Wiener schnitzel ( ; , 'Viennese cutlet'), sometimes spelled Wienerschnitzel, is a type of

schnitzel Schnitzel () is a thin slice of meat. The meat is usually thinned by pounding with a meat tenderizer. Most commonly, the meat is breaded before frying. Breaded schnitzel is popular in many countries and is made using veal, pork, Chicken as foo ...

made of a thin,

breaded Breadcrumbs are a culinary ingredient consisting of flour or crumbled bread of varying dryness, sometimes with seasonings added. They are used for a variety of purposes, including breading or crumbing foods before frying (such as breaded cutlet ...

, pan-fried

veal Veal is the meat of Calf (animal), calves, in contrast to the beef from older cattle. Veal can be produced from a calf of either sex and any List of cattle breeds, breed; however, most veal comes from young male calves of Dairy cattle, dairy b ...

cutlet. It is one of the best known specialities of Viennese cuisine, and one of the national dishes of Austria.

History and etymology

The designation first appeared in the 19th century, with the first known mention in a

cookbook A cookbook or cookery book is a kitchen reference containing recipes. Cookbooks may be general, or may specialize in a particular cuisine or category of food. Recipes in cookbooks are organized in various ways: by course (food), course (appetize ...

from 1831. In the popular southern German cookbook by Katharina Prato, it was mentioned as (roughly, "breaded veal cutlets"). According to a tale, Field Marshal Joseph Radetzky von Radetz brought the recipe from

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

to Vienna in 1857. In 2007,

linguist Linguistics is the scientific study of language. The areas of linguistic analysis are syntax (rules governing the structure of sentences), semantics (meaning), Morphology (linguistics), morphology (structure of words), phonetics (speech sounds ...

Heinz-Dieter Pohl could prove that this story had been invented. According to Pohl, the dish is first mentioned in connection with Radetzky in 1869 in an Italian gastronomy book (''Guida gastronomica d'Italia''), which was published in German in 1871 as ''Italien tafelt'', and it is claimed that the story instead concerned the ''

cotoletta alla milanese Veal Milanese (, ) is a popular variety of ( veal cutlet preparation) from the city of Milan, Italy. It is traditionally prepared with a veal rib chop or sirloin bone-in and made into a breaded cutlet, fried in butter. A common variation ...

''. Before this time, the story was unknown in

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

. The Radetzky legend is however based on this book, which claims that a Count Attems, an

adjutant Adjutant is a military appointment given to an Officer (armed forces), officer who assists the commanding officer with unit administration, mostly the management of “human resources” in an army unit. The term is used in French-speaking armed ...

to the emperor

Franz Joseph I of Austria Franz Joseph I or Francis Joseph I ( ; ; 18 August 1830 – 21 November 1916) was Emperor of Austria, King of Hungary, and the ruler of the Grand title of the emperor of Austria, other states of the Habsburg monarchy from 1848 until his death ...

gave a notice from Radetzky about the situation in

Lombardy The Lombardy Region (; ) is an administrative regions of Italy, region of Italy that covers ; it is located in northern Italy and has a population of about 10 million people, constituting more than one-sixth of Italy's population. Lombardy is ...

and mentioned a tasty veal steak in a margin note. After Radetzky had returned, the emperor personally requested the recipe from him. Pohl relates this anecdote with the words: "This story is scientifically meaningless, it does not cite any sources and it is not mentioned ��in the literature about Radetzky. No such Count Attems appears in any biographical work about the Austrian monarchy, which would have corresponded to this time and position." Pohl doubts that Wiener schnitzel came from Italy at all, with the basis that in the other "imported dishes" in

Austrian cuisine Austrian cuisine consists of many different local or regional cuisines. In addition to Viennese cuisine, which is predominantly based on the cooking traditions of the Habsburg monarchy, Habsburg Empire, there are independent regional traditions ...

, the original concept is mentioned, even if in Germanised form, such as in

goulash Goulash () is a meal (not quite stew or soup) made of meat and vegetables seasoned with paprika and other spices. Originating in Hungary, goulash is a common meal predominantly eaten in Central Europe but also in other parts of Europe. It is on ...

palatschinke Palatschinke (plural palatschinken) is a thin crêpe-like variety of pancake of Greco-Roman origin. The dessert is common in the Balkans, Central and Eastern Europe. History and etymology The dish is of Greco-Roman origin.. In 350 BCE, the a ...

, and the schnitzel does not appear even in specialised cookbooks about

Italian cuisine Italian cuisine is a Mediterranean cuisine#CITEREFDavid1988, David 1988, Introduction, pp. 101–103 consisting of the ingredients, recipes, and cooking techniques developed in Italy since Ancient Roman cuisine, Roman times, and later spread ...

. Pohl hints that there had been other dishes in Austrian cuisine, before the Schnitzel, that were breaded and deep fried, such as the popular ''Backhendl'', which was first mentioned in a cookbook from 1719. The Schnitzel was then mentioned in the 19th century as ' analogically to the '. In 1887, E. F. Knight wrote of a Wiener schnitzel ordered in a

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , ; ; ) is the second-largest List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city in the Netherlands after the national capital of Amsterdam. It is in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of South Holland, part of the North S ...

cafe, "as far as I could make out, the lowest layer of a Wienerschnitzel consists of juicy veal steaks and slices of lemon peel; the next layer is composed of sardines; then come sliced gherkins, capers, and diverse mysteries; a delicate sauce flavours the whole, and the result is a gastronomic dream."

Preparation

The dish is prepared from veal slices, butterfly cut, about in thickness and lightly pounded flat, slightly salted, and rolled in flour, whipped eggs, and bread crumbs. The bread crumbs must not be pressed into the meat, so that they stay dry and can be "souffléd". Finally the Schnitzel is fried in a good proportion of

lard Lard is a Quasi-solid, semi-solid white fat product obtained by rendering (animal products), rendering the adipose tissue, fatty tissue of a domestic pig, pig.

clarified butter Clarified butter is butter from which all milk solids have been removed. The result is a clear, yellow butter that can be heated to higher temperatures before burning. Typically, it is produced by melting butter and allowing the components to ...

at a temperature of until it is golden yellow. The Schnitzel must swim in the fat, otherwise it will not cook evenly: the fat cools too much and intrudes into the bread crumbs, moistening them. During the frying the Schnitzel is repeatedly slightly tossed around the pan. Also during the frying, fat can be scooped from the pan with a spoon and poured onto the meat. The Schnitzel is cooked after it turns golden yellow or brown. The dish was traditionally served in Austria with butterhead lettuce tossed with a sweetened

vinaigrette Vinaigrette ( , ) is made by mixing an edible oil with a mild acid such as vinegar (acetic acid) or lemon juice ( citric acid). The mixture can be enhanced with salt, herbs and/or spices. It is used most commonly as a salad dressing, but can ...

dressing, optionally with chopped chives or onions,

potato salad Potato salad is a salad dish made from boiled potatoes, usually containing a dressing and a variety of other ingredients such as boiled eggs and raw vegetables. It is usually served as a side dish. History and varieties Potato salad is foun ...

, cucumber salad, or parsley potatoes. In recent times french fries have become common. In the early 20th century, the garnish consisted of capers and

anchovies An anchovy is a small, common forage fish of the family Engraulidae. Most species are found in marine waters, but several will enter brackish water, and some in South America are restricted to fresh water. More than 140 species are placed in 1 ...

Similar dishes

A popular variation is made with

pork Pork is the culinary name for the meat of the pig (''Sus domesticus''). It is the most commonly consumed meat worldwide, with evidence of pig animal husbandry, husbandry dating back to 8000–9000 BCE. Pork is eaten both freshly cooke ...

instead of veal, because pork is cheaper than veal (usually about half the price). To avoid confusion, Austrian law requires that be made of veal. A schnitzel made of pork can be called ('Wiener schnitzel from pork') or ('Viennese style schnitzel'). Similar dishes to Wiener schnitzel include ' (from cured meat), and breaded turkey or chicken steaks. Similarly prepared dishes include ', schnitzel cordon bleu filled with

ham Ham is pork from a leg cut that has been preserved by wet or dry curing, with or without smoking."Bacon: Bacon and Ham Curing" in '' Chambers's Encyclopædia''. London: George Newnes, 1961, Vol. 2, p. 39. As a processed meat, the term '' ...

and

cheese Cheese is a type of dairy product produced in a range of flavors, textures, and forms by coagulation of the milk protein casein. It comprises proteins and fat from milk (usually the milk of cows, buffalo, goats or sheep). During prod ...

Cordon bleu
, Verein Kulinarisches Erbe der Schweiz. Accessed on 27 December 2008. and '' Pariser Schnitzel''. The American chicken-fried steak is often said to be closely related to Wiener schnitzel, the result of the adaptation of the recipe by German or Austrian immigrants to the

Texas Hill Country The Texas Hill Country is a geographic region of Central and South Texas, forming the southeast part of the Edwards Plateau. Given its location, climate, terrain, and vegetation, the Hill Country can be considered the border between the Ame ...

to locally available ingredients.

Tonkatsu is a Japanese dish that consists of a breaded, Deep frying, deep-fried pork cutlet. It involves coating slices of pork with Bread crumbs#Panko, panko (bread crumbs), and then frying them in oil. The two main types are fillet and loin. Tonkatsu ...

is a similar, fried pork cutlet from

Japanese cuisine Japanese cuisine encompasses the regional and traditional foods of Japan, which have developed through centuries of political, economic, and social changes. The traditional cuisine of Japan (Japanese language, Japanese: ) is based on rice with m ...

, thicker than its European counterparts. In the

Southern Cone The Southern Cone (, ) is a geographical and cultural subregion composed of the southernmost areas of South America, mostly south of the Tropic of Capricorn. Traditionally, it covers Argentina, Chile, and Uruguay, bounded on the west by the Pac ...

, particularly in

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

and

Uruguay Uruguay, officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay, is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast, while bordering the Río de la Plata to the south and the A ...

, a similar dish is milanesa. It is often served with french fries or mashed potatoes. In

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

, schnitzel is popular, first introduced by European Jews who immigrated to Israel during the middle decades of the twentieth century. Owing to food shortages at that time and the high cost of meat and veal, and due to

kashrut (also or , ) is a set of Food and drink prohibitions, dietary laws dealing with the foods that Jewish people are permitted to eat and how those foods must be prepared according to halakha, Jewish law. Food that may be consumed is deemed ko ...

laws that forbid eating pork, the local version was made of chicken breast, which was less expensive. To this day, Israeli schnitzel is made of chicken. Kashrut laws also forbid using dairy products with meat, so kosher schnitzel is prepared with

cooking oil Cooking oil (also known as edible oil) is a plant or animal liquid fat used in frying, baking, and other types of cooking. Oil allows higher cooking temperatures than water, making cooking faster and more flavorful, while likewise distributing h ...

. Schnitzel has become so popular that it is regularly described as one of Israel's "national dishes."

References

External links

Zur Geschichte des Wiener Schnitzels

* ttp://www.vienna-unwrapped.com/wiener-schnitzel.html#.UzP5u6Lm6ko Wiener Schnitzel, All About The Most Loved Food From Austria, Vienna Unwrapped
Crumbs, what a town
{{Webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131114193549/http://www.smh.com.au/travel/activity/food-and-wine/crumbs-what-a-town-20130530-2ncvb.html , date=2013-11-14 – a survey by ''

The Sydney Morning Herald ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily Tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid newspaper published in Sydney, Australia, and owned by Nine Entertainment. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuous ...

'' of Viennese restaurants and their Wiener Schnitzels Austrian cuisine Breaded cutlets German cuisine Veal dishes National dishes Namibian cuisine Viennese cuisine

History and etymology

Preparation

Similar dishes

See also

References

Further reading

External links