I was overdue for a disaster. With making so many wonderful national dishes, they all have gone smoothly and ended up tasty. When preparing Wiener Schnitzel, I hit my first bump in the road but was able to recover, more on that later.
Wiener Schnitzel was one of those dishes I have had my eye on but wanted to make for a smaller crowd. Veal scaloppine is available for $24/lb which would be really pricey for me, if I was serving four people. My dad was visiting so I knew it was the perfect time to make Wiener Schnitzel.
This was a simple dish to make and what is essentially a three part process before frying.
- Dip the veal in the flour mixture.
- Dip the veal in the egg/heavy cream mixture
- Dip the veal in the breadcrumbs.
Before dipping and dredging
After
Now this is where it all went terribly wrong for me. I had filled a small pan with a fair amount of vegetable oil for frying. I had not used this pan very often and with a crappy electric stove, it is easy to get the oil to it’s smoking point quickly. I put the first piece of the veal into the oil and it burnt immediately. The house at that point filled with smoke from the particles in the oil.
I was running around the house opening windows and my dad was hacking his lungs out. I was telling him to go on the patio but he was too stubborn. I was really upset that this had gone horribly wrong. My entire apartment was filed with smoke and I hope my neighbors didn’t think my apartment was on fire.
Luckily it was just one piece that had to be thrown out. I was able to fry the others successfully after cooling the oil. I decided to serve pan seared asparagus and mashed potatoes with the Wiener Schnitzel . My dad had given me a new Kitchen Aid mixer that I was dying to use and I figured mashed potatoes would be a good side.
In the end, the dish was great and the sides were good. Dad was happy in the end.
Recipe for the Wiener Schnitzel is available here.