Schnitzel

Key takeaways

Schnitzel belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Schnitzel to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Schnitzel from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Schnitzel (German: [ˈʃnɪt͡sl̩] ) is a thin slice of meat. The meat is usually thinned by pounding with a meat tenderizer. Most commonly, the meat is breaded before frying. Breaded schnitzel is popular in many countries and is made using veal, pork, chicken, mutton, beef, or turkey. Schnitzel originated as Wiener schnitzel and is very similar to other breaded meat dishes.

Etymology The German word das Schnitzel (Middle High German: snitzel) is a diminutive of sniz, 'slice'. The name Wiener Schnitzel is first attested in 1845. Schnitzel is sometimes mispronounced or misspelled as "Snitzel" or "Snitchel".

Wiener schnitzel

Wiener schnitzel is a popular Viennese dish made of veal and traditionally garnished with a slice of lemon and either potato salad or potatoes with parsley and butter. In Austria and Germany, Wiener Schnitzel must be made of veal. When other meats are used, it can be called Wiener Schnitzel vom Schwein/Pute/Huhn ("Viennese schnitzel of pig/turkey/chicken") or Schnitzel (nach) Wiener Art ("Schnitzel Viennese style").

Schnitzels worldwide The English term schnitzel means in general all types of breaded, fried flat pieces of meat. Due to the similarity between schnitzel and escalope, in many of the countries listed below, people sometimes refer to schnitzels as escalope, and vice versa.

Africa

Egypt In Egypt, there are two dishes similar to schnitzel, one made with chicken and the other with veal. When chicken is used, it is called frakh pané (فراخ بانيه, lit. "chicken pané", where pané is from the French for "breaded", influenced by French "Escalope panée") and is also popular with French fries, in sandwiches, or eaten alone as an appetizer. Using veal, it is called boftik (بفتيك, from the French for bifteck).

Namibia Schnitzel, both chicken and pork, is common in Namibia due to the country's German colonial history. A majority of the restaurants in Windhoek, Walvis Bay, and Swakopmund offer it on their menus, often topped with a fried egg and accompanied by potato salad. It is often eaten in a Brötchen (German sandwich roll) with tomatoes, cheese, and other dressing.

South Africa Schnitzel is popular in South Africa, due to the European settlement during the colonial era. Chicken schnitzels and cordon bleu schnitzels are a common item on most restaurant and hospital menus, and in recent years, beef and pork schnitzels have also become widely available.

Asia

Japan

Japanese tonkatsu (豚カツ, lit. "pork cutlet") consists of a flattened pork loin, lightly seasoned, coated in flour, dipped in beaten egg, coated with panko crumbs and deep-fried. Tonkatsu is often served as an accompaniment to ramen or udon or featured with curry and rice. Pork tonkatsu was invented in Japan in 1899 at the Rengatei restaurant in Tokyo. It was originally considered a type of yōshoku—Japanese versions of European cuisine invented in the late 19th and early 20th centuries—and was called katsuretsu (cutlet) or simply katsu. Variations include the use of pork fillet (hirekatsu), chicken (chicken katsu), beef (gyūkatsu), ham (hamukatsu) and minced meat (menchi-katsu).

Korea Korean dongaseu came from Japan in the 1930s, and newspapers explained how to make it. In the 1960s, as more restaurants started selling dongaseu, it changed to suit Korean tastes. In Korean cuisine, pork (돈가스; donkaseu, from Japanese tonkatsu), chicken (치킨가스; chikinkaseu), and beef (비프가스; bipkaseu) cutlets are popular. The most common types of donkaseu are "kyeongyangsik" (경양식; Western-style) and "ilbonsik"(일본식; Japanese-style).

Europe

Austria Wiener schnitzel, a very thin, breaded and pan-fried cutlet made from veal, is one of the best-known specialities of Viennese cuisine, and is one of the national dishes of Austria. A breaded schnitzel with sauce is considered unacceptable in Austrian culture.

Common variations are made with pork or turkey instead of veal, for one because it is cheaper than veal. Austrian law requires that Wiener Schnitzel is made of veal. A schnitzel made of pork can be called Wiener Schnitzel vom Schwein ('Wiener schnitzel from pork') or Schnitzel Wiener Art ('Viennese style schnitzel'). Popular unbreaded variants in Austria are:

Jägerschnitzel ('hunter's schnitzel') is a schnitzel with mushroom sauce. Rahmschnitzel ('cream schnitzel') is a schnitzel with a cream sauce, often containing some mushrooms. Zigeunerschnitzel ('Gypsy schnitzel') is a schnitzel with a zigeuner sauce containing tomato, bell peppers, and onion slices.

Bosnia and Herzegovina In Bosnia and Herzegovina, the dish is called bečka šnicla or bečki odrezak (bečki = "Viennese"; šnicla = transliteration of German Schnitzel) and is made of veal or beef and usually served with mashed potatoes. Common garnishes include a slice of lemon or some lettuce.

Bulgaria Called шницел (shnitsel), it is made from ground veal, formed as a thin patty, seasoned with salt and black pepper, then breaded and fried. The dish usually is served with a choice of mashed or roasted potatoes, French fries, or simply a tomato salad. It is common at truck stops, and it is usually ordered à la carte, coming with a lemon wedge, but one can also find it in the frozen sections in supermarkets or premade and ready to cook.

Croatia In Croatian, the dish is called bečki odrezak (or šnicl) (bečki = "Viennese"; šnicl = transliteration of German Schnitzel) and it is made of veal (sometimes substituted with cheaper pork) and served with French fries or potato salad and a slice of lemon. A similar dish is called zagrebački odrezak (šnicl) (a variation on cordon bleu). Baron Trenck's steak is veal or pork stuffed with Slavonian ham, boiled eggs and ajvar, stewed on red onion with mushroom sauce. Baron Trenk's Steak is a stuffed meat dish associated with the cuisine of Slavonia, a region of eastern Croatia. The dish is named after Franz von der Trenck, an 18th-century military commander whose estates and historical legacy are connected with Slavonia.

Czechia Schnitzel is also very popular in the Czech Republic, where it is known as a smažený řízek or just řízek, and is made of pork, chicken, or veal. It is often served with fries, fried, boiled or mashed potatoes or potato salad. It also used to be and to some degree still is a typical packed lunch for day trips, when it was consumed with bread (often between two slices of bread with vegetables and dressing as a sandwich).

… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Schnitzel

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Schnitzel claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Schnitzel before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Schnitzel ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Schnitzel

In research: Schnitzel appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Schnitzel in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Schnitzel is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Ashkenazi Jewish cuisine, Austrian cuisine, Breaded cutlets, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Schnitzel outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

How to study Schnitzel in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Schnitzel means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Schnitzel out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Schnitzel in simple terms?

Schnitzel (German: [ˈʃnɪt͡sl̩] ) is a thin slice of meat. The meat is usually thinned by pounding with a meat tenderizer.

Why does Schnitzel matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Schnitzel?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Schnitzel.