Notas del episodio
Tonkatsu started out as a Japanese take on the European cutlet. This episode follows the schnitzel, from the Middle High German word for slice to a dish found on nearly every continent. We explain why pounding meat thin makes it cook evenly, why Austrian law says a true Wiener Schnitzel must be made from veal, and why it is fried in clarified butter and never covered in sauce. Then we look at the neighbors who changed the rules: Italy's cotoletta alla Milanese, which may be older than the Viennese version, Germany's Jägerschnitzel and other sauce-covered schnitzels, the East German version made from sliced Jagdwurst, and the egg-battered Pariser schnitzel.
We continue with heavier northern European versions like Finland's Oscar's cutlet, Denmark's anchovy and caper garnish, and Teesside's parmo. We show how kosher laws turned Israeli schnitzel into chicken fried in oil and served in pita, and cover Iran's spicy version and German colonial influence in Namibia. Finally, we explain Japan's 1899 invention of tonkatsu with panko, its spread to Korea as donkkaseu, Latin American milanesa including milanesa napolitana, the Midwest pork tenderloin sandwich and Southern chicken fried steak.
- The thermodynamics of pounding, breading and frying a thin cutlet
- Austria's legal rules for a real Wiener Schnitzel
- European variations from Milan to Teesside
- How kosher law, migration and colonialism reshaped schnitzel in Israel, Iran and Namibia
- Tonkatsu, milanesa and chicken fried steak as global descendants