egg, flour and breadcrumbs, and fried in fat. Austria had its own breaded and fried dishes before the schnitzel, such as the Backhendl, first recorded in a cookbook of 1719.

The term Wiener schnitzel first appears in the nineteenth century, in a cookbook of 1831, while Katharina Prato's popular southern German cookbook calls it breaded veal cutlets. A long-repeated tale credits Field Marshal Joseph Radetzky with bringing the recipe from Italy in 1857, but linguist Heinz-Dieter Pohl showed in 2007 that the story was invented, tracing it to an Italian gastronomy book of 1869 that actually describes veal Milanese.

The dish spread beyond Austria during the twentieth century through emigrants and restaurants, and it is now served in cafés and restaurants in many countries, often with local adaptations.

Culture

In Austria the schnitzel is part of everyday meals and celebrations. Traditionally it is served with buttery lettuce dressed in a sweet vinaigrette, potato salad, cucumber salad or parsley potatoes. French fries became common over time, and in the early twentieth century the garnish was capers and anchovies.

Austrian law requires that the Wiener schnitzel be made of veal, so a pork version is called Wiener schnitzel vom Schwein or Schnitzel Wiener Art. Related dishes include the Surschnitzel, made with cured meat, and the Italian cotoletta alla milanese.

The dish has travelled far. The American chicken-fried steak is often linked to it, as German and Austrian immigrants adapted the recipe to Texas with local ingredients, and in Israel the schnitzel, introduced by European Jewish immigrants, is made with chicken breast and cooked in oil to follow kashrut rules.

Trivia