Could someone please advise me on ho to cook Schnitzel so that it is nice melt in your mouth tender?
No matter how I try either long frying or done briefly and hot,almost rare it turns out tough and rubbery.Your help will be appreciated.
cleggyboy,
Mar 17, 3:16am
Blame the disgusting meat we are expected to eat these days. All the good stuff goes off shore while we are expected to eat crap at export prices.
rebecca18,
Mar 17, 3:53am
When I was a child my mother would cook weiner schnitzel regularly. She always beat it with an empty milk bottle. I don't remember how long she cooked it for after egging and crumbing it but it was always lovely and tender. I do wonder if it was something to do with the beating/flattening, it made it look quite a lot bigger. Good luck.
karlymouse,
Mar 17, 3:57am
Best bet is to get it from a real butcher and ask them to cut it slighly thicker than usual. then try again.
buzzy110,
Mar 17, 4:59am
This. Beat it. It is supposed to be very thin. Milk bottles are pretty hard to come by now so buy a Meat tenderiser (as they are called). They are cheap. They look like a double headed hammer with biggish heads. One head is usually flat while the other is corrugated or similar.
valentino,
Mar 17, 5:03am
Quantities depends of how much you are cooking but lets say 4 full slices.
I cut the full slices into halves ready to coat.
The coating, one bowl with flour and a pinch of salt.
Another bowl with some milk say about 2 cups with an egg (large size or 2 small ones) and mix and blended.
Have a bread board or something similar handy to lay each coated slice before cooking, Yes coat them first before even think of cooking is first part of my secret.
Dip each piece into the milk mixture then into the flour and fully cover both sides then back into the milk mixture again the coat in flour again then onto the breadboard. (Yep double coating helps, hint number 2.
When all is done and coated, turn the oven on to about 120C.
I use an electric frypan on setting about 2 to 3, if stove top then about medium, enough cooking oil as not to drench them and do them in batches, do not crowd them and cook them. When you see a bit of colour coming through (about 2-4 minutes) then turn them over and cook for another 2 minutes then onto a serving dish then into the preheated oven and continue until all is cooked perhaps adding a little bit more oil if required. Allow say about 5 - 10 minutes in the oven prior to serving. My hint number 3.
Always comes out lovely and tender.
Cheers
samanya,
Mar 17, 5:44am
I don't believe that that's the only reason, take note how many times the butchery cuts it with the grain & not across, as it should be. I get beef from home kill & they cut it the correct way & it's never tough. I cook it in a similar way to valentino. I use fresh breadcrumbs whizzed up with a heap of herbs, mainly parsley, but also add sage & thyme & a dash of curry powder. I love it this way & it's a favourite with young rellies.
lythande1,
Mar 17, 6:02am
It should be thin. Some butchers make it quite thick. Cook quickly, not slowly. I go to a butcher who cuts it - after asking and showing me the thinness. Thick, it always will be tough.
snapperheadrkp,
Mar 18, 12:22am
Use Veal ( the name Wiener Schnitzel means Viennese Cutlet) instead of tough old beef that has been frozen, then semi thawed in a coolroom,sliced on an electric slicer, and then sold as Schnitzel.
arielbooks,
Mar 18, 12:29am
I get veal when I can. I also find with supermarket schnitzels that the trainee butchers tend to cut along the grain rather than across which causes the protein strands to shrink and toughen, they tend to do the same with many steak cuts.
samanya,
Mar 18, 4:41am
Yep, I've often wondered if butchers get more schnitzels by cutting that way.
glenn-ellyn,
Mar 19, 1:27am
A lot depends on what cut of meat they are using. If Topside (and some do) it will be dry and tough. My favourite is Bolar followed by uncorned silverside. We used to get in all the various cuts vacume packed in cartons plus a couple of bodies each week.
articferrit,
Mar 20, 12:42am
I just dip it in a beaten egg and then crumb it, and put it in the fridge to 'set' before cooking it in half butter, half rice bran oil, squeeze of lemon and grind of salt, perfect. We have home kill, so the meat is awesome to start with, so Id suggest you buy some uncrumbed schnitzel from your local butcher and try again.
intrade,
Mar 20, 1:52am
i am with 13 in europe you use just butter and they dont sell butter with salt so its never used . The extortionet ammont of food prices means the trick from 13 is a good idea. salt draws moisture you dont want no rubbish crap they call butter . use salt free butter. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wiener_schnitzel
lythande1,
Mar 20, 2:51am
A schnitzel is meat, usually thinned by pounding with a meat tenderizer, that is fried in some kind of oil or fat. The term is most commonly used to refer to meats coated with flour, beaten eggs and bread crumbs, and then fried, but some variants such as Walliser Schnitzel are not breaded. Originating in Austria, the breaded schnitzel is popular in many countries and made using either veal, mutton, chicken, beef, turkey, reindeer, or pork.
OK? here it's thin cut skirt steak. Pound it OK< but if it's cut thin enough in the first place you shouldn't need to.
But a lot of places do cut it too thick.
adnelg,
Mar 20, 3:14am
Beat it with a tenderizer till quite thin approx 3mm, crumb and fry at high heat for no more than 1.5-2 min each side, there'll be no blood and it will be cooked to perfection, melt in the mouth tender, the only time you'll get tough snitzel is when it has been cut incorrectly by the butcher (usually only happens in the supermarket with a trainee) you learn to recognize it and don't buy it :)
islaybrian,
Mar 21, 9:10am
Hey thanks everybody for your responses.I will in future beat the meat with a tenderizer which I have not done before and use veal when available.
johnnom1,
Mar 21, 9:21am
SO VERY TRUE!
blueviking,
Mar 22, 6:01pm
I buy my schnitzel from pakn. Hardly ever get a bad lot. Cook in lots of butter and oil and I mean lots of butter.
rainrain1,
Mar 22, 7:36pm
Never have a problem with it
hazelnut2,
Mar 22, 8:00pm
I salt and pepper my flour, and crush a clove of garlic into the egg wash. I also let it 'set' for a while in the fridge and then fry in equal quantities of oil and butter. But I make it with chicken breast so don't have to beat it thin.
gardner12,
Mar 23, 3:29am
I agree with haezelnut that is all I do, I do cook it in hot fat and not oil, then pop in the oven at about 100 while cooking the rest, maybe you are trying to cook too much at a time in the pan.
ange164,
Mar 24, 1:27am
Either briefly and hot, or stewed to death.
valentino,
Mar 24, 2:00am
No, do not stew it nor very hot fried quick and so on. It needs to be protected as I note above.
Another example, go to a Mongolian Eatery Restaurant and note how they cook, never directly on the Hot Plate even though it is cooked directly on it, they keep on scooping it and tossing it then is served onto dinner plates, now what does this tell you.
Cheers
valentino,
Mar 24, 2:46am
Another thought re doing Weiner Schnitzels the way I do them.
Quite often and on purpose will do extras then allow to rest and cool ones that are left over in the fridge.
Absolutely beautiful when they are cold, eat them as they are or do a special hum-dinger sandwich with a piece of schnitzel, green salad leaves, mayo and other sauces, sliced acid free tomatoes etc. A real super duper especially with the right breads. Hmmm, only one is very filling.
Also great in Wraps, simply cut schnitzels into strips and one as the base then the other filling and sauces/mayo then another strip on top and rolled into a wrap. Great for outings.
Cheers.
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