AUGUST 11 • 2022 | 51
CHICKEN SCHNITZEL WITH LEMON-
DILL CRACKED MUSTARD SPREAD
Ingredients
SCHNITZEL
2 chicken breasts, medium-sized or larger
1 cup all-purpose flour (more as needed)
3 eggs (more as needed)
1 cup plain breadcrumbs
½ tsp. ground nutmeg
½ tsp. ground white pepper
1 Tbsp. dried marjoram, divided
1 lemon, juiced
Kosher salt & freshly ground black pepper
Vegetable oil
MUSTARD
¼ cup finely ground mustard
¼ cup whole mustard seeds (black or brown, if
you can get them, or a mix)
2 Tbsp. ground turmeric
1-2 tsp. dried dill weed
¼ cup lemon juice
Cold water (as needed)
Kosher salt & freshly ground black pepper
Directions
1. Using a long, sharp knife, carefully
filet the chicken breasts into two thin
halves; keep your knife parallel to the
board and draw it through the meat,
watching to maintain an even cut line.
Place these halves between two pieces
of plastic wrap or a cut-open plastic
bag and use a meat mallet to pound
them as thin as possible. Make sure
your mallet strikes are flat and even,
so you don’t start cutting holes in the
chicken with the edge of your mallet.
In traditional schnitzel preparations, the
goal is to make the surface area as big
as possible, regardless of the thinness,
as long as it could still be breaded —
we’re trying to make our chicken go a
long way!
2. Lay out the flattened and pounded
chicken on a piece of parchment or
a pan or some other place where it
won’t contaminate the whole kitchen.
Consider the size of each piece of
chicken for the next part, where
you’ll need to bread them. Sprinkle
the chicken with the lemon juice, just
enough to get a light coating across
each piece, then season well with salt
and black pepper. If you don’t season
here, the chicken in the middle of the
schnitzel will be dull and boring, and
that’s not what you want.
3. Prepare a three-step breading station
for yourself: Place the flour in a dish
with 2-inch or higher sides (I love using
cake pans for this.) Scramble the eggs
well, add a splash of water and place
them in another similar dish. Repeat
with the breadcrumbs. All of these
dishes should be able to comfortably
hold one piece of chicken at a time,
if not more. Season the flour with the
nutmeg and white pepper, as well as
a good pinch of salt. Season the eggs
with a good pinch of salt and a couple
grinds of black pepper. Repeat the
same process on the breadcrumbs,
also adding the dried marjoram. Mix
everything up well and move it evenly
across the dish surface. Once again,
we want to make sure everything
is properly seasoned, otherwise
parts of our chicken will be dull and
underflavored. Arrange your station
from left to right as follows: Seasoned
chicken, seasoned flour, seasoned
eggs, seasoned breadcrumbs. At the
right end, if you have a sheet pan
with a rack (or a cookie cooling rack
sort of situation,) so much the better!
Otherwise, you’ll need a good place for
your schnitzel to land safely before you
cook it.
4. Begin by taking a piece of chicken
in your left hand and letting any excess
lemon juice drip off. Your left hand is
now your “wet hand.” Place the chicken
carefully into the flour and, using your
right hand, begin to gently shake the
pan of flour to coat the chicken with
the flour. At some point, you’ll use your
right hand to flip over the chicken piece
and make sure that all surfaces of it
are coated evenly with flour. Your right
hand is now your “dry hand.” Pick up
the chicken from the flour, shake off
any excess and then carefully place it
into the dish with the egg. Agitate with
your dry hand but use your wet hand
to touch the chicken once it’s in the
egg wash. Flip it over, make sure all
the floured surfaces have been coated
with egg and then lift the chicken out,
let the excess egg drip off and place
it carefully in the breadcrumb dish.
Agitate the dish with your right hand,
then use your dry hand to flip the
chicken over, coat it well and press
the breadcrumbs into the egg a bit
to help them stick. Carefully remove
the chicken from the breadcrumbs,
shake off any excess and place it on
the landing spot. Repeat this process
with all the chicken and see if you can’t
stack up your work a little to make it
more efficient: When one piece moves
into the next dish, everything follows it
Aaron’s ancestors
chilling at the park
COURTESY OF AARON EGAN
continued on page 52