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Jägerschnitzel, Pork Cutlets with Mushroom Sauce

This classic German dish of crispy breaded cutlets smothered in a rich mushroom sauce has to be experienced! Serve it with your favourite carb, like dumplings, spätzle, mashed potatoes or even buttered herbed egg noodles. Easy for weekdays, but fancy enough for weekend entertaining.
Course Main Course
Cuisine German
Keyword aged balsamic vinegar, cutlets, mushrooms, pork loin chops
Prep Time 30 minutes
Cook Time 30 minutes
Servings 4

Ingredients

Pork Schnitzel

  • 4-6 pork loin chops boneless is easiest see Notes
  • 2/3 cup AP flour can also use gluten free blend
  • 1/4 cup arrowroot starch or cornstarch
  • 3/4 tsp salt
  • 1/2 tsp ground black pepper
  • 1/2 tsp paprika
  • 2/3 cup Panko breadcrumbs or gluten free version
  • 2 eggs
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 1/4 tsp pepper
  • 2 tbsp butter
  • 2 tbsp olive oil

Mushroom Sauce

  • 16 oz fresh mushrooms ideally a combination of wild and domestic mushrooms like porcini, portobello, cremini, button etc
  • 2 slices of bacon cut into small lardons or pieces
  • 1 tbsp butter
  • 1/4 cup chopped shallots can use 1 small yellow onion, finely diced, instead
  • 1 garlic clove minced
  • 3 tbsp butter
  • 4 tbsp flour can use a gluten free cup for cup version
  • 1/4 cup Marsala Madeira or dry Sherry
  • 2 cups beef broth
  • 1-2 tsp of beef bouillon cube or paste, see Notes
  • 1- 1 1/2 tsp aged balsamic vinegar see Notes
  • salt and pepper
  • fresh chopped thyme
  • Fresh chopped parsley for garnish.

Instructions

Pork Schnitzel

  1. Combine the flour, arrowroot starch, salt pepper and paprika in a bowl. Divide this between two shallow wide bowls or pie plates. To one of them add the breadcrumbs and stir through evenly.
  2. In a third bowl or pie plate whisk the two eggs and season with salt and pepper.
  3. Place a cooling rack over a baking sheet.
  4. One at a time, place the pork loin chops between wax paper, and use a meat mallet or pound with a rolling pin until the pieces are no thicker than 1/4 inch.

Dredge

  1. Take one piece of the pork and place it first into the dish with the flour and starch (no breadcrumbs) patting the flour mixture evenly on both sides. Shake off any excess. Transfer to the egg wash. Let any excess egg drip back into the dish, and transfer to the final dish with the breadcrumbs. Evenly coat, shake off the excess and place onto the cooling rack set over the baking sheet.
  2. Repeat with all the remaining meat.
  3. Heat the butter and olive oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium high heat. Once the butter is foaming, add the cutlets, in one layer. If necessary you may need to work in batches.
  4. Cook on one side for 2-3 minutes, or until golden brown. Adjust the heat if not browning or browning too quickly. Turn over and brown the other side, another 2 minutes or so. Transfer to a paper towel lined baking sheet. Finish with all the meat. Keep warm on the cooling sheet in a 250F oven till the sauce is ready.
  5. Alternatively these can be made in advance and re-heated in an air fryer or toaster oven to crisp up again. It won't take long, so keep your eye on them so that they don't overcook and dry out inside.

Mushroom Sauce

  1. Slice the mushrooms, either into half slices, or quarter slices if larger. They should all be relatively similar in size, easily bite-size. Set aside.

  2. In a large skillet set over medium heat, sauté the bacon till crisped. Add the first tablespoon of butter. Add the shallots and sauté till softened, about five minutes. Don't let the shallots turn brown As soon as they start to turn translucent, add the garlic and cook for another minute.
  3. Add the mushrooms, and cook, stirring to move the mushrooms evenly around to start taking on colour and releasing their liquid.
  4. Add the remaining butter into the middle of the pan and let it melt into the mushrooms. Sprinkle the flour evenly over everything in the pan. Stir to coat everything, allowing the butter and flour to combine to create a roux. Cook for three minutes to allow the raw flour flavour to cook away.

  5. Add the Marsala or Madeira, along with the beef stock and stir through the vegetables and roux. Add the beef bouillon and stir through to melt into the sauce.

  6. Cook till thickened, about five to eight minutes. At this point drizzle 1 tsp of aged thick balsamic vinegar into the sauce and stir it through. Taste and see if you would like to add more vinegar.

  7. Season with salt and pepper. Finish with fresh thyme.
  8. If too thick, thin out with more stock or water. If too thin, whisk 1 tbsp of cornstarch with 2 tbsp of water in a small bowl and then stir into the sauce.
  9. The sauce can be made in advance and kept warm on low on the back burner while you finish up dinner.

Serve

  1. Serve the cutlets over your carb of choice, with a generous spooning of sauce over the cutlet. Finish with a garnish of fresh chopped parsley.
  2. See blog post for more details and suggestions.

Recipe Notes

If you can find fast fry pork loin chops, these will be easy to pound down into the desired thickness. If they are on the smaller side, just arrange for two chops per person.
If you don't have beef bouillon cubes or paste, use a few hearty dashes of Worcestershire sauce, soy sauce or even Maggi.
You want to use aged balsamic vinegar in this instance. The older and more syrupy the better. You only need 1 tsp or so, but you will see how it adds a perfect sweetness as well as a tang to cut through the richness of the sauce.