As you may or may not know, I am a huge fan of nostalgia.
I especially love food memories. Actually, it’s pretty much just the food memories that I really love.
The meals that my mum and nanna would cook mostly amazed the fuck out of young me… sometimes they didn’t really amaze me heaps (that would be the viciously-boiled-way-past-the-point-of-being-dead Brussels sprouts and the “stir fried vegetables” that would be slowly-braised-way-past-the-point-of-being-dead in the electric frying pan and then have a jar of store bought gelatinous strange looking stir fry sauce added. You can imagine my surprise when I went to Singapore when I was 15 and realised what a stir fry was actually meant to be), but most of the time I truly couldn’t believe how these ladies made things taste so good.
The chicken schnitzel was one such meal.
Chicken that was expertly crumbed (breaded) and then shallow fried in mum’s big* electric frying pan and then served with whatever else mum felt like rustling up. No set recipe, just whatever mum was feeling on the day. It was a classic in our house. When I think about it though, I’m pretty sure anything that was crumbed and fried was immediately lifted to the pedestal of “classic”, and often even granted “food of the gods” status.
Tastes change fo’ sho, but sometimes my face just begs me to let it have a little of those good ol’ times… and of course if my face has been a good boy, I happily oblige. If, on the other hand, my face has been behaving like the foul mouthed little sailor’s spawn, then I shall give it a damn good beati… n… g…
Chicken schnitzel – this time it’s going on a burger (sandwich) because I really like burgers.
CHICKEN SCHNITZEL BURGER
(per person)
1x 120-150g chicken breast, hammered out a little and crumbed. Your butcher may be able to do that for you**, if not just do it yourself
1 burger bun, you may buy this from the supermarket if you like. I don’t mind a dirty white death roll for a burger. Just as long as it’s not some kinda sour dough or other artisanal crusty crap that’s going to push the entire contents of the burger out of it’s arse and onto the floor
1 handful of coleslaw, home made or heck, you can even get that from the super market too, you lazy bastard
A splash of hot sauce or BBQ sauce
A squeeze of lemon juice
Salt and pepper
—————————–
Shallow fry schnitzels in a pan over medium heat for 2-3 minutes each side until cooked through.
Season with salt and pepper and a squeeze of lemon juice.
Layer burger buns with chicken, ‘slaw and sauce.
Get that right into your face so that it may smile again ☺
* That electric frying pan always seemed really big, but I realised years later that it was just a normal sized electric frying pan.
** Please do not use those fucked up looking “chicken schnitzels” or “crumbed chicken burgers” you can find in the freezer section at the supermarket
foodisthebestshitever 
6 responses to “Chicken schnitzel burger and a small chat about nostalgia”
Oh, what a thing of beauty – I will be eating that in the near future I think.
My mum wasn’t a very good cook – she made a stew of neck of lamb, black-eyed susies (beans), water and a tsp of tomato puree – it was awful. for a long, long time i thought I didn’t like neck of lamb (or beans) now I find that cooked well it is one of my favourite meals. Hate brussel sprouts though (unless they are raw). I used to shove them all in my mouth in one go, mumble something about needing water and spit them in the bin …. every single time – yuk.
Chicken schnitzel burger, lamb neck, beans, Brussels sprouts… I love it all. Cheers heaps my friend 👌
Perfect advice on the pre-crumbed chicken. Great comments on your nostalgic memories too. I remembered one of my late father’s cars as being huge. I saw one at a classic car show and thought it was a scaled down model. As the old saying goes, nostalgia is not what it used to be.
Bahaha. Touché my good man.
Cheers hombre 👍
My dad raised us and his cooking repetoire was er, scant. But to his credit he did know what to do with a brussel sprout, he roasted them which takes to a whole new level, seriously.
I have fond memories of the mince he made on Monday and Tuesday (and sometimes Wednesday) nights in the winter (he had a whole other summer menu). It was made from the leftovers of the roast, his brother was a butcher so we always had an enourmous roast on Sundays. And it had this really rich gravy that I have never been able to recreate though thinking about it things got added as the days went on which probably helped. I remember a lot of frozen peas went in so we kids got our fresh veggies every day! It also came with bubble and squeak which is still a firm fav. Thursdays and Fridays were usually Cheese Pie (mash potatoes with grated cheese in it, with tomato and bacon slices on top then baked in the oven) Saturday was egg and chips and then Sunday rolled around again. Wow looking at this now I realise it probably cost about $2 per head to feed us for a week and I mean in todays money!
I find it facinating to pinpoint the journey from this sort of upbrinbing to a good appreciaton of food and cooking. For me in my late teens I had a friend whose parents were italian and she showed me how to make a really good pasta sauce, it had garlic, onion, bacon, a tin of canned peas (the big smooshy kind) and a can of cannelini beans and a bit of stock. it was fucking awesome, I haven’t made it in forever but I’m gonna, but wait I need some bacon, preferably some home made bacon smoked in maple syrup. Does anyone have a recipe for that and would they be able to write that recipe on their blog?
Yeah I know comments are not supposed to be longer than the original post but who cares, you cant do nostalgia fast, you have to bask in its warm glow, so thanks for that opportunity.
Bahahahaha. I love it Sal. This is what it’s all about. I will defo have a slab o’ bacon waiting for you on Thursday 🙂