Schnitzel is a family favorite. It is Austrian comfort food. I make it all the time and it is always received enthusiastically. It is served best with potato salad and cucumber salad, which is the way my mother always made it. If I have any leftover cutlets, I warm them up the next day and serve with a fried egg on top. My father, who is Viennese, loves eating them that way!

Serves 4-6, ready in 30 minutes

6-8 thinly sliced chicken, veal or pork cutlets
1/2 cup flour
salt and pepper
2 eggs
1 cup of bread crumbs (homemade if possible)
vegetable oil for frying

Wash the cutlets and pat them dry. Then pound them on both sides with a meat tenderizing mallet so they are very thin . Put flour and bread crumbs in large shallow dishes (dinner plates work well). Beat 2 eggs in a large shallow bowl and place it in the center of your dipping station, between the flour and bread crumbs. Season flour with salt and pepper to your liking.

Dip cutlets in flour, eggs, and bread crumbs, covering the entire cutlet with each coating. Be generous with all the dipping ingredients. Put the coated cutlets on a platter. Heat a large skillet on medium high and add the oil, making sure that the entire surface is covered.

When the pan is hot, add a few cutlets at a time. It is best not to crowd the pan, to ensure that it will be easy to flip the cutlets once they have lightly browned. Lower the heat if the cutlets are cooking too quickly. Brown both sides and put the cooked cutlets in an oven tempered serving dish.

Keep them in the oven at 200 degrees, to stay warm, until all the cutlets are cooked. Serve each cutlet with a slice of lemon.

We buy a lot of bread for sandwiches but it doesn't always get eaten fast enough. Instead of wasting the stale bread ends I let them dry out on a plate for a few days. When the bread pieces get hard and brittle I put them in a food processor and pulse it until the ends are fine enough to use as bread crumbs. I usually combine different kinds of leftover bread (rye, sourdough, baguettes, whole wheat) which makes for great texture and taste.

The border of the platter was painted by Claudia.