Saltwater Brewery - What's Brewing

Week two of German month: schnitzel night

German month rolls on at the Thursday Night Table. Last week it was brats simmered in LocAle. This week it is a classic: a thin pork cutlet, breaded and fried until the crust puffs and crackles. In Austria and Germany the pork version usually goes by Schnitzel Wiener Art, "Vienna style," because plain Wiener Schnitzel means veal. Ours gets one extra step: two hours in a Screamin' Reels brine.

The brewery has no kitchen (food on site comes from the rotating food trucks), so the skillet is yours.

The beer: Screamin' Reels, West Coast IPA, 7% ABV / 75 IBU

Screamin' Reels is our West Coast IPA, 7% ABV and 75 IBU, and that bitterness is the reason it goes in a brine and nowhere near a sauce pan. Boil an IPA down and the bitterness concentrates until it is all you taste. In a cold brine nothing reduces: the salt seasons the meat all the way through and keeps it juicy in the hot oil, and the beer adds a faint hoppy edge. Then the brine is poured away.

Shopping list

Serves 4. Prep: about 20 minutes, plus 2 hours in the brine. Cook: about 20 minutes.

For the brine

• 1 can (12 oz) Screamin' Reels West Coast IPA
• 2 cups cold water
• 2 tbsp kosher salt
• 1 tbsp sugar

For the schnitzel

• 4 boneless pork loin chops (about 1 1/2 lb), about 1/2 inch thick
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp black pepper
• 2 large eggs
• 2 tbsp milk
• 1 1/2 cups plain dry breadcrumbs
• About 1 cup neutral oil, such as canola, for frying
• 1 lemon, cut into wedges

For the cucumber salad

• 2 English cucumbers, sliced paper-thin
• 1/2 tsp kosher salt
• 3 tbsp white wine vinegar
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1 tbsp neutral oil
• 2 tbsp chopped fresh dill, plus black pepper to taste

About the cans. One whole can goes into the brine, and the brine goes down the drain when it is done. The second can is for the table.

Schnitzel night, step by step

1. Pound the cutlets. Lay each chop between two sheets of plastic wrap and pound it from the center out with a meat mallet or a heavy pan to an even 1/4 inch.
2. Brine for 2 hours. In a bowl or zip-top bag, stir the salt and sugar into the cold water until dissolved, then pour in the can of Screamin' Reels slowly (it foams). Add the cutlets, make sure they are covered, and refrigerate 2 hours, no more than 3.
3. Make the cucumber salad. Toss the cucumbers with 1/2 tsp salt in a colander and let them sit 15 minutes. Squeeze gently, then toss with the vinegar, sugar, oil, dill and pepper. Chill until dinner.
4. Set up the breading line. Three shallow dishes: the flour mixed with the pepper, the eggs beaten with the milk, and the breadcrumbs. Put a wire rack over a sheet pan at the end.
5. Drain and dry. Lift the cutlets out and pour the brine down the drain. Pat each one very dry with paper towels; a wet cutlet steams instead of frying, and the crust slides off.
6. Bread them. Flour, shaking off the excess; egg, letting the extra drip back; then crumbs, turning to coat without pressing hard. Rest them on the rack 5 minutes so the coating sets.
7. Heat the oil. Pour about 1/4 inch of oil into a large cast-iron or heavy skillet and heat it over medium-high to 350°F. No thermometer? A pinch of crumbs should sizzle hard the moment it lands.
8. Fry 2 to 3 minutes a side. One or two cutlets at a time, never crowded. Gently swirl the pan so hot oil washes over the top and the crust puffs. Flip once, when the underside is deep golden. The thickest cutlet should read 145°F.
9. Rest and serve. Back to the rack, a pinch of salt, and a 3-minute rest. Serve hot with lemon wedges and the cold cucumber salad.

The one temperature that matters. The FDA's safe food handling guide lists 145°F with a 3-minute rest as the safe minimum for pork chops. At 1/4 inch, a cutlet gets there in about the time the crust takes to turn golden, which is the whole reason to pound it thin.

Why thin, dry and swirled

Every step in this recipe serves the crust. Pounding to 1/4 inch means the pork cooks through in the 2 to 3 minutes the crumbs need to go golden, so neither waits on the other. Patting the cutlets dry after the brine gives the flour something to grip; any water left behind turns to steam under the coating and pushes it off. Not pressing the crumbs in, then swirling hot oil over the top, lets the coating lift into the loose, rippled crust schnitzel is known for. And a rack instead of a paper towel keeps the bottom from going soft while the cutlets rest.

On the table with it

Drink what you brined with: Screamin' Reels, cold. Its bitterness cuts through a fried crust the same way the lemon does. For anyone skipping the beer, make Apfelschorle: half chilled apple juice, half sparkling water, over ice.

What the beer leaves behind

The whole can goes into the brine, and the brine goes down the drain. In two hours a thin cutlet takes up only a little of the liquid around it, so only a trace of the beer, and of its alcohol, reaches the plate. A trace is not zero. Want none at all? Brine the cutlets in 3 1/2 cups of cold water with the same salt and sugar. They come out just as juicy; you only lose the faint hoppy edge.

Thursday Table: 15% off Screamin' Reels to-go

Coming by? See what's on at the brewery this weekend before you head over.

Where to find Screamin' Reels

Screamin' Reels gets around South Florida, so ask for it wherever you buy beer, and if it isn't in the cooler, ask the shop whether they can order it. Or pick it up at the taproom at 1701 W. Atlantic Ave, Delray Beach, FL 33444, the first building off the I-95 Atlantic Ave exit.

Taproom hours: Mon 1–7 · Tue–Thu 12–10 · Fri–Sat 12–11 · Sun 12–8.

We don't ship beer or sell it online. The website is merch only, shipped within the USA.

Next Thursday, October 15, German month turns to Sea Cow, our Milk Stout, in a beef goulash for the first cool night.

Please drink responsibly.