it’s Schnitzel Party time!!
schnitzel girl fall, if you will (and I will)
Hello!
These days, I feel like I’m always starting one of these off by saying how sorry I am that it’s been so long, and, well, this one is no different. I’m sorry it’s been so long! I got back to San Francisco from Berlin, and, as they say, life happened. I got highlights. I performed monologues while cooking at The Stud. Twice. I turn 34 in a day, and honey, that’s just the half of it.
If you just want the recipe for (chicken caesar) Schnitzel Party, scroll on down. If you want to hear a little bit about how it came to be, keep reading.
As you may remember, I was in Berlin for two months this summer. (Shoutout to my cousin who gave me a free place to stay; I love you forever.) I danced, I saw the sunrise more than once, I tried to read a book, I danced, and I danced again. Amidst that dancing, I also ate. A lot.
I ate doner. I ate ice cream with jam underneath and soft cheese grated on top. I ate crudo with chilled spicy carrot broth and crudo with housemade vinegar. I ate doner again. And again. I ate the best roasted pepper I’ve ever had on top of sunflower seed tahini. I ate schnitzel. And then I ate chicken caesar schnitzel and my life was changed forever.
Sure, chicken caesar schnitzel sounds simple. It sounds like one of those things that could have been in a Tasty video on Buzzfeed in the early aughts (derogatory or complimentary, I don’t know!). It sounds like one of those things that you might eat and then fall into a deep sleep from eating because of how heavy it is. But, at least for that last thing, it was not. It was crispy, light, and dressed perfectly, and I knew then that I wanted to make it for you here.
As with so many things in my life, I needed a catalyzing event to actually get me up off my ass to do it. Thankfully, Lara continues to be that catalyst for me.
That text was about her birthday — an event which, other than being a very important day in my life because Lara was born that day, also became the day I found out I could make 22 chicken schnitzels in one night on one stove using two Dutch ovens.
Outside of a restaurant, schnitzel isn’t typically something I think of as being great for-a-crowd. Once the breasts are pounded out, they tend to be pretty large, so really, you can only do one at a time. Shallow frying takes time, and flipping can be nerve-wracking. Adding more oil. Blonde spots on the crust. Splattering. It’s a whole thing. How? I wondered when Lara told me the total number of guests for the night would be 22. How in the hell are we going to pull this off?
Then, I remembered sitting at the counter at Bertie in Berlin, the restaurant where I had the chicken caesar schnitzel that started this whole thing. I remembered looking back into the kitchen to watch the chefs work (sitting at the counter is literally a dream), and I remembered seeing the chef drop the schnitzel into the deep fryer. A genius!
So, the night of Lara’s birthday, I filled two Dutch ovens three-quarters of the way up with oil, fired up the stove, and got to work. Was it restful cooking? No. Was it fun? Yes. Was it delicious? Absofuckinglutely. Would I recommend doing it in your home? Probably not for 22, but for 8 or 10, hell yeah.
So, in true recipe-tester fashion, I ran it back one more time. I invited some friends over, asked them all to bring their favorite pickles and wine, pounded out some cutlets, and thus, Schnitzel Party was born. Here's a little video tutorial for my visual learners <3
Schnitzel Party is, of course, both a party and a vibe. It’s a do whatever you want kind of situation. The only thing that matters is that you make schnitzel and have fun. This particular Schnitzel Party is of the chicken caesar variety. The salad and pickles alone are probably enough, but I served it with some potatoes in brown butter, lemon, and dill because I’m always afraid of not having enough food. I don’t have the recipe for that yet, but maybe I’ll write it up for next time.
Anyway, here you go!
chicken caesar schnitzel: ingredients
serves 8-10
caesar dressing:
Usually, I make my caesar dressing from the ground up, meaning I start with egg yolks and oil. Because I’m doing it in bulk here, I’m getting a head start using store-bought mayo as the base. Sue me!
2 cups kewpie mayonnaise (or the mayo of your choice, but, like, c’mon)
5 cloves garlic
1 cup grated parmesan cheese
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
3-5 anchovies (you can leave this out if you want to, but, like, c’mon)
1 heaping tablespoon of capers
1 tablespoon caper brine
the juice of one lemon
½ tablespoon of kosher salt
½ tablespoon fresh cracked black pepper
schnitzel:
*8 chicken breasts, pounded out to about ¼ inch thick (given the state of chicken breasts these days, some are likely to be LARGE, so you can still feed 10 people with 8 breasts, but feel free to scale up!)
4 cups panko bread crumbs
2 cups flour
1 cup cornstarch
6 eggs
½ cup caesar dressing
1 tablespoon kosher salt
1 tablespoon fresh cracked black pepper
1.25 gal vegetable oil or other neutral oil for frying (you might not need all of it, but better safe than sorry!)
salad:
½ large red onion, very thinly sliced
3-5 heads of your favorite lettuce (I used a mix of little gem, romaine, and frisee)
*One of my friends who came to Schnitzel Party is vegetarian, and I LOVE my friends, so I split a block of firm tofu in two (to make two big, flat pieces), pressed some of the moisture out between paper towels, and then breaded and fried it just like the chicken and it worked perfectly. So, if you’ve got veg friends in your life, they can still come to Schnitzel Party, too.
chicken caesar schnitzel: method
caesar dressing:
Combine all ingredients in a food processor and blend until evenly textured and mostly smooth. If your dressing looks too thick, add one to two tablespoons of water and blend again. Reserve ½ a cup for the egg batter.
schnitzel:
Place a large baking sheet lined with a wire rack in the middle of the oven and preheat the oven to 225.
In another large, rimmed baking sheet, combine panko, flour, cornstarch, salt and pepper and mix until it is uniform. Gently shake the sheet so the mixture is in an even layer.
In a large bowl, beat the eggs with the caesar dressing. Set aside.
Working one by one, place the chicken breasts between two sheets of plastic wrap and pound them out to ¼ inch thickness. Stack on a plate, cover in plastic wrap, and store in the refrigerator until you’re ready to fry. This can be done a few hours in advance if that's your thing.
Fill a large, heavy bottom pot just over half way of the way up with oil (I use a Dutch oven) and heat over medium-high heat to 350 degrees. You may have to adjust the heat as you continue to fry to keep the oil at 350, so keep an eye on it.
Working one cutlet at a time, coat with egg mixture, allowing excess to drip back into the bowl to ensure a thin coating. Coat evenly with bread crumbs, pressing on crumbs to adhere. PERSONALLY, I like to do this one at a time in an assembly line and then fry, waiting for one to finish before coating the next, BUT you can do this however you would like. I will say if the breaded cutlets sit for too long before frying, the coating becomes gummy, so I wouldn’t bread more than three or four at a time.
FRY! Working one at a time, carefully submerge a cutlet in the oil and fry for three to four minutes until golden brown and crispy. Make sure to lower the chicken in slowly — the oil will bubble up as it goes in, and you want to make sure not to overflow the pot. Using tongs, remove the cooked cutlet from the oil and allow excess oil to drip back into the pot. Immediately transfer the cooked cutlet to the baking sheet in the oven. Repeat until all cutlets are fried.
Once all cutlets are fried, dress the salad and serve! Make sure you put the extra dressing on the table for dipping with lots of pickles and mustard and whatever else you want to bring to Schnitzel Party!
(Personally, I will let the frying oil cool and then strain it and return it to the container it came from to use again the next time I fry. If that’s not your thing, you can let it cool, return it to the container it came from, and then discard!)
And that’s it, y’all — that’s Schnitzel Party. I hope you have one, I hope you have fun, and I hope that, wherever you are, you have friends who will bring you pickles and good wine and kiss you on the forehead just because.
xo,
Garrett
🔥🔥🔥