The name comes from the original meat it is made – pork loin (schab). And some of my friends will get really agitated if you call a schabowy anything else. The truth is we can use all sorts of other products, using that method. But let’s delve into details a bit later.
First – beat the schabowy cutlet
So, first of all, if you have a decent piece of pork loin, cut a cutlet 1 – 1,5 cm (1/2 inch) thick and flatten it firmly using a mallet. Here comes the first bunch of technicalities. I wouldn’t say it is a huge challenge but this flattening operation does require some practice. We basically aim for a thin, flat portion of meat that is not thicker than 0.5 cm so it can be fried relatively quickly. This can take a bit of brute force in the case of pork and wooden mallets are not that effective. In Poland, we usually use one with metal coating on the sides or basically metal meat tenderizers. And here comes another warning – it is quite possible to mash and scar the cutlet if you beat it too hard. So apart from some skill you have to develop it is a normal practice among professionals as well as home cooks that you use thick plastic film as protection for the meat. That becomes absolutely necessary if you make a cutlet from other more delicate meat like poultry. And surely you can’t tenderize fish meat that way. It is also not necessary either.
So now we’re back to the name again. Well, authentic, traditional Polish cuisine recognizes schabowy as a pork dish, although you can come across many Polish restaurants which would serve chicken schabowy, and many Polish shops will now offer vegetarian cutlet alternatives which are breaded the same way and then claim the name for marketing reasons. It is all good and as long as we enjoy our food we can call it whatever name we want. My own experience shows me that turkey is a better option for poultry because the meat is more sturdy than chicken breast. And when I want to treat a vegetarian guest I simply do breaded Aubergine cutlets.
Second – coat the cutlet to make it the true schabowy.
So now comes the coating. For schabowy in traditional cooking, we use eggs, flour, spices, and breadcrumbs. First, soak the cutlet in egg bath (you need to whisk the eggs in order to homogenize the coating) and then after a few seconds of letting the excess egg drip down back to the bowl, coat the cutlet with a mixture of other ingredients. Sounds simple but again takes some practice and organization to make it effective. It always looks easy when you cook 1 or 2 portions but gets complicated if you prepare a feast for large numbers of diners. Anyway, one small piece of advice – if you cook the cutlet straight away, season the meat slightly before dipping it into the eggs. The breadcrumb mixture should contain spicing as well but it would take some time for them to infuse the meat.
Finally – fry the cutlet the way traditional cooking requires.
Finally you shallow fry schabowy in a pan. And again this relatively simple process may result in disaster for an inexperienced Polish cuisine lover. When frying a pork cutlet, in traditional cooking in Poland we use lard. This is not a condition “sine qua non” but it is the obvious choice. I know that many of you were taught that pork fat is bad for your health and all that stuff. Well, I won’t even go into that, because I am hardly an expert but please do some more reading on contemporary professionals in this subject who don’t repeat politically correct cliches from the 1970s. Vegetable oil quickly turns into trans fat at high temperatures and you need to fry the pork lion for quite some time to cook it properly. Olive oil is slightly better but still not ideal. Lard makes it quicker, and easier to control. The problem arises when you don’t eat pork and you want to make a poultry version of this dish. You can use oil of course but my favourite choice in this case is goose fat. Not easily available in the UK but you can find it in good shops.
OK, I know I made it complicated when it was supposed to be easy. However, that is the nature of cooking. With practice, you start to recognize those scores of little details which decide about success or failure of your endeavors especially in traditional cooking. So, please don’t be discouraged – schabowy cutlet dishes are easy and quick to make and that is what makes them so popular in Polish cuisine.
If you just want to try authentic schabowy – you can of course always visit our restaurant or look for some ready make ideas at trypolish.co.uk