Breaded escalope Recipe and tips for success

I explain to you how to bread cutletswhether they are veal or poultry (chicken or turkey)and gives you the secrets and tips for crispy breading and tender meat.
You will see that we can vary the breadcrumbs, seasonings…

What meat to choose for breaded escalopes?

It is generally veal escalope that this recipe and this technique are associated, resulting from Milanese escalope Or Viennese escalope. Your butcher will know how to choose the best piece for you, you can also ask for either veal nut or veal sub-nut, veal quasi, round of vein.

You can therefore use thin slices of veal but also poultryas chicken or turkey. Possibly pork. You will then need to have a slice not too thick. If necessary, resize it.

To make this recipe a success, the meat must be well flattened.
Flatten meat allows you to break certain muscle fibers and thus obtain more tender meat.

There exists a specific utensil which is called a meat tenderizer. It looks a bit like a mallet. No need to invest in this kitchen utensil, you can use the bottom of a pot or pan and tap with the underside or use a rolling pin.
To avoid damaging the meat cover your cutlets with parchment paper before tapping them with your pan. If you buy your cutlets from the butcher, he will happily do so.

So flatten the meat a little, but not too much. don’t type like a bullyyou risk obtaining the opposite desired effect and having meat that hardens.

The technique used here in French cuisine is called la English breading.

The ingredients you need

Flour, whole eggs, breadcrumbs and oil and/or butter.

The flour: it helps the egg stick well to the meat. You can season the flour with spices like paprika, cumin, curry…
For a gluten-free version, eliminate the flour, some do it, or opt for a gluten-free flour like rice flour, or a more digestible gluten like spelled flour.

Eggs : Beat the eggs into an omelette. You can add a drop of milk, or a dash of neutral oil.

Note that you will at some point salt and pepper your meat: you have the choice either directly before passing it into the flour, or add salt and pepper to the flour, to the eggs, or possibly to the breadcrumbs. I personally opt for eggs.

Which breadcrumbs to choose?

You can take store-bought breadcrumbs or make your own homemade breadcrumbs with leftover bread that you let dry and grind more or less finely with a mixer or blender.

Japanese panko used for tempuras is very light and gives a very crispy result. I like to make a mix of half homemade bread crumbs and half panko.

Possibly chips or cornflakes, small Swedish toasts… It should be possible to make homemade gluten-free breadcrumbs with leftover gluten-free bread.

Flavor your breading with spicesa little cheese like parmesan or even fresh or dried herbs.
For example, I put roughly chopped flat-leaf parsley in my breadcrumbs to prepare breaded fish. Try it, it’s very nice.

In what order should you do your breading successfully?

For a long time I needed to double-check the order in which to prepare the cutlets.
Where to start? First is the flour. Then the beaten eggs. Finally the breadcrumbs.

You can start again a second time for a very thick breading, you will then proceed as follows: 1/ flour, 2/ eggs, 3/ breadcrumbs 4/ eggs, 5/ breadcrumbs.

Finally cooking

Use a non-stick pan if you want your cutlets to hold together well.

Cook your breaded cutlets in a hot pan or you will have put a mixture of butter and oil.
The butter makes your cutlets crispier, the oil prevents the butter from burning at too high a temperature.. Be generous with butter, your escalopes will be even more delicious.

Cook for 5 minutes on one side then turn, add a little more butter if necessary and cook for 5 to 10 minutes on the other side, until the meat is cooked through. The time obviously depends on the thickness.

Origin of breaded schnitzel

This recipe is not a French invention but comes from another European country. So is it the Italian Milanese schnitzel or the Austrian Viennese schnitzel?

It seems that THE Lombards, therefore the Italians, began to breading their meat in the 12th centurye, thus creating the Milanese escalope.

The story goes thatat the beginning of the 19th century, when the Kingdom of Lombardy-Venetia was part of the Austrian Empire, Austrian Marshal Joseph Radetzky led the Austrian army in this region. He reported the local situation to his new emperor, Ferdinand, and the ruling family, the Habsburgs.
Being short of information in one of his reportshis aide-de-camp would have suggested that he describe a local dish from Lombardy, thus giving the recipe for breaded escalopeor Milanese escalope, the Cotoletta alla Milanese.
After his end of mission, back in Vienna, he would have been surprised to taste a Viennese schnitzel (Wiener Schnitzel) very close to the Milanese escalope, thus discovering that the capital had adopted this dish which had become very fashionable in Austrian cuisine.

And like many culinary stories, there is another Austrian version Who says that the Milanese escalope dates from the 16th century.

I haven’t found anything very reliable on the adoption of breaded schnitzel. In France.

There is few differences between Milanese schnitzel, Viennese schnitzel and our breaded schnitzel appreciated in France. If I’m correct, the Viennese schnitzel has milk in its breading to make it soft.
There are actually variations of this breaded meat recipe in many cuisines: Hungarian, Japanese, Israeli…

Variants

As explained above, have fun with breadcrumbs, spices and herbs.

From the breaded escalope make a cordon bleu. Add cheese and ham to a large turkey or chicken escalope, fold it in half and proceed in the same way for the breading as here, you will obtain a delicious homemade cordon bleu.

All the accompaniments are permitted with breaded schnitzels. That day I served a Provençal tian with seasonal vegetables. The choice is yours: potato gratin and green salad, pasta with sauce, fried vegetables…
Think aboutserve with lemonit’s good with lemon juice.

If you like dishes with breadcrumbs, perhaps you will be tempted by my salty crumble with fish and vegetables.