Although the origins of schnitzel are hotly contested, everybody can agree that schnitzel is crazy delicious. This recipe is a classic schweineschnitzel, a pork cutlet with a thin crisp shell. I paired it with a traditional Bavarian potato salad recipe for some legit Oktoberfest vibes.
Prep Time (with potatoes) | Cook Time (with potatoes) | Serves |
20 | 30 | 3-4 |
Pork Schnitzel
Pork Tenderloin - 600g -700g
Ap flour to coat
2 large eggs
200g plain breadcrumb
Salt, pepper, garlic powder
Lard for frying (clarified butter or olive oil also work)
Step 1: Cut and Pound Pork
With a dish as simple as schnitzel, the cut itself really makes a difference. In this case, the tenderloin creates a really tender juicy cutlet that tastes beautifully light, even when breaded and fried. Take your tenderloin and remove any fat or silver skin from the outside. Depending on the size of your tenderloin you can get 3-4 pieces, each about 3 inches long.
Butterfly these by making a slice into them like a book, but be sure to not go all the way through. You want a hinge to be left so the piece stays together. Place the piece in a plastic zip bag or plastic wrap and begin pounding it with a mallet or heavy pot. Think about this like smearing the meat out further, not just pushing down. The thinner the better here, but try not to tear holes in the meat. If it happens, it’s ok though, don’t worry about it. Season the meat now with salt and garlic powder.
Step 2: Set up Fry Station
Take a minute to set up your frying station, because you should be frying each piece as they're breaded. This helps create the puffy coating synonymous with good schnitzel. If you are making these for a bunch of people, you can keep them warm in the oven as you go. Use a high sided pan with enough lard to cover each pieces and then some. You won’t be deep frying, but you need the oil to cover both sides when you move the pan around. Bring the oil up to 350f but keep an eye on it while you begin breading.
Step 3: Coat and Fry
Grab 3 containers to bread the schnitzel. One container will have all purpose flour with salt and pepper. One will be a couple of beaten eggs with a little water. The last will be our breadcrumbs, and the finer the better here. Get a generic powdery breadcrumb. If you can’t find that, use panko that you’ve ran through a food processer until much finer. Coat one piece in a thin layer of flour, and then plop it into the egg so the breadcrumbs have something to adhere to. You want to be as loving and gentle as possible if you want the thinnest crispiest puffy coating. These will go directly into the hot lard, and if you’re temperature is right, you should see this kind of bubbling right away. Begin gently swirling the pan so the oil spills over onto the top of the pork. After just about a minute, you can flip the pork and continue this process on the other side. Once this is browned and crisp, the inside is cooked, so don’t go too long. Hit this with salt as it comes out of the hot oil.
Now these can totally stand on their own with a slice of lemon, but the perfect pairing for the schnitzel is the potato salad. No fried food is complete without something tangy to make you want to keep coming back for more.
Bavarian (Swabian) Potato Salad
600g yukon gold or yellow potato
1 small yellow Onion
100g beef broth
25g white vinegar
Pinch of sugar
Squeeze of yellow mustard (optional)
Gherkins to taste (optional)
Dill, chives
20g olive oil
Step 1: Cook Potatoes
Wash 650g of yellow or gold potatoes, and put them in a pot of salted water. The waxy-ness of these potatoes keeps them from falling apart when cooked. At the stove, bring this to a simmer and drop the heat down so the water is just barely moving around, you don’t want it rapidly boiling. Let these cook for 20-25 minutes, basically until the potatoes have just cooked. Test these by poking them with a knife, if you can easily slide the knife in and out, they’re good! Drain the water from the pot and let them cool while YOU make the dressing for this salad.
Step 2: Make Dressing
In a pot, add 100g of beef broth, a small diced yellow onion, 25g of white vinegar, salt, pepper, and a large pinch of sugar. Bring this to a simmer and then turn the heat off. This is enough heat to slightly soften the onions.
Step 3: Peel Potatoes and Dress
Peel your cooled potatoes. With potatoes like this, it’s really easy to peel them with a knife. You could use your hands, or a peeler, but a parrying knife is the best option. Slice them into rounds that are around 1/3 of an inch thick. It doesn’t have to be exact, just remember that you’re gonna be tossing these in the dressing and don’t want them to fall apart.
Mince a few gherkins or dill pickles (or leave them out if you're not a pickle person). Mince the dill and chive as well. To finish this up, squeeze around 20g of olive oil over the potatoes. Add the beef broth onion mix and give that a good stir to coat. This is going to start a little liquid-y, but the oil and starch from the potatoes are going to thicken this up over time. Add on the gherkins, dill and chives then squeeze in a little yellow mustard. Like I said, this is the perfect pairing for the crispy schnitzel. This is how you want to be doing Oktoberfest at home. Prost!
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