David Ross

I myself am partial to the old fashioned crinkle cut fries. They remind me of my childhood when pretty much any hamburger joint served them but only a few places in town now do so. And like a good burger, I think the fries I make at home are the best, but if the restaurant has crinkle fries, I'll order them everytime over regular fries or steak fries. For years I was on a quest to find a fancy cutter for crinkle cut fries, but settled on an inexpensive hand held cutter. I like how the crinkle fries have ripples and the higher edges get more crispy. I do like regular French fries, curly fries not so much and thick cut, so-so. But if you're up to it as I am on occasion, fry your potatoes in beef tallow, (like McDonald's did for years). I guess you've all just inspired me to make some crinkle fries!

I'm glad you did revive it! I myself also have had a hankering for meat loaf so made one last night. Well....it was only fair, which attests to the fact I only make it maybe 2 times a year. Back to the drawing board. But your meatloaf looks mighty good to me.

I've been having this discussion this week with my cousins about our family memories of fried oysters. Their maternal Grandfather used to take us to dinner at the well-known Portland restaurant "Dan & Louis Oyster Bar." The place has been in business since 1919 and I can still remember their delicious fried oysters. The Wachsmuth family actually had an oyster farm down on the Oregon Coast at Yaquina Bay and they harvested little beauties that were perfect for frying. Well, I'm sure I'll never duplicate their recipe, but inspired by the family discussion, and my recent foray into frying evoked by our Schnitzel Cook-Off, https://forums.egullet.org/topic/156204-eg-cook-off-76-consider-the-schnitzel/?page=9&tab=comments#comment-2145244, tonight I made up some fried oysters. These are the "extra small" oysters we get in fresh, in jars, from Pacific Seafood in Bay City Oregon. Dipped in flour and corn starch that I seasoned with a Cajun mix, then into beaten egg, then gently tossed in panko. A shallow fry at 350 in canola oil, then on a bed of arugula. I never put fried foods on a napkin to drain nor on a plate. I just detest a "soggy bottom" so the greens elevate them a bit and soak any oyster juices. Then lemon, and a quick tartar sauce of mayonnaise, chopped capers and chopped Kosher dill pickle. Delicious.

For some reason I've been on a pizza dough making craze lately. Yet I'd never thought of a breakfast pizza for some reason. So this one started with my standard pizza dough recipe which comes from the 1963 Time-Life Foods of the World Collection, this time the Foods of Italy book. I make a big batch then refrigerate what I don't use. I added all sorts of stuff to the dough-toasted sesame seeds, dried onion flakes, fried garlic flakes, pepper, poppy seeds, sort of an "everything" bagel type of pizza dough. Then rolled out, a drizzle of olive oil, and in this case sausage, spinach and cherry tomatoes. It was done quickly so next time I'd take more care to brush the surface of the dough with more olive oil, saute the spinach with garlic before adding to the pizza and char it under the broiler to crisp up the tomatoes. But all in all a decent breakfast.

I'll have to find the photo, but a friend of mine in the UK posted a photo about a week ago of a mackerel schnitzel. I think it was served with some sort of beet salad. It sounded, and looked, terribly unappetizing to me.

Well, I've been in the schnitzel dungeon for nearly two weeks. I was watching an episode of Andrew Zimmern on Delicious Destinations--Milan and it got me thinking I'd love to replicate the Veal Milanese they showed in one segment. It was a bone-in veal chop, pounded thin, then coated in of all things American Corn Flakes. It was served with spinach and some really creamy mashed potatoes. I can't get veal chops where I live, or at least rarely. I can ask a local butcher to order them, but it would cost a lot of money to order say two veal chops. There are good online sources, but as I always say, when you buy fresh meats or seafood online you pay more than the veal chop for the cost of overnight shipping. And right now I don't really want to splurge and pay upwards of $60 bucks for two veal chops. At least not yet. I found what looked like some possibilities with two large, thick, bone-in pork chops. I knew the flavor wouldn't be close to veal, but I wanted to try the pounded thin on bone corn flake technique. Well, when I went to French the end of the bone, I found it was cut like a lot of pork chops. They run the pork through a saw because it's not intended to be the same as cutting a thick chop off a whole loin, think like a chop from a rack of lamb. So the bone was cut in pieces and would have made a sorry looking frenched chop. So I'll keep searching this week for the elusive local veal chop or a decent rack of pork I can butcher myself.

Oh thank you so much. I totally forgot how delicious clarified butter is and it would be the perfect fat to use for a schnitzel.

I'll have to order some of the EverCrisp. The ingredients seem very close to a Korean Fried Chicken mix I but at a local store. I'll see how they compare when making a schnitzel.

I'm looking forward to this one. Great city with great restaurants and great inspiration for a home cook like me.

I have some chicken left from yesterday and was planning on doing a schnitzel in a salad, but I'm using your technique and I'll do it in my AirFryer. Thanks for the tip.

For years when I worked in an office at SEA-TAC airport we would go up to a small café in the terminal, "Waji's." I think it was owned and run by the same company that owns the Uwajimaya groceries in Portland and Seattle. They had the most delicious chicken katsu that was served with rice, salad and two potstickers. It wasn't until our Cook-Off that I realized that would be a dish that would be an Asian twist on the European schnitzel. I remember their chicken katsu was thin, but in the range of about 1/2", so I thought I'd pound it down to about 1/4" thickness. Dredged in flour, then egg, then panko and fried in canola oil. In this recipe you cut the "schnitzel" into strips to dip into the katsu sauce. The katsu sauce was a blend of Worcestershire, ketchup, soy sauce, and I added mirin, sugar and oyster sauce. I think it was too heavy on the Worcestershire, so next time I'll bring that down and probably boost the oyster sauce. 1/2 cup Worcestershire sauce 1/4 cup ketchup 2 tbsp. soy sauce white pepper 1 tbsp. Mirin 1 tbsp. sugar 2 tsp. oyster sauce Then for the salad I did sliced cucumbers and carrots that I shredded with one of the gadgets I've acquired over the years at Asian markets. The salad under the chicken katsu acted liked a rack to keep the fried katsu off the bottom of the plate and from getting soggy. I dressed the lettuce with some orange juice, rice vinegar and sprinkled in a few sesamed seeds and green onions. Mighty delicious this one.

I think it's quite relevant to our discussion. I'm finding that while the term schnitzel may hail from Austria, it really is a dish that transcends boundaries, (which I never realized until this eG Cook-Off). In a few minutes I'll post my latest derivation of the schnitzel that I made for dinner last night, and it could be said this one is thousands of miles from Vienna.

That looks very delicious and I'm really impressed with the pheasant meat and the beautiful color of it raw. I'm sure it sounds odd to remark on a piece of raw meat but the color just tells me it is wild and tasty.

The flavors in the sauce were really fresh, like a homemade tartar sauce. It was heavy on the dill, and I'd make it again to serve on the side with a schnitzel, or even better, it would be a delicious sauce for any kind of fish dish, sautéed, broiled, fried.

That’s what I’ll do next time. No dark bread just an onion roll, schnitzel and mayo. Last week I refrigerated a schnitzel thinking it wouldn’t be crispy in the morning. It was still crispy but chilled so I think that might be delicious in a sandwich

Well, if we start soon, we'll have a moist and delicious corned beef to serve on St. Patrick's Day.

My attempt at using chicken schnitzel in a sandwich had high hopes, but fell off the ladder for the most part. I've been making various takes on a fried chicken sandwich for years, always trying to look for the best fry on the chicken, always experimenting with the best sauce. While this schnitzel sandwich was good, I think I put in too many other garnishes and muddied up the flavor of the schnitzel. In the end I think I prefer just a plain traditional schnitzel with a twist of lemon, maybe a sauce served on the side. I did the chicken like the first pork schnitzel I presented-flour, egg and fresh bread crumbs, then fried in canola oil until crispy. A local bakery makes this wonderful dark Bohemian rye. Not only is it flavorful, but sliced thicker than any of the other commercial rye and European breads we can get. The sauce was made up of mayo, dill relish, fresh dill, dried dill weed, celery seed, caraway seed, chopped capers and salt and pepper. The garnishes were sliced iceberg lettuce, tomato, red onion and sliced cucumber. A good sandwich, just not something I'll make again if I want a schnitzel.

That's one mighty-fine looking sandwich. I'm wondering what the dressing is, looks like some sort of dill mayonnaise. Their dressing helps me construct my schnitzel sandwich today as I've been tossing about ideas like Russian dressing or a bleu cheese mayonnaise. I actually like the idea of dill maybe a good dose of lemon juice thrown into the mix and some paprika to loosely stay with some schnitzel seasonings.

I too have a schnitzel sandwich on my list! I've been doing different variations on fast-food style chicken sandwiches for years, but for whatever reason never thought to do a schnitzel between a bun. Sounds interesting.

Although the meat is already thin at 1/4", I've been wondering if brining the meat would help keep it moist?

Oh Shelby, I was hoping you'd do a wild game schnitzel! And thankfully, someone who puts a whole lotta black pepper in their cream gravy. Delicious.

One thing I love about our Cook-Offs is how much I learn from everyone, and, by chance I happen to come along a new technique that I'd never considered before. I wasn't able to find any lamb or veal for my first schnitzel so I settled on pork. Starting with pork loin rib chops that I cut off the bone and flattened to about 1/4" thickness. I was planning on doing a comparison between using panko or fresh breadcrumbs. I've never used fresh breadcrumbs when making a fried cutlet, but I always use fresh breadcrumbs when making the annual pear brown betty. Nothing beats those fresh buttered bread crumbs on top of a pear betty and baked to golden brown. But I usually only use basic supermarket white bread with the crusts cut off then pulse them into crumbs in the food processor. I'm not much of a bread baker, but the day before I made a decent no-knead artisanal loaf baked in a hot Dutch oven. I do those fairly well. So I cut off the crusts and pulsed them into coarse crumbs. Because of my tepid baking skills the bread was fairly dense, not light and all fluffy like supermarket white bread. But that worked to my advantage in the end. Seasoned the pork cutlets with salt and pepper, then a good dredge in flour, a dip in egg and a patted down blanket of the fresh bread crumbs. Then into canola oil at 350 heated in the old standard electric skillet. I fried the schnitzel for about 3 minutes per side, and gently shaking the skillet to push some of the oil over the top. I turned it about 4 times. Then using a slotted spatula lifted out of the oil to drain a bit and immediately on the dish with a sprig of flat parsley and an ode to continental dining-a slice of lemon dipped in paprika. (An unintended benefit was the paprika lemon juice that I squeezed over the schnitzel). Then a very simple cucumber salad out of one of my German cookbooks, (although it was too tangy on the vinegar and too sweet on the sugar for my tastes). Cucumbers, red onion, apple cider vinegar, sugar, fresh dill and chives, salt, pepper and a few flakes of red pepper. I think the greatest benefit of this Cook-Off for me so far was the revelation of using fresh bread crumbs, and the coarse crumbs from that humble loaf of bread I baked. The schnitzel was incredibly crispy and the large crumb created more ridges which I think held it off the plate more than a flatter type schnitzel. (Much like a proper English muffin has all sorts of little caverns in the inside to hold butter and jam). I've been frying schnitzels for years and never came upon this technique, but now It's my standard for all sorts of similar fried foods. Now maybe this week I'll find that veal or lamb.....

I was watching Rudy Maxa's World on PBS this morning and they did a segment on the black pork and a dish of pork tonkatsu. Although it's not pounded thin like the European schnitzel, it's basically the same in terms of coated with flour, dipped in egg then bread crumbs. But what really struck me and showed what I do when serving fried foods is that the tonkatsu was sliced then placed on a small rack which was placed over the serving plate so the bottom doesn't get soggy. Similar to this photo:

Looks delicious and I especially like the spaetzle.

I was going through some of my cookbooks this morning as a reference point for my first offering of our cook-off when I came upon what I think is a bit of a different schnitzel recipe. From the cookbook "My Alpine Cookbook, Hans Gerlach" is the "K.u.k Schnitzel." The cookbook doesn't give a direct definition of "K.u.k" but talks about traditional Austrian dishes like saftbraten covered in a sauce. So I think this is one of the schnitzels covered in sauce. In searching further I found that "K.u.k" is most likely a reference to the Austro-Hungarian Army, 1867-1918. The recipe calls for veal pounded thin. Then brushed on both sides with spicy mustard then dusted in flour and fried in oil. The sauce is made from a blend of onions, carrots, garlic, tomato, lemon zest, paprika, marjoram and beef or veal stock. I scanned the photo from the cookbook and it looks more like an Americanized Swiss Steak to me rather than a schnitzel.