I’ve been craving veal lately, so I decided to make some wiener schnitzel. It’s basically just breaded, pan-fried veal scallopini. Both of the wife’s grandmothers spent time in Germany, so this dish isn’t exotic to her at all. Her Croatian grandmother always pairs schnitzel with spaetzle. It makes sense. What better complements fried meat than fried carbs? The more butter, the better. To balance out the meal, I made some sweet and sour red cabbage.
I’ve blogged these recipes before, but I thought I’d put them together in one place since they go together so well.
This batch resulted in the best schnitzel I’ve ever eaten anywhere. The secret is in the eggwash.
In the time since I last posted about this dish, the wife and I bought a $10 spaetzle-maker. It’s a cheap little kitchen gadget that takes up more space than it’s worth, but it earns its keep when we have four pots and pans on the stove. It sits on top of the pot of water and one person pours the batter into the gadget and swipes it back and forth like a manual credit card reader, forcing the mixture through the holes and into the water below. This is a huge improvement over the old two-man system of suspending a colander over scalding water while the other person pressed down on the batter.
I meant to get a picture of the little gadget in action, but it was over as soon as it began. I’ll update the next time we make it.
I should add that this is a cumbersome process that results in a lot of dirty dishes. If you’re going to cook four cutlets, you may as well cook twelve. The prep and clean-up is the same. Plus, you end up with enough cabbage for twelve, so go big or go home.
