Jägerschnitzel (Breaded Pork Cutlets With Mushroom Sauce )

The schnitzel is a boneless  piece of meat, thinned with a meat tenderizer, coated with flour, beaten eggs and bread crumbs, and then fried. ​

By adding a mushroom sauce, a schnitzel becomes a Jägerschnitzel. There are many versions of the Jägerschnitzel or hunter's cutlet in Germany and Austria.

​I'm back home in my beautiful costal town in California, but my thoughts are often in Germany, my native home. As I reflect on my mother’s recent passing, memories are resurfacing from my childhood. On our farm, Sunday was always a day of rest.  No one was supposed to work on Sunday, except for chores like feeding the animals. And then there was the Sunday lunch, the most special meal of the week. Lunch was the big hot meal of the day, like an American dinner. During the week, the lunches were stews and simple meals, but on Sundays things were different. There were puddings for desert, maybe a clear broth for soup to begin with, followed a main course of a meat roast, a chicken or duck, or pork chops made into schnitzels, which is my favorite.

I think the schnitzel was invented by a very clever cook to double the size of the pork chops—by pounding them and coating them in eggs and breadcrumbs. The French and Italians use the same method in their recipes. The schnitzel is similar to the French dish escalope and scallopini in Italian. To enrich the dish, sauces were invented. If the schnitzel has a mushroom sauce, it is called Jägerschnitzel (Jäger means hunter). When the sauce is made with peppers, it becomes a  Zigeunerschnitzel (a gypsy schnitzel).  In my recipe, I combined the mushrooms and peppers to make a flavorful sauce. I had the leftover sauce with baked spaghetti squash and it was delicious. I can imagine serving it over different grains. I just like to add vegetables whenever I can. If you don't have time to make the sauce,  the breaded schnitzel is good by itself, served with a good beer, a salad and some bread.

​This is a Jägerschnitzel I had in Germany prepared by a Michelin starred chef in her restaurant. She served it with fried potatoes.

If you want to stay with the German Theme try this Apple Strudel Cake . I have been baking this cake as long as I can remember.

Jägerschnitzel  Recipe

Print Recipe

Ingredients


Mushroom sauce

1 large red onion 
1 lb. mixed mushrooms
 shiitake and/or button mushrooms 
1 red pepper
4 TBS olive oil 
4 TBS butter
2 cups vegetable broth
2 TBS tomato paste
3/4 cup creme fraîche 
4 TBS flour 
salt, pepper and paprika to taste

 

























​The Schnitzel 

6 boneless pork chops 
1/2 cup flour
2 cups panko (Japanese breadcrumbs)
1 beaten egg
3 TBS canola oil
2 TBS butter
chopped parsley
salt and pepper
​​

Directions


Mushroom Sauce

Peel the onion, cut in half and then cut into ¼-inch slices

Clean the mushrooms with a wet cloth and cut them into thick slices.

Clean and chop the pepper.

Heat 2 TBS olive oil and 2 TBS butter, sauté the mushrooms for several minutes until they are slightly browned, and season with salt and pepper. 

Remove the mushrooms with a slotted spoon, add a little bit more oil and sauté the onions for several minutes. Add the peppers and continue to cook for about 5 minutes. 

Remove the veggies with a slotted spoon. 

Melt the other 2 TBS butter and 2 TBS olive oil in a pan, add the flour and sauté for a minute or so, until the flour turns a light pale color. 

Add a little of the heated broth, stirring constantly to prevent lumps. When smooth, add the rest of the broth, the tomato paste and cook for a few minutes. Add the creme fraîche and stir until smooth. Add the vegetables and season with salt, pepper and some paprika. Keep the sauce warm while the schnitzels are being done.
 

The Schnitzel

Pound the pork chops between 2 sheets of plastic wrap to about a ¼-inch thickness. 

Season the flour with salt and pepper and put it on one plate, the beaten egg on a second plate and the panko on a third plate.

Dredge the pork cutlets first in the flour (shake off excess) on the first plate, then in the beaten egg on the second plate, and finally in the breadcrumbs on the third plate.

Keep the pork cutlets covered in the fridge until you are ready to cook them. 

Heat the oil and butter mixture until hot, add the pork cutlets and cook evenly on both sides, about 5 minutes each. Drain on a paper towel and serve with the sauce. Sprinkle with chopped parsley.

Guten Appetit!
©sunnycovechef