Masterchef Pork Schnitzels

Masterchef Pork Schnitzels
Home Cooking



Ever since the first episode aired ~ a month or so ago, I've been carrying on to friends and family about how I would be cooking Masterchef recipes at least 'n' times per week. This hasn't been the case at all and every time I'm asked, I resort to any excuse from "it was Mother's day so my parents cooked instead" to "my boyfriend hates me being in the kitchen" and finally, the more honest reason of "I'm just too lazy".

Well... FINALLY I've managed to 'plate up' (in the words of our favorite TV judges). It's not heart-on-the-plate material but hey, after last week's pressure test, I found myself with an insatiable schnitzel craving so I e-mailed mum with a list of ingredients to be procured (hence eliminating my 2nd favorite excuse of "I couldn't afford ingredients").


I fried up the schnitzels on Saturday and even made the matching coleslaw but like Daniel, I used supermarket jarred mayo (it was what we had in the fridge) and he was subsequently eliminated for this fact so it's hardly worth mentioning.



The original recipe can be found here. I followed it quite faithfully albeit making less. Also, I wasn't very careful with my measurements (ahem, laziness again) though in this kind of dish, I doubt it really matters. When I made up my crumb mixture, I felt sure that it would be too much for the amount of schnitzels I was making... but somehow it all adhered onto the surfaces of the pork so if you find yourself similarly self-doubting, just don't underestimate how much breadcrumb pork can soak.

Masterchef Pork Schnitzels
Serves 3-4

Ingredients:

• 4 x pork steaks
• 300g sourdough, crust removed, roughly chopped
• 1 tbsp chopped flat leaf parsley
• 1 and 1/2 tbsp chopped sage
• 1 and 1/2 tbsp chopped thyme
• 1/4 cup finely grated parmesan cheese
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1/2 cup plain flour
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1 tbsp unsalted butter

Procedure:

1. Flatten your pork steaks to ~ 5mm thickness with a meat mallet (dad used the back of his cleaver...) and set aside.
2. Process the sourdough until crumb-like in texture. 3. Mix the fresh breadcrumbs with the parsley, sage, thyme and parmesan cheese.
4. Season the flour with salt and pepper.
5. Arrange the flour, breadcrumb mixture and egg in plates so it is all reasonably close together. This makes it easier for you to follow through the next step.6. Coat a pork steak in the seasoned flour. Dust off excess.7. Dip in the egg mixture and then in the breadcrumbs. Use your fingers to press the breadcrumbs onto the surface evenly. Coat both sides. Repeat with all pieces of pork.
8. In a large fryng pan, heat the oil. Add the butter and fry the crumbed pork steaks for ~ 2min per side until golden and crunchy. You might have to do it in batches.9. Serve immediately with a side of coleslaw and if required, fresh lemon or sauce (we used plain old tomato sauce).

Voila

My side of coleslaw

The pork itself was very tender and I like how easy it was to cook due to the thinness.


Like with any fried thing though, the real win was in the crunch. The cheese gave it a richness and the herbs made it taste fresh and zingy.