Tasty Treats: Chicken Schnitzel

We're recovering from the excesses of the holiday season...well, sort of. And our friend, Briana, is staying with us for a while as she works on her research. She's interested in learning some basic cooking skills, so we're having some fun dinners that she can impress her friends with when she gets home. You can see the latest iteration of the biscuit recipe on the plate, and next to it is Tom Keller's Panko-Coated Chicken Schnitzel. If it were pork or veal and we were in Germany or Austria it would be Weiner Schnitzel. But we're here, and it's chicken, so hence the name. As with many cooking preparations, there is something similar in Italy and even to some extent, in China, and probably lots of other places in between. This is a dish that is fun for children to help with, particularly the pounding of the chicken breasts and coating the cutlets.

CHICKEN SCHNITZEL

4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves (about 6 ounces each), butterflied and pounded 1/4-inch
thick)
Salt and coarsely ground pepper
1 1/2 cups AP flour
4 eggs, well-beaten
2 cups Panko (Japanese bread crumbs)
1/4 cup canola oil
6 Tablespoons butter
2 teaspoons capers
2 Tablespoons lemon juice
1 Tablespoon chopped parsley

The first order of business is butterflying and pounding the chicken breasts. This is necessitated by the incredibly overbred chickens we have available in this country. The poor babies can probably hardly walk without falling on their faces. They have gigantic breasts and sad little legs and thighs, a function of this country's obsession with low-fat chicken breasts. Consequently, generations of chickens have been bred for larger and larger breasts, which is the polar opposite of the situation in France, where the dark meat is prized. Their chickens have large legs and thighs and fairly normal sized breasts. Those of us who are over 60 can remember when chicken breasts were about half the size they are now. Anyway, I digress...

When the recipe says to butterfly the chicken breast, it means to cut it in half like this:

The goal is to have somewhat uniform size and thickness. Then you place each piece between two pieces of plastic wrap and pound on it until it is about 1/4-inch thick. It will expand as you pound it.

As you can see, it is larger than it started and fairly evenly flattened.

Season both sides with salt and pepper.

Set the flour, eggs, and panko in three separate shallow bowls (you don't have to have the fancy stainless steel interlocking trays that I have). Dredge the chicken in the flour, shaking off any excess,

then dip in the eggs

and coat lightly with the Panko, pressing lightly to adhere.

Place them on a baking sheet lined with waxed paper.

There is really no tidy way to do this, so expect your hands to look like this:

In each of 2 large skillets, heat 1/4 cup of canola oil (or one giant pan like mine if you have one and have a large enough cooktop). Add the chicken and cook over moderately high heat, turning once, until golden and crispy, about 3 minutes.

Transfer the chicken to a paper towel-lined baking sheet and sprinkle with salt.

Meanwhile, in a small saucepan, melt the butter and cook over moderately high heat until browned and nutty, about 4 minutes. Browned butter is a very special flavor, so I'll give you a few tips to get it right, because if you go too far it goes from browned butter to burned butter very quickly.

First, you melt the butter. It will bubble up like this:

Once the bubbles have subsided, you will want to watch it very carefully, swirling the pan frequently to see if the butterfat solids that have settled on the bottom have begun to brown. There is a characteristic smell that is slightly nutty as well. As soon as you see brown flecks in the butter, take it off of the heat.