- Wiener schnitzel is the most iconic dish of Vienna, Austria.
- Historic restaurant Figlmüller is the best-loved place in the city when it comes to schnitzel, and when I was in Vienna recently I had a cooking lesson from head chef Markus Brunner.
- I was surprised to find there was a lot more skill involved than I'd expected, and all the details were key to creating such a special dish.
- Schnitzel is simple but incredibly delicious when done right, however, it's also quite a lot of effort to make at home, so I wish there was a Figlmüller in London.
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Schnitzel is one of the best-loved symbols of Vienna — and one of Austria's most famous dishes. The name "Wiener schnitzel" literally means "Viennese schnitzel."
Although you find schnitzel on menus all over the city, there's one historic restaurant that is widely considered the home of the dish: Figlmüller.
It's a family restaurant — now run by the fourth generation of Figlmüllers — that started life as a small wine tavern in 1905 on a street named Wollzeile, just behind the cathedral.
A community soon grew, so Figlmüller decided his thirsty customers needed something to eat alongside their drinks: Enter, the schnitzel. And they've never looked back.
Traditionally, schnitzel is made with veal, but 100 years ago it was too expensive for everyday folk so Figlmüller decided to use pork instead, and they still do.
On a recent trip to Vienna, I had a private schnitzel-cooking lesson with Figlmüller's head chef to find out exactly how the dish is made, and what's so special about it.
Figlmüller is widely considered to be the home of the Wiener schnitzel. Whether it's the very best in the city is up for debate, but it's certainly the best-known — there are frequently lines down the street of people queueing for a table.
This is what the Schnitzel looks like when you get it in the restaurant (more on that later), and what we were aiming for in my cookery demo.
I was taken through the Figlmüller schnitzel process by head chef Markus Brunner at the company's demonstration kitchen, just around the corner from its two main restaurants in the heart of Vienna. The first step was to cut the pork.
Using a sharp knife, you cut thick chunks and then butterfly them.
Then it's a case of pounding the meat with a tenderizer — Brunner showed me how it was done, creating a perfectly circular, evenly thin piece of meat.
I had a go — and was less successful.
It was a lot of fun, but also way harder than it looks! At Figlmüller, the chefs cut all the meat to order so it doesn't dry out at all.
When your meat is prepared, you need to crack your eggs into a large dish and whisk them up — you don't want to create too much air as otherwise, it'll rise up like a soufflé. Use about two to three eggs per schnitzel.
Eggs whisked, you then need plain flour and breadcrumbs to complete your line-up — Figlmüller uses breadcrumbs from traditional Viennese Kaiser rolls. "The bread is very special," Brunner said. The bread needs to be really dry to create a crispy, golden coating.
Then it's time to salt the meat on both sides — I recommend doing your best Salt Bae impression.
First up, coat your schnitzel in plenty of flour — Figlmüller sieves and replaces it often to ensure each schnitzel gets a fresh coating.
Lift it up to check it's generously covered all over as this will ensure a really crisp coating.
Next, it's into the eggs.
Once fully covered, lift out the schnitzel before placing it in the final dish ...
... the breadcrumbs, and pat them down on to the meat.
At Figlmüller, they use three pans at the same time to ensure the schnitzel is always cooked at the perfect temperature. "The most important thing is the temperature," Brunner said.
As soon as the schnitzel is inside the pan, the oil — sunflower seed — starts cooling down, so each one is moved from pan to pan to make it super crisp.
The temperature of the oil is a closely-guarded secret, but Brunner revealed it's somewhere between 180°C (356°F) and 190°C (374°F).
We flipped the schnitzel and it sizzled away for just a few minutes until it was gloriously golden.
And it was done!
Needless to say, I was incredibly proud of my creation (despite having left most of the work to Brunner).
Although not quite covering the whole plate, it was a valiant effort.
We served it with the traditional accompaniment: potato salad. It's made simply from cooked potato, onions, chives, salt, pepper, mustard, and vinegar. The creamy texture goes perfectly with the crisp meat, and the sweetness from the spring onions and mustard contrasts beautifully with the salty schnitzel.
After enjoying the fruits of my labor, later that day I went to Figlmüller's charming little Wollzeile restaurant to see how my (well, Markus') creation compared to what's served to diners.
I was amazed to find the schnitzel was even bigger — it didn't even fit on the plate! Pretty much everyone around me was eating schnitzel too, and I was salivating as I got stuck in.
Although ginormous, the schnitzel was so incredibly thin that I finished it without too much trouble. To be fair, I was VERY full afterward, but it was worth it.
I think part of the reason the schnitzel tasted so delicious was that I knew exactly what had gone into making it, and also how much history there is behind the dish.
In theory, schnitzel is simple to make. It's not fancy in any way. However, to make one yourself would be quite a lot of effort realistically — and you'd certainly have a lot to wash up.
It's for this reason Brunner told me that most people eat schnitzel in restaurants, or cook it at home as a special meal on a Sunday.
For a special occasion, if I ever have a kitchen big enough, I might just give it a try again myself.
But till then, I'm going to carry on wishing there was a Figlmüller in London.
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