Schnippo - A Childhood Dream

We all have that special food memory from childhood. Maybe it was your first perfect hot dog with ketchup at a friend’s birthday party. Or spaghetti & meatballs on Sunday afternoons at your grandmother's house. What was yours? And are you still making it?

I’ll tell you mine: It’s Schnippo (aka wienerschnitzel). Readers from the Alpine region of Germany, Switzerland, Italy, and Austria know exactly what I’m talking about. As a kid, when you went to a restaurant with your parents and were handed the menu, your eyes immediately went to the bottom right, to the section titled Kindermenü (Kid’s Special). And there it was - that magic word Schnippo. Schnitzel & Pommes Frites.

Jump to:

• 🧾 Ingredients
• 🥘 Cooking
• 🍽 Serving
• 📝 Recipe

When I got older, I kinda forgot about it until I had a business lunch in Zürich one day and we went to a place famous for its Schnippo. The meat was so huge, it was overlapping the edges of a 12-inch plate. The breading was buttery, fluffy, light, and crisp (that’s an achievement right there…), the french fries were crunchy and perfectly salty, and the mug of lager was ice cold. That’s when I knew I had to bring that childhood magic back into my kitchen and onto my dinner plate.

In the meantime, you know what I’m talking about - the famous Wienerschnitzel. It was first mentioned in 1831 in a cookbook published in southern Germany, but the original dish might have originated in northern Italy. Somehow it found its way to eastern Austria and was brought to the attention of emperor Franz Joseph I. He really liked it and named it Wienerschnitzel (Vienna cutlet), maybe. I don’t really care, I’m just thrilled that it originated somewhere in the Alps where I grew up, and it stayed around long enough for me to enjoy it.

The classic Wienerschnitzel is made with veal cutlets, but personally, I prefer pork. This is a recipe that I didn’t invent or improve or tweak - this is pretty much the only way to get it done perfectly. There are different opinions regarding fat use - some prefer lard, some clarified butter...I use unsalted butter.

🧾 Ingredients

• Pork cutlets
• Unsalted butter
• Egg
• All purpose flour
• Breadcrumbs
• Lemon
• Parsley
• Salt and pepper

See the recipe card below for full list of ingredients and their measurements.

🥘 Cooking

So here we go: pat your pork cutlets dry, trim as necessary, and pound them down to 0.2 inches (using a meat pounder or a rolling pin), in other words, very thin.

Salt the cutlets and crack some pepper on them.

In the meantime, in a skillet, heat the butter over medium heat until it starts to foam a little bit.

Sprinkle the cutlets with flour, dredge through the whisked egg, and roll them in breadcrumbs.

Shake off the excessive crumbs and add the cutlet to the pan.

Make sure you have enough butter in the pan so the cutlets basically swim in it. This will guarantee that they’ll cook evenly, and your breading won’t get stuck to the bottom of the pan.

Flip them a couple times. You can also scoop up some butter and drizzle it over the meat while it’s cooking. The cutlets are done when they reach a nice golden yellow, after about 5 minutes.

🍽 Serving

Pour some of the pan juices over the cutlets and serve with a slice of lemon and some parsley. That’s the “Schni” part of Schnippo. The “Po” stands for pommes frites (french fries).

I want to see pictures of your Schnippo!  Please post 🙂

Did you make this Wienerschnitzel recipe? Let us know in the comments below!

📝 Recipe

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