Schnitzel with Creamy Mushroom Gravy (Rahmschnitzel)

German "Rahmschnitzel" is veal cutlet (or pork, or turkey) served with a cream-based mushroom gravy. "Rahm" is one of the words for "cream" in German (see the Word History, below, for the English version of the word).

Ingredients (4 servings):

4 veal cutlets, pounded relatively thin (each can be cut into a few smaller pieces if you'd like)
salt
pepper
1/4 to 1/2 cup flour
1/4 lb Crimini mushrooms, cleaned and quartered, or smaller ones halved
1/4 lb white button mushrooms, cleaned and quartered, or smaller ones halved
2 tablespoons butter + 2 tablespoons canola oil, for frying
2 tablespoons finely chopped onion
1 tablespoon butter, for the gravy
2 tablespoons flour, mixed with 2 tablespoons of water
1/2 cup dry white wine ( or if you prefer, veal broth)
3/4 cup heavy cream (or half and half)
parsley for garnish

Melt the butter with the oil over medium heat in a skillet. Hopefully you have a skillet which can fit two cutlets at a time, but if not, that's OK, just remove each fried cutlet to a platter in your oven, which you will need to do anyway, while you fix the remaining cutlets and then the gravy. The oven should be set at 200 degrees or a little less. Salt and pepper the cutlets, then lightly flour them on both sides. Fry the cutlets until lightly browned on both sides. When the cutlets are done, keep them warm in the oven. With the heat at medium low, add the tablespoon of butter to the skillet. Add the onion and cook for about 1 minute. Add the mushrooms, stir and cook for one more minute. Stir in the flour and water mixture, stirring very well to prevent lumps. Cook another minute. Add the wine, stirring to loosen any browned bits from the skillet, and to mix all ingredients together. Add the mushrooms and cook until they are softened. Add the cream and stir well. Cook for a couple of minutes until the sauce is slightly thickened. Serve each cutlet with gravy over it, and sprinkle with a little parsley. Serve with noodles, spätzle, or my favorite, mashed potatoes, any of which should also get a dose of gravy.

Rahmschnitzel with mashed potatoes, fresh spinach and tomato, and a brown ale! WOW!

WORD HISTORY:

Ream-English has more than one word of this spelling, this word for "cream" is pretty much out of use in what I'll call "standard" English, but it is still used in some dialects of northern England and southern Scotland. To my knowledge it is not used in the U.S. at all, and "likely" not in Canada. Its ultimate origin is somewhat questionable, although it "seemingly" goes back to Indo European "reugh," which had a notion of "fatty, thickened liquid." This then gave Old Germanic "raumaz," which meant "cream." This gave Old English (Anglo-Saxon) "ream," also meaning "cream," and it then became "reme/ream," but English borrowed a form of the word that became modern "cream" from French in the 1300s, and this eventually pushed out the native word, except for some dialectal remnants today. Some forms remain in other, but not all, Germanic languages: German "Rahm," ^ Low German Saxon "Rohm," Dutch "room," Icelandic "rjómi," Norwegian "rømme" (sour cream).

^  In more modern times, "Rahm" (all German nouns are capitalized) is primarily used in Switzerland, Bavaria and Austria. The standard German word for "cream" is "Sahne," a word borrowed from French, and tracing back to Latin. There is also the word "Schmand," which means "cream" or "sour cream" in some dialects. It has an uncertain history, either coming from the Old Germanic form that gave modern English "smooth" (thus a form of which later developed a notion in German of "smooth=creamy," and then the noun form), or it was borrowed from a Slavic language or languages, a belief I tend to share. Then there is also the word "Obers" used in Bavaria and Austria, and also meaning cream. It comes from the same general Germanic roots that produced English "over," and indeed, German "ober" means "above, over, upper." The use for cream comes from the idea of "the cream rising to the top; so in the upper part of a container."