14.7.06

Facing my fears : wiener schnitzel


The other day, as I wrote my post about fried eggs, I thought maybe I was being a huge phoney. What are the ethics of slagging off a whole cooking technique when one has never attempted it? Surely "try everything once" applies to more than braving your way through a bowl of glutinous soy with raw squid ( that´s the one dish I have truly hated in my adulthood).

So today I decided I´d be brave, and at least know what I was talking about.

Because I love and adore schnitzel, escalope milanese, filete empanado or however you want to call it. For years and years it was the only thing I ordered in restaurants. And even now I still do, often. There´s nothing I like more, and today I wanted it. I thought, why deny myself my favourite thing?
So I faced my fears, refused to be a wimp, and bought two thin veal escalopes.

I blitzed stale bread to make crumbs. I pounded the meat wafer thin. I beat eggs, I floured, egged, breaded. I made a salad, I oven-fried the potatoes (well, I wasn´t going to fry everything ), and when the time came, I flung the meat in the hot oil. Like a little trooper. You should have seen me. Unfazed. I was so proud of myself.

And it was delicious. My favourite restaurant meal, there, on a plate, at home, so much better for having the salad just how I like it, and all the potatoes I needed. The meat so tender, the outside so crusty and golden...

But never again. That´s it. By the time I started to eat, I was a nervous wreck, I was flushed, sweating, and beginning to curse my wild idea.
José swears my hair doesn´t smell of fried stuff, but I can´t tell if that´s the truth or just a desperate attempt to make me fry again.

Today I am a stronger person, and I know I can face my fear , but also that I don´t want to.

The only thing I love more than schnitzel is being proved right, and I can say with all truth, and from first hand experience : Frying sucks. If you want something fried, let somebody else do it.

14 comentarios:

Anónimo dijo...

But I bet it was very very good ...

christianne dijo...

I agree wholeheartedly! Frying is such a mess, and I always get teeny tiny little burns on my forearms. No fun at all.

I also feel that you should leave one or two dishes to the restaurants. Even though I love to cook, there is something exciting about going out to dinner to get that one special dish you just can't recreate at home.

iamchanelle dijo...

haha! way to go! frying is a big pain in the ...well, you know....
however, i have a special place in my heart (and kitchen) for home-fried tostones - i will fry those any day! mmmmm!

Lego y Pulgón dijo...

¿Alguien se acuerda de una convención de druidas en la Galia de Asterix y Obelix, en la que uno de ellos inventa un líquido que, si sumerges las manos en él, puedes meterlas luego en aceite hirviendo y coger unas papas recién fritas sin cuchara ni nada? ¿No es un gran invento?. Yo haría una inmersión total en el producto (una especie de bautismo fritanguero) y luego ¡que me echen huevos y papas y pechuga y lo que sea!

Anónimo dijo...

love the drawings!

Raquel dijo...

Brave girl!
And you´re right. It´s better to have someone else to do it. Maybe you can convince José next time ... (devilish smile)

Lego, ¡buenísimo ese capítulo de Asterix!

Jen dijo...
Este comentario ha sido eliminado por un administrador del blog.
Jen dijo...

I know what exactly what you mean, I really, desperately want to make my own donuts, but with all that frying involved I am really put off. Maybe someday ill be as brave as you.

Anónimo dijo...

i feel the same way about sauteeing fish
not in my house, no way!
its far too small, and i HATE when my clothes smell of oily cooked fish
its disgusting and that's what the restaurants around the corner are for, no?

lobstersquad dijo...

Ivonne: it was pretty awsome

Christianne: I agree, I like to dream about my favourite restaurants and what I´ll have when I go.

Chanelle: tostones! now THAT is brave.

Lego y pulgón: recuerdo bien. creo que era la hoz de oro, no? Pero por mi, tendrian que inventar tambien un destructor de olor a frito.

Littlem: thanx!

Guru: if you´d seen the mess José makes just opening a packet of mozarella, you wouldn´t ask him to fry...

Jenjen: donuts , or rosquillas, the Spanish version, are off the chart. I try to get myself invited to the homes of people who fry them.

Ann: exactly. leave it to professionals, I say!

Anónimo dijo...

I used to be in the fear-of-frying camp but I've slowly moved to the other camp.

I still do have reservations about it -- I know my clotes smell like fried foods after frying so I am sure my hair does, and the smell does linger in the house.

But when I produced my first fried asparagus spear (my first excursion into frying) I was pretty ecstatic.

Anónimo dijo...

Only for squash blossoms will I do this. I would do pretty much anything for squash blossoms.

But there is also a teeny part of me that says I must make french fried potatoes/chips/ frites before I die. Probably soon. Maybe this month. Why, I am not sure. But there it is.

Tea dijo...

I am impressed! Brave of you to try; wise of you to decline a repeat preformance. Some things are better left to those with commercial deep fryers.

I absolutely love your blog! Both the writing and the illustrations are just charming. Thanks for making me smile.

--Tea

Anónimo dijo...

Era Asterix en Germania. Es una competición de druidas, y los germanos estan espiando para raptar a alguno que les pueda ayudar a ser mas poderoso.

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