The first time I traveled to the land of my Austrian ancestors I was taken to a restaurant where I saw “schnitzel” on the menu. Of course I ordered it, thinking I could use a good German sausage in a bun. (You have my permission to pound your head on the wall now.) I mean, who didn’t grow up with those fast food joints with the giant hot dogs on the top of them? When the order came I was stunned by how far off it was from what I was expecting; even my gracious hosts had a hard time believing me when I told them that in America a wiener schnitzel was a hot dog (at least where I was from in suburban California). Curses! Yes we tend to distort some traditional dishes here in America, but this one? We weren’t even close. “Schnitzel”, for the uninitiated, is German for “cutlet” which is usually made with veal and is thinly pounded, breaded and fried.

As for this recipe, it is made with thinly pounded pork cutlets. My father adapted this recipe from a version of it off the Internet where there are several incarnations floating around. Those of you looking for a quick, mid-week dinner may be happy with this one. I love it. The sauce alone is worth making the recipe for, and could easily be used on chicken, for turkey meatballs, or over fish.

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