"Schnitzel"
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 lb boneless "thin-sliced" pork chops
- 3 eggs
- 1 1/2 tablespoons Dijon-honey mustard I like Maille
- 1 2/3 cup flour
- 1 1/2 tablespoons lemon pepper seasoning
- 1 1/2 cup dried bread crumbs
- 1 tablespoon paprika
- 1 teaspoon dried herb mix like Trader Joe's Goddess blend or Herbs de Provence or Lidl's Alpine seasoning
- canola or other oil for frying
- lemon wedges for serving
Instructions
- Heat 1/3 inch oil in a low, wide pan.
- Meanwhile, whisk together the egg and mustard in a shallow bowl. Pour the flour and bread crumbs onto two separate plates or shallow bowls.
- Stir the lemon pepper into the flour and the paprika and dried herbs into the bread crumbs. Line them up: flour, egg then bread crumbs.
- Dredge each piece of pork in the flour then dip into the egg mixture and then dredge in bread crumbs. Make sure the meat is thoroughly coated at each step.
- Fry 2-5 minutes, flipping once, until golden brown and cooked through.
- Drain on paper towel-lined plates. Serve with lemon wedges.
I’ve been posting recipes here since 2004. That’s basically my entire adult life and I have to admit, it becomes harder and harder to come up with new things to post. I obviously cook a lot (we eat every day!) but I’ve shared over 2,200 recipes here. What’s left? I don’t often make the same thing the same way twice but is it different enough to post as a new recipe? How many chili recipes do we need?
I really thought I must have posted this sometime over the years because I do make some version of this a few times a year but when I searched this site to remind myself what I did when I went to make it for lunch today, I realized I hadn’t. It’s a shame because I think it’s a good, easy recipe that always works and is really thrifty. Grocery prices are so high and this a great way to make a little bit of meat into a lot of servings.
I call it “schnitzel” because I think if I called it schnitzel, no quotes even I’d look askance. It’s really not quite schnitzel. I’m not pounding a pork chop to paper thin before frying it. I’m seasoning it a bit more than usually would; schnitzel can be a bit bland, which is why it is great when you turn it into jägerschnitzel and top it with a rich mushroom gravy. I’m taking a shortcut here and using what the grocery store (I normally get them at Aldi but they should be everywhere) calls “thin sliced pork chops”. They really are just thin sliced pork (loin) chops. They are pretty small, maybe the size of the palm of my hand, and cut to less than a quarter inch thick.
They cook super quickly, making them great for frying (honestly, I am having a hard time thinking what else you’d do with them) and you get a ton in one package. The random batch I had weighed 1 1/5 lbs and I got 16 “schnitzels” out of it. 16! That seriously serves 8 for a meal or leaves you with a ton of leftovers for schnitzel sandwiches. I like it with some picked red cabbage (I took the easy way out and bought a jar at Aldi but I’ve done homemade) and potatoes of some kind–mashed or this potato salad is really good. The trick is to really season each dip–if anything overseason the flour, eggs and bread crumbs, it makes a big difference.