Hunter's Schnitzel (Jägerschnitzel)
Ingredients:
4 veal or pork cutlets, pounded relatively thin
1 small onion, chopped
1/4 lb mushrooms, chopped
2 tablespoons butter and 2 tablespoons oil for frying
1/2 cup white wine
1/2 cup broth (veal or chicken)
3 strips bacon, cut into about 1 inch pieces**
1/2 cup of cream or half and half
3 tablespoons of flour + flour to coat the cutlets
salt and pepper
parsley, for garnish
Heat the oil and butter over medium heat. Season each cutlet with a little salt and pepper, then lightly flour each. Fry the cutlets until cooked through and browned on both sides. Keep the cutlets warm while you prepare the sauce in the same skillet. Reduce the heat to medium low and sauté the bacon for about 90 seconds, then add the onion and mushrooms, cook until the onion is softened. I sprinkle the flour over the bacon, onion, mushroom mixture, a little at a time, using a fork to thoroughly and quickly mix in the flour, but you can whisk the flour with the wine or broth, then add it to the skillet, stirring constantly. You can always adjust the amount of flour you add, according to how thick you like the sauce. If you sprinkle and mix the flour, then add the wine, stirring constantly, then add the broth, also stirring constantly. Add the cream or half and half, stirring well. Serve each schnitzel with sauce over it, or partially covering it, or even to the side of the schnitzel, then add a little parsley on top. Don't forget the Jägermeister, just for digestive purposes, of course.
* Jägermeister is a German "herbal" alcoholic drink, called a "digestif" (digestive), likely its original purpose, but from the 1980s on it developed an increasing popularity in the United States as a regular bar drink, often by the shot. It also became a mainstay at many parties, even spawning "Jägermeister parties." It is usually served cold. It is made from over 50 herbs and roots.
** There are a variety of recipes for Jägerschnitzel, and some people do not use bacon.
Jägerschnitzel with sliced tomatoes and Rösti, a fried potato dish from the Germans of Switzerland (about 70% of Switzerland is German), although the dish is not completely unheard of in the French and Italian parts of the country. In the United States the potato dish is called "hash browns," and is typically served as a "fried block of shredded potato," whereas in Switzerland, the dish is usually a round portion, from the shape of the pan. The Swiss have variations on the basic potato dish, like the addition of cheese, or onion, or other items. I often ordered Rösti at a restaurant in Wiesbaden, Germany years ago. Rösti is usually a side dish. By the way the word "Rösti" (noun) is simply a dialect form of standard German "rösten" (verb); and therefore related to English "roast." (See Word History below)
WORD HISTORY:
Roast-The history of this word is a bit sketchy, but it "seemingly" goes back to Indo European "reus/rews," which had the notion of "sizzle, crackle." The actual form derived from the Indo European "may" have developed in the West Germanic dialects, with a form meaning "to cook by the fire," or "to cook on a metal sheet or grate." That form gave Old English (Anglo-Saxon) "rostian," with the same basic meaning. Whether the word died out, or remained in use only among the common people in England is unclear, but French, a Latin-based language, but with much Germanic vocabulary, especially centuries ago, had "rostir" from Germanic Frankish. This certainly reinforced any such existing English word, and brought it into broader use, but it may well have reintroduced it to English in the 1300s, when the word was "rosten,'' prior to the modern form. Other forms in the Germanic languages: German "rösten" (also in limited use by Low German Saxon, but apparently a borrowing from standard German. Previously Low German had "rost"), Dutch "roosteren." I could not find a form in Frisian, nor in any of the North Germanic languages (primarily Danish, Norwegian, Icelandic, Swedish), thus the "possibility" of the word developing in West Germanic.
Labels: English, etymology, German recipes, Germanic languages, Jägermeister, Jägerschnitzel, mushrooms, recipes, Rösti, Schnitzel, Switzerland, veal
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