Schnitzel

• 1. Introduction

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  In Austria, a breaded schnitzel served under a sauce is considered unacceptable. That tells you how seriously Vienna takes a thin slice of fried meat. Schnitzel is exactly that: meat sliced thin, usually pounded flat with a tenderizer, and most often breaded before it goes into the pan. The Viennese original, the Wiener Schnitzel, is made of veal. Austrian law requires it, and it is counted among the national dishes of Austria.

  Yet the dish never stayed home. Cooks have made it from pork, chicken, mutton, beef and turkey. It belongs to a wide family of breaded, fried cutlets, and it has picked up new names and new sauces wherever it has landed. How did one pounded cutlet become so many dishes? What does a word that simply means slice actually cover? And who has the strongest claim to having invented it?

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• 2. A Word for Slice

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  The name Wiener Schnitzel is first attested in 1845. Wiener means Viennese, and Schnitzel is a diminutive of the old word sniz, meaning slice. So das Schnitzel is, quite literally, a little slice.

  The English term schnitzel now stretches to cover every breaded, fried, flat piece of meat, whatever animal it came from. Because the dish is so close to the French escalope, people in many countries use the two words for each other.

  The spellings Snitzel and Snitchel turn up often, and both count as mispronunciations or misspellings of the German word.

  Germany takes a looser view of breadcrumbs. There, Schnitzel means a cutlet of any kind, whether breaded and fried or not. Serbia does the same and uses the word for any cutlet at all. The breaded Viennese version there is called bečka šnicla.

  Serbia also carries a piece of folklore. A local urban legend holds that the dish began in Serbia rather than in Austria, though nobody can say why the story exists.

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• 3. Habsburg Echoes

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  In Hungary, the dish is called bécsi szelet, which means Viennese slice, a legacy of strong Austrian influence in the Austro-Hungarian era. Hungarians also say borjú bécsi, Viennese veal, or simply rántott hús, breaded meat. It is a common meal in Hungarian homes as well as restaurants, usually with French fries, mashed potatoes or rice. Some restaurants offer a cordon bleu version, a slice of schnitzel rolled around cheese and ham.

  In Czechia, the smažený řízek, or just řízek, is made of pork, chicken or veal. It was long the typical packed lunch for day trips, and to some degree still is. Hikers ate it between two slices of bread with vegetables and dressing.

  Slovakia borders Austria and calls the dish vyprážaný rezeň, or just rezeň. In Bratislava and other western areas, people also say schnitzel or šniceľ. Pork and chicken are the usual meats, and canteens favor French fries.

  Slovenia has a naming logic of its own. Zrezek is the Slovene word for schnitzel, and Vienna is Dunaj in Slovenian, so the Wiener version is dunajski zrezek. A true one is meant to be veal, though restaurants typically use pork or chicken. The ham-and-cheese cordon bleu is named for the capital, as ljubljanski zrezek.

  In Croatia, the Viennese cutlet is bečki odrezak, sometimes shortened to šnicl, and cheaper pork sometimes replaces the veal. Bosnia and Herzegovina uses bečka šnicla or bečki odrezak, made of veal or beef and served with mashed potatoes. Croatia adds zagrebački odrezak, a cordon bleu variation, and Baron Trenck's steak. That one is veal or pork stuffed with Slavonian ham, boiled eggs and ajvar, stewed on red onion with mushroom sauce. It is named after Franz von der Trenck, an 18th-century military commander whose estates and legacy are tied to Slavonia, a region of eastern Croatia.

  Western Ukraine was once the Habsburg Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria, and there the dish is shnitsel. The rest of the country says vidbyvna. It is typically made from pork, occasionally chicken.

  Romanian șnițel is found in restaurants, fast-food places and homes across the country, and cooks use almost any meat: chicken, pork, veal or beef. The fast-food version is served sandwich or burger style. Western Romania has a specialty called mosaic șnițel, two thin layers of meat, often of different kinds, around a vegetable filling that is usually mushroom.

  In Bulgaria, шницел is made from ground veal formed into a thin patty. It is common at truck stops, and shoppers can find it premade in supermarket freezer sections. Poland's version is kotlet schabowy, a boneless pork chop or pork tenderloin. North Macedonia's шницла is a piece of pork seasoned with salt and black pepper.

  In Russia, the usual name is отбивная, otbivnaya, which literally means a piece of meat that has been beaten. The name шницель is also used.

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• 4. Sauces and Garnishes

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  Jägerschnitzel, the hunter's schnitzel, is a popular unbreaded Austrian variant covered in mushroom sauce. Rahmschnitzel, the cream schnitzel, wears a cream sauce that often contains mushrooms. A third version carries a sauce of tomato, bell peppers and onion slices. Germans know it as Paprikaschnitzel, Schnitzel Balkan-Art or Schnitzel Budapester Art.

  Germany has its own list. Schnitzel Wiener Art, Viennese style, is more often pork than veal and usually comes with a lemon slice and French fries. Münchner Schnitzel, the Munich version, is brushed with horseradish or mustard before the flour, egg and crumbs go on. Schnitzel Holstein is topped with a sunny-side-up egg. East Germany had a Jägerschnitzel made from Jagdwurst sausage, served without any sauce.

  In Switzerland, Schnipo is a combined plate of schnitzel and fried potatoes. The Swiss cordon bleu uses two slices of schnitzel, or one with a pocket, around ham and cheese such as Emmentaler or Gruyere. The Walliser Schnitzel skips the breading. The meat is fried in oil and then coated with tomato sauce and raclette cheese.

  France gives the cutlet a different coat. Pariser schnitzel is floured and fried in an egg batter instead of breadcrumbs. A breaded veal cutlet also goes by the names Côtelette Menon and Côtelette révolution.

  In Denmark, pork schnitzel is skinkeschnitzel and veal is wienerschnitzel. The plate carries a "boy", called dreng in Danish, which is a lemon slice topped with capers, horseradish and a slice of anchovy.

  Finland calls its version Wieninleike, which means Viennese cutlet, and makes it almost always from pork. Lemon, anchovy and capers sit on top. The dish was popular from the end of the Second World War until the 1990s, when most low-end restaurants served it. Fast food has since overtaken it, though lunch restaurants, highway rest stops and gas-station restaurants still lean on it. Finnish menus also list Havaijinleike with fried pineapple, Oskarinleike with choron sauce, shrimps or lobster and asparagus, and Oopperaleike with a fried egg.

  Sweden decorates its schnitzel with a caper-filled circle of genuine anchovies or of the Swedish ansjovis, a so-called fake made from brine-cured sprats. Rice, fries or boiled potatoes and green peas come alongside.

  Estonia sometimes drops the meat altogether. Besides the common pork šnitsel, it has a schnitzel of cheese that is breaded, fried and typically served with salad.

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• 5. Milanese Cousins

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  In Milan, the cotoletta alla Milanese is so similar to the Wiener Schnitzel that the source describes it as lying at the dish's origin. The Milanese cutlet is fried in butter rather than vegetable oil. Italian veal scaloppine is a looser relative, because the meat is enveloped in flour instead of breaded.

  The Val d'Aosta, an alpine region of Italy, gives its name to the valdostana. It resembles cordon bleu, the thinly pounded "blue ribbon" cutlet stuffed with cheese and ham, except that the cheese and ham lie on top. Chicken Kiev is another relative. It uses an unpounded chicken breast rolled around butter and sometimes garlic.

  In Spain, the dish is usually filete empanado, breaded steak, with pechuga empanada for chicken breast. San Jacobo, called cachopo in Asturias, is veal or pork stuffed with ham and cheese. Córdoba in Andalusia contributes the flamenquín, pork rolled with a slice of ham and fried. Spanish families often pack filete empanado with potato omelettes for picnics in the countryside or at the beach.

  Portugal calls the dish bife panado or just panado, meaning breaded. Chicken, turkey, pork and veal all appear, seasoned with black pepper, garlic and lemon juice. It is often eaten as a sandwich, the sandes de panado, in a bun with lettuce.

  In Mexico, the word milanesa refers to the method, so any meat pounded thin, breaded and fried can carry the name. It is often eaten in a torta, a sandwich made with bolillo or telera bread. In the northern state of Nuevo León, milanesa is extremely popular as a main dish, perhaps because of German and Czech immigrants. The milanesa memela napolitana puts a milanesa on a thick fried tortilla with ham, tomato sauce and grated cheese.

  Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay also say milanesa. The slice may be beef, chicken, veal or pork, or even eggplant or soy. Cooks season the beaten egg with parsley and garlic, and some bake the slices instead of frying them. Milanesa napolitana, a River Plate favorite, is topped with ham, marinara sauce and mozzarella and then grilled to melt the cheese.

  In Brazil, preparations à milanesa are common, especially in the European-influenced south, usually with beef or chicken. Colombia calls its version chuleta, a traditional dish of the Valle del Cauca region. There the flat piece of chicken, veal or mostly pork is covered with flour and deep-fried.

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• 6. Katsu and Dongaseu

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  Pork tonkatsu was invented in Japan in 1899 at the Rengatei restaurant in Tokyo. It began as a type of yōshoku, the Japanese versions of European cuisine created in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its early names were katsuretsu, meaning cutlet, or simply katsu.

  The recipe starts with a flattened pork loin, lightly seasoned. The cook coats it in flour, dips it in beaten egg, covers it with panko crumbs and deep-fries it. Tonkatsu often accompanies ramen or udon, or sits beside curry and rice.

  The idea spread to other meats. Hirekatsu uses pork fillet, gyūkatsu uses beef, hamukatsu uses ham, and menchi-katsu uses minced meat. Chicken katsu is the poultry version.

  Korea received the dish from Japan in the 1930s, when newspapers explained how to make dongaseu. In the 1960s, more restaurants began selling it, and it changed to suit Korean tastes. Pork donkaseu, chicken chikinkaseu and beef bipkaseu are all popular. The most common styles are kyeongyangsik, meaning Western-style, and ilbonsik, meaning Japanese-style.

  Further south, Singapore's Hainanese pork chop sits in the same family. It comes in a gravy with tomatoes, potato wedges, onions and peas, and sometimes with steamed rice and chilli sauce.

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• 7. Middle Eastern Tables

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  Chicken or turkey breast, not veal, fills the schnitzel in Israel. Ashkenazi Jews brought the tradition from Europe. Veal was not available in the early years of the state, and poultry proved inexpensive. Kashrut laws prohibit pork, and they also rule out clarified butter, the preferred frying fat for Austrian schnitzel, alongside meat. Cooks therefore use vegetable oils.

  Before frying, the Israeli cutlet is coated with beaten eggs and bread crumbs, sometimes spiced with paprika or sesame seeds. It is served with mashed potatoes, French fries, rice or pasta, and with ketchup, hummus or vegetable salad. Supermarkets stock packaged schnitzels in the frozen aisle. Some are breaded patties of processed chicken or turkey rather than whole breasts, and there are also vegan corn schnitzels. Many falafel stands sell schnitzel in a pita with hummus, French fries and vegetable salad.

  In Iran, shenitsel is thought to have arrived in Persia during the World Wars. It is usually thicker, bigger and spicier than the standard schnitzel, with a crispier breading, and comes with lemon, French fries and boiled vegetables. It should not be confused with kotlet, small oval patties of ground meat, onion, potato and herbs.

  In Lebanon, people normally say escalope, a French term for a broader category of beaten, breaded meat. Escalopes need not be fried, though most are. Lebanon likely adopted the word during the French mandate period.

  Turkey spells it schnitzelm, şinitzel or şnitzel and pronounces it much as Germans do. It is made of chicken and served with rice, French fries or pasta, sometimes with grilled cheese inside. Many Turks cook it at home because it is easy.

  Egypt has two relatives. The chicken one is frakh pané, from the French for breaded, and appears with French fries, in sandwiches or as an appetizer. The veal one is boftik, from the French bifteck.

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• 8. Pubs and Colonies

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  In Windhoek, Walvis Bay and Swakopmund, most restaurants in Namibia offer schnitzel on the menu, a legacy of the country's German colonial history. The chicken or pork cutlet often wears a fried egg and comes with potato salad. It is also eaten in a Brötchen, a German sandwich roll, with tomatoes and cheese.

  South Africa owes its schnitzels to European settlement in the colonial era. Chicken and cordon bleu schnitzels appear on most restaurant and hospital menus. In recent years, beef and pork versions have become widely available.

  In Canada, schnitzel is often just called veal cutlet or chicken cutlet. It frequently arrives with Italian tomato sauce and parmigiana or mozzarella cheese, sometimes with red peppers, and is very commonly served as a sandwich.

  Chicken-fried steak, also called country-fried steak, is nearly identical to schnitzel in the United States. It is a breaded, deep-fried beef steak, generally a shoulder or round cut rather than an expensive loin or rib, and it comes with white gravy. The Midwest has the pork tenderloin sandwich, made from breaded pork tenderloin. Pre-cooked frozen fried cutlets are a popular convenience meal.

  The parmo, or Teesside Parmesan, is the schnitzel of Middlesbrough in North East England. A breaded cutlet of chicken or pork is topped with white béchamel sauce and usually cheddar, and it is a popular take-away item.

  In Australia, beef, which may be veal, and chicken schnitzel are among the most widely available pub meals. Chicken schnitzel is also sold at many take-aways. Pubs serve it with chips, salad and sometimes bacon, and often as a parmigiana topped with Italian tomato sauce, cheese and occasionally ham. Australians shorten the names to schnitty, snitty or schnitter for the plain version, and parma or parmi for the one with toppings.

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