Where does the Wiener Schnitzel really come from?
There is much speculation about this.
When can it be called Wiener Schnitzel or Viennese-style schnitzel?
What does the schnitzel have to do with Field Marshal Radetzky?
The schnitzel, actually a simple meat dish, is probably the most famous dish of Viennese cuisine whose origins are not supposed to lie in the former capital and royal seat, but in the southern neighboring country of Italy , although historians today deny this.
Nevertheless, the Italian origins make for interesting reading: gratinating meat and fish in bread dough is a southern tradition that is still practiced today in Italy, particularly in Venice, but also in Dalmatia (former coastal country, now Croatia).
Gratinated meat dishes were also known in the Levant in past centuries.
According to one anecdote, Field Marshal Radetzky introduced this dish to the Viennese court in 1857 .
As a kind of epicurean “spoils of war”. Another version regarding the Italian origin refers to the Lombardy, more precisely to its capital Milan, where the “Scaloppa Milanese”, the Milanese schnitzel was “invented”, so to speak. According to current historical research, neither of these facts is true. The Wiener Schnitzel is definitely not an Italian invention, but comes from the imagination of local cooks. In Marianna Lindau’s cookbook from 1801, the schnitzel from the veal leg is “inverted in a sticky egg, sprinkled with flour and slowly baked out of the lard.” (Julia Danielczyk, Isabella Wasner-Peter ed., “Heut muss der Tisch sich völlig bieg`n, Wiener Küche und ihre Kochbücher). With this written document, the domestic origin can be regarded as certain.
Another historically established fact is that the future Emperor Franz Joseph I and his brother Ferdinand Max were both great lovers of the Viennese specialty in their youth.
To this day, the Wiener Schnitzel is the favorite dish of Austrians, whether large or small.
It should be noted that this can only be the original Wiener Schnitzel made from veal, while a Viennese-style schnitzel can also be made from pork or chicken.
The latter is usually called chicken schnitzel. Time Travel Tip: There are many opportunities to try the Wiener Schnitzel in Vienna.
The largest schnitzels are offered at Figlmüller in Wollzeile and Bäckerstraße.
Very close to Time Travel is the Gasthaus Reinthaler.
The Meissl und Schaden, the Oswald und Kalb or the Meierei in the Stadtpark are all good places to enjoy a high-priced schnitzel.
Meixners Gastwirtschaft, Gmoakeller and Zum Alten Fassl promise home-style cooking at a high level.
An inexpensive insider tip is Gasthaus Kopp in Brigittenau near the Millennium Tower.
Image source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wiener-Schnitzel02.jpg
