Name: The Best Pork Schnitzel
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 15 min
Total time: 30 min
Yield: 4 servings
Ingredients: 4 (about 5 oz each) boneless pork loin chops; 1 cup all-purpose flour; 2 large eggs; 2 tbsp whole milk; 2 cups fresh breadcrumbs (or panko); to taste kosher salt; to taste freshly ground black pepper; 1/2 cup neutral oil for frying; 3 tbsp unsalted butter; 1 lemon, cut into wedges; 2 tbsp fresh parsley, chopped

The Best Pork Schnitzel

Prep

15m

Cook

15m

Total

30m

Bigly says

Listen to me. We need to talk about schnitzel. The greatest schnitzel in the history of schnitzel — and there's been a LOT of schnitzel, the Austrians have been doing this since before America was a country, the Germans had a version, even the Italians have a cousin of this thing called cotoletta, everyone's got a version, but mine — MINE — is the one. Hands down. Not even close.

Here's what nobody tells you about schnitzel. You see these sad little gray cutlets at the chain places, swimming in cream sauce, breading like wet cardboard, the pork itself dry as the Sahara, and they have the nerve — the NERVE — to call it schnitzel. It is not schnitzel. It is an insult to schnitzel. It is wet sadness on a plate. A real schnitzel is golden, crackly, the breading puffed up like a tiny golden raft floating above the meat, and the meat itself? Pounded thin, juicy, salted properly, perfect. Perfect.

I had a schnitzel in Vienna once — true story — and the woman who served it to me, an older woman, tough woman, hands like a bricklayer, she watched me take the first bite and she NODDED. Just nodded. That nod was the highest compliment of my life. I came home and I said: I'm going to teach America how to do this. America deserves better. Other so-called chefs put pork chops in flour and call it a day. That chef on TV — you know the one — uses bread crumbs from a can. From a CAN. Sad. We're using fresh crumbs today. We're pounding the pork ourselves. We're doing this RIGHT.

Ingredients

4 (about 5 oz each)boneless pork loin chops(thick enough to pound thin without tearing)
1 cupall-purpose flour
2large eggs
2 tbspwhole milk
2 cupsfresh breadcrumbs (or panko)(stale bread pulsed in a food processor, the way it should be)
to tastekosher salt
to tastefreshly ground black pepper
1/2 cupneutral oil for frying
3 tbspunsalted butter(non-negotiable, butter at the end is the move)
1lemon, cut into wedges
2 tbspfresh parsley, chopped

Steps

1
Place each pork chop between two sheets of plastic wrap. Pound with a meat mallet (flat side) until each cutlet is an even 1/4 inch thick.
2
Season both sides of each cutlet generously with salt and pepper.
3
Set up a breading station with three shallow dishes: flour in one, eggs whisked with milk in the second, breadcrumbs in the third.
4
Dredge each cutlet in flour, shaking off the excess. Dip in egg, letting excess drip off. Press firmly into the breadcrumbs to coat completely. Set on a wire rack.
5
Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat until it shimmers (about 350 F). Add 2 tbsp butter and swirl to combine.
6
Add the cutlets one or two at a time, depending on pan size. Do not crowd the pan.
7
Fry 2-3 minutes per side, gently swirling the pan so hot fat washes over the top — this puffs the breading up off the meat.
8
Transfer to a paper-towel-lined plate. Season immediately with another pinch of salt.
9
Wipe out the pan if needed, add the remaining butter, and let it foam. Drizzle a little browned butter over each schnitzel.
10
Serve immediately with lemon wedges and a sprinkle of parsley.

One more thing

Squeeze the lemon. SQUEEZE it. Don't be shy. The acid wakes the whole plate up and if you skip the lemon you have eaten only half the schnitzel — that's a fact, food chemists agree, I had a guy with a PhD explain it once and it was beautiful. Serve it with cucumber salad, with parsley potatoes, with a cold beer, with whatever you want, it doesn't matter, the schnitzel is the star. Now go eat.