We used to eat a lot of veal. Veal breast, stuffed with our family’s special Parsley stuffing, sautéed Veal slices with slices of delicious kidney still attached, savory Szekely Goulash made with cubes of veal and pork, tomato and sour kraut. My favorite was Wiener Schnitzel. For me they conjured up images of beautiful people in 19th century Vienna swirling and waltzing to the music of Strauss. I heard stories of Vienna, of the beauty, the music, the fashions, the food, the bakeries from my mother and Aunt.

Wiener Schnitzel is not the extravagant dish people think it is today. Veal cutlets are expensive. But there is no waste, no bones, no fat. They are pounded very thin and coated with a delectable covering. A little goes a long way.

Regards, June Meyer.

• 2 lbs. of veal cutlets trimmed of any sinew
• 1 to 2 whole beaten eggs
• 1/2 to 1 cup of flour
• 2 cups of fine white bread crumbs
• salt
• pepper
• 3 or 4 Tbls. butter or lard
• 2 fresh lemons quartered

Beat or pound the veal cutlets until very thin. I use two thick pieces of plastic and a hammer.
Lightly salt and pepper the veal cutlets.
Dip the pieces of veal into a dish of the flour, coat both sides and shake off the excess flour. The flour coating will help the egg coating to adhere.
Dip the pieces of floured veal into the dish of the beaten raw egg and coat both sides Press the pieces of veal into a bowl of fine white bread crumbs. Coat both sides with crumbs.
Let the bread crumbed veal slices dry flat for at least 1/2 hour.

Heat the butter or lard in a large frying pan. I prefer lard. Lard has the advantage of not scorching as easily as butter and lard makes a tastier browned coating.

Sauté the cutlets until they are a golden brown. The thin cutlets will cook quickly, it will not take long. Perhaps 4 min. on each side. You will know when to turn it over, the bottom breading will be a golden brown.

Do not cover finished cutlets with a cover. The steam will soften the bread crumb coating and it will fall off.

Serve topped with quarters of lemon. The lemon juice is squeezed on the cutlet according to preference.

Note: Leftover cutlets are delicious cold with a mayonnaise dressing, and can be reheated for a cutlet sandwich.

Serves 4 to 6.