Pork Loin Schnitzel with Preserved Lemon Caper Butter Cognac Sauce on Bavarian Sweet Tomato Cabbage! With butter whipped potato!
Bavaria has its own style of cuisine that can be quite different than the cuisine of other German regions. Bavaria is the southernmost region of Germany, but it is still quite a ways north of the sun belt. Tomatoes can be grown in this region and they are definitely part of Bavarian cuisine.
The Czech Republic is located on the east border of Bavaria, so Czechoslovakian cooking influences are naturally part of the cuisine. The use of mild paprika and sugar is part of savory cooking in Bavaria. Stuffed cabbage in a mild sweet tomato sauce with a little bit of paprika is popular in both Bavaria and the Czech Republic. This style of stuffed cabbage is commonly made in regions of America that have large German populations, like Pennsylvania. The weather in Pennsylvania is nearly identical to the weather in Germany, so the traditional food of Germany fits well in the climate of Pennsylvania.
Half of my family are descendants of German immigrants from the 1820's through the 1850's. Many of them were Dutch. They rarely used tomatoes in their cooking, yet when visiting German Bavarian friends of theirs, sweet tomato cabbage was usually one of the items that was served for dinner.
Later while apprenticing with German chefs at yacht clubs, sweet tomato cabbage was often served as a vegetable du jour. Depending on what the sweet tomato cabbage was served with, this vegetable recipe could be quite saucy or it could have very little sauce at all. When it was served with breaded cutlets or boiled meat, the sweet tomato cabbage was made very saucy and the excess sauce was enough to accompany the meat on the plate.
I made this sweet tomato cabbage recipe saucy, just like how we made this recipe for veal schnitzel special du jours at the yacht club that had a German chef. Yacht club members liked this entree, even if they were not German and we did have a high percentage of German private yacht club members. Usually German yacht club members ordered prime rib or filet mignon, because the quality of American beef is very high and the price of American beef is much lower than it is in Germany. When europeans are in America, they boldly go for the gusto and order beef!
By european law, if pork is used for making schnitzel instead of veal, then the word pork is required to be in the recipe title. Dubious chefs of immoral reputation sell pork as veal schnitzel. For a while that went on in America, but customers were quick to catch on. Now in recent times, many American chefs are too chicken to serve veal, for fear of the backlash they might receive from animal rights activist groups. Hogwash! Veal is food, animals and vegetables are food and vegetables do have feelings too! I never see vegetarians admitting that modern science has proven that plants have feelings and consciousness, yet vegetarians are the first to criticize somebody for eating a hamburger! Ce est la vie!
Years ago I never heard of pickled lemons. I saw pickled lemon listed in the ingredients of a French recipe and I asked a German chef, whether he had ever heard of such a thing. The German chef responded by saying "Sure! Pickled lemons are used in many cuisines, including German cooking. We Germans pickle anything!" I was stunned, but I laughed. "We pickle anything" is almost as good of an expression as "We beer batter anything!" I just shook my head and went back to work at my saute station.
Apparently, the Persian and Arabic chefs were not the only chefs who used pickled lemon. Lemons have a limited shelf life just like anything else. Years before modern transportation enabled fresh food to be delivered year round, during a long German winter, fresh perishable food eventually became unattainable and preserved food became the chief staple supply. Pickled lemons were far better than no lemons at all.
Bavarian style tomato cabbage:
Make this recipe saucy, because the excess sauce will become an accompaniment for the pork schnitzel!
Heat a sauce pot over medium low heat.
Add 3 pats of unsalted butter.
Add 4 tablespoons of small diced carrot.
Add 3 tablespoons of small diced onion.
Gently saute till the onions turn clear in color.
Add 1 1/2 cups of cabbage that is cut into 3/8" wide ribbon shaped strips.
Stir till the cabbage just starts to cook.
Add 2 peeled seeded chopped plum tomatoes.
Add 1 1/3 cups of tomato puree.
Add 1/2 cup of light chicken broth.
Add 1/2 cup of water.
Add 1 teaspoons of cider vinegar.
Add 1 1/2 tablespoons of sugar.
Add sea salt and white pepper.
Add 1 pinch of mild Hungarian paprika.
Add 1 small pinch of nutmeg.
Add 1 small pinch of allspice.
Add 1/2 teaspoon of ginger paste.
Raise the temperature to medium high heat.
Bring the liquid to a gentle boil.
Reduce the temperature to low heat.
Add 1/2 teaspoon of lemon juice.
Taste the sauce. The flavor should be more sweet than sour or savory. Adjust the flavor balance with sugar or cider vinegar as necessary.
Simmer and reduce the sauce, till the cabbage becomes tender and till the sauce becomes a medium thin tomato sauce consistency that can coat the cabbage.
Keep the sweet tomato cabbage warm over very low heat.
Butter Whipped Potato:
Place a peeled russet potato in a sauce pot filled with cold water.
Bring the water to a boil over medium high heat.
Boil the potato till it becomes soft and tender.
Drain the water off of the potato and leave it in the sauce pot.
Whisk the potato, till it starts to mash smooth.
Add sea salt and white pepper.
Add 4 to 5 pats of unsalted butter or unsalted plugra, while whisking.
Whisk till the potato become smooth and creamy looking.
Place the butter whipped potato in a star tipped pastry bag.
Keep it warm on a stove top.
Schweinelende Schnitzel:
The original Austrian schnitzel meat was pork and not veal. Veal became the top choice for schnitzel after a king mistook pork schnitzel for veal. Nobody could argue with kings in those days, so veal it was! Schnitzel was originally breaded by using buttermilk and not egg wash. The original schnitzel was pan fried in duck fat.
Not everybody has those items on hand, so egg wash is okay to use for breading schnitzel. Pork lard is also great for pan frying schnitzel. As you can see in the photographs above, a perfect golden brown color can be achieved by pan frying with lard or a combination of lard and butter!
Cut 2 thin slices of pork rib loin that are about 3/8" thick and weigh about 2 ounces apiece.
Trim off any excess fat.
Use a meat mallet or wine bottle to pound the cutlets thin.
Lightly season the pork cutlets with sea salt and white pepper.
Dredge the pork cutlets in flour.
Dip the pork cutlets in egg wash or buttermilk.
Dredge the pork cutlets in fine plain bread crumbs.
Heat a saute pan over medium heat.
Add 2 ounces of pork lard or duck fat.
Add 3 pats of unsalted butter.
After the fat becomes a frying temperature, add the breaded pork cutlets.
Pan fry the pork cutlets on both sides, but try to only flip the cutlets one or two times.
Pan fry, till the pork schnitzel becomes a golden brown color.
Use tongs to place the pork schnitzel on a dry towel, to drain off any excess fat.
Keep the pork loin schnitzel warm on a stove top while the simple sauce is made!
Preserved Lemon Caper Beurre Cognac Sauce:
Heat a small saute pan over medium low heat.
Add 2 ounces of brandy or cognac.
Simmer and reduce the cognac by half.
Add 1 tablespoon of rinsed capers.
Add 1 thin sliced Persian pickled lemon.
Add soon as the lemon slices heat in the pan, remove the pan from the heat.
Immediately add 3 pats of unsalted butter, while shaking and swirling the ingredients in the pan, till the butter melts and partially emulsifies with the liquid. (A beurre blanc can be made to order this way, so keep this in mind!)
Add 1 pinch of sea salt and white pepper.
Set the sauce on a stove top.
Schweinelende Schnitzel mit erhaltener zitrone kaper cognac butter soße auf bayerischen süßen tomaten kohl:
Place a generous amount of the Bavarian style sweet tomato cabbage on the plate as a bed for the pork schnitzel.
Overlap the 2 pork loin schnitzel on top of the sweet tomato cabbage.
Use a spoon to overlap the preserved lemon slices across the top of the pork schnitzel.
Spoon the capers and cognac butter over the preserved lemon slices and and pork schnitzel.
Use the pastry bag to pipe the butter whipped potato on the plate.
No garnish is necessary!
German Bavarian cuisine at its best! It is hard to imagine how good this Schweinelende Schnitzel mit erhaltener zitrone kaper cognac butter soße auf bayerischen süßen tomaten kohl tastes for dinner on a chilly winter day. Yum! ... Shawna
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