khiemtran | (no subject)

It's Saturday morning in Sutherland, and the quest for the perfect schnitzel continues...

A week ago, Gerda, one of our Austrian neighbours came over to demonstrate how to make a pork schnitzel (did I mention how much I love our neighbours?). She used our kitchen, our stove and our frying pan, and made the best schnitzel I had ever tasted. Now, my wife and I were about to repeat the process, only this time on our own and following only our notes.

We'd been shopping that morning, and brought back four pork schnitzels (and here already, we'd violated Gerda's instructions by buying from Woolworths instead of pre-ordering from Rudi's Continental Deli), plus bread crumbs, oil and disposable gloves. I measure out some flour, two beaten eggs (with a dash of water) and what I think it is good quantity of breadcrumbs. I fill the pan with oil to about the same level that Gerda did, and put it on the highest heat.

After a short wait to make sure the oil is nice and hot, it's gloves on, and I'm battering up the first of the schnitzels. First, I make four cuts around the edges so the meat won't curl. Then I coat it in flour, then egg, then breadcrumbs. It doesn't come out as neat as I remember it, but it doesn't look too bad. Into the oil ... Oh no! Too hot! The schnitzel is brown on the outside within seconds. The same goes for the second attempt.

I end up with two very brown schnitzels, one cooked about right in the middle, the other extra dry because I left it in too long. Instead of puffing out like Gerda's batter did, the breadcrumb coating is tight and firm. There's also a fair amount of oil that has managed to splash out of the pan, plus flour and breadcrumbs all over the bench and floor.

I try again, this time using more flour in the first layer, but I soon find I've messed up my ingredients and the breadcrumbs start to come off before I can get the schnitzels in the oil. I stop and throw out the remaining crumbs and flour and start again with fresh plates. It looks a bit better now. Into the oil again - this time it's not hot enough. The schnitzels spend a lot of time in the oil, but at least this time they puff up nicely.

By now, Hsiu Lin and I are both starving, so we've already started on the first pair of schnitzels. They are nowhere near the ones Gerda made for us with the same equipment, but at least they are a start. More flour next time, the oil temperature somewhere between the first and the second attempts. Bigger plates for holding the batter ingredients. And maybe we'll even up eventually pre-ordering from Rudi's...