Corn schnitzel

Last updated
Corn schnitzel
Corn schnitzel.jpg
Alternative namesShnitzel Tiras, maize schnitzel
Type Schnitzel
Course Main course
Place of origin Israel
Region or state Israel
Created by Israelis
Serving temperatureWarm
Main ingredients Corn, eggs (not in vegan versions), breadcrumbs, flour, matzo meal during Pesach

Corn schnitzel is an Israeli fried corn dish and variant of Israeli schnitzel that is especially popular among vegetarians, vegans, Kashrut keepers and children. [1]

Contents

History

"In the late 1990s, when I was a teenager studying abroad in Israel—long before it became one of the vegan capitals of the world—non-meaters were ubiquitously fed fried corn schnitzel in any number of circumstances, from school cafeterias to youth group dinners. An Israeli specialty, corn schnitzel remains popular to this day—though admittedly its appeal may remain a mystery to anyone who hasn’t grown up eating it. Most problematic to me is the industrial version’s reliance on emulsifiers and soy protein. Thankfully, vegetarians and vegans today can find innumerable creative options in Israel, so there’s no longer the need to pass off these curious breadcrumb-coated, oval-shaped patties as anything remotely healthy. Instead, nowadays, these patties have moved from the vegetarian menu to the children’s menu."
Jessica Halfin, Hadassah Magazine [2]

Although corn is not a popular vegetable used in traditional Jewish cuisine, except for Romanian Jewish cuisine, corn schnitzel was invented by Israelis in the early 20th century. The popularity of corn rose as corn schnitzel became an inexpensive substitute for chicken schnitzel in Israel during the 20th century due to the country's populace enduring economic difficulties and the relative low cost of corn compared to the chicken, turkey and fish used in regular Israeli schnitzel. Corn schnitzel became a popular dish prepared at home and a mainstay of Israel's restaurant menus. When economic conditions in Israel began to improve later in the 20th century, corn schnitzel became popular with the large number of vegetarians and vegans in the country, as for a time it was one of the few vegetarian options on most restaurant menus. Beginning in the 1970s commercially produced premade corn schnitzel began to be sold in frozen form by Osem, Ta'amti and others, and many vegetarians purchased these frozen versions of the dish as it was an easy to prepare and inexpensive option. As vegetarianism and veganism have increased in popularity in Israel over the last few decades, corn schnitzel's popularity has waned in favor of falafel as well as various newer meat substitutes. Today corn schnitzel has become especially popular with children, and is a mainstay of children's menus across the country, and is commonly served as a public school lunch and by parents at home due to its perception as a "healthy" alternative to chicken schnitzel as it is made with corn instead of chicken. [1] [3] [2]

Overview

"Like many Israeli children in the 1980s, I also grew up on corn schnitzel, one that I heated on my own in the microwave after school and topped with sweet ketchup. Since then I have grown a little, but really only a little, but my love for corn schnitzel remains to this day and I chose to bring you this dish which is so beloved."
Racheli Krott, "Winning Recipe" cookbook [3]

Corn schnitzel consists of frozen, canned, or other cooked corn that has been puréed in a food processor and mixed with egg, flour, breadcrumbs, and various spices and seasonings to form a stiff batter. The batter is then scooped and formed into disks or oval-shaped, then it is breaded with a mixture of breadcrumbs and sesame seeds and fried. It is often served with ketchup and a side of French fries or mashed potatoes, especially by children in Israel among whom the dish is popular. [3] [1] [2]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cuisine of the Midwestern United States</span> Regional cuisine of the United States

The cuisine of the American Midwest draws its culinary roots most significantly from the cuisines of Central, Northern and Eastern Europe, and Indigenous cuisine of the Americas, and is influenced by regionally and locally grown foodstuffs and cultural diversity.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hamburger</span> Food consisting of a beef patty between rounded buns

A hamburger, or simply a burger, is a dish consisting of fillings—usually a patty of ground meat, typically beef—placed inside a sliced bun or bread roll. The patties are often served with cheese, lettuce, tomato, onion, pickles, bacon or chilis with condiments such as ketchup, mustard, mayonnaise, relish or a "special sauce", often a variation of Thousand Island dressing and are frequently placed on sesame seed buns. A hamburger patty topped with cheese is called a cheeseburger.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Potato pancake</span> Shallow-fried pancakes of grated or ground potato

Potato pancakes are shallow-fried pancakes of grated or ground potato, matzo meal or flour and a binding ingredient such as egg or applesauce, often flavored with grated garlic or onion and seasonings. They may be topped with a variety of condiments, ranging from the savory, to the sweet, or they may be served plain. The dish is sometimes made from mashed potatoes to make pancake-shaped croquettes. Some variations are made with sweet potatoes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Corn dog</span> Deep-fried, corn-battered hot dog on a stick

A corn dog is a sausage on a stick that has been coated in a thick layer of cornmeal batter and deep fried. It originated in the United States and is commonly found in American cuisine.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Veggie burger</span> Non-meat hamburger

A veggie burger is a hamburger made with a patty that does not contain meat, or the patty of such a hamburger. The patty may be made from ingredients like beans, nuts, grains, seeds, or fungi such as mushrooms or mycoprotein.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Schnitzel</span> Breaded, fried flat piece of meat

Schnitzel is a thin slice of meat. The meat is usually thinned by pounding with a meat tenderizer. Most commonly, the meat is breaded before frying. Breaded schnitzel is popular in many countries and is made using veal, pork, chicken, mutton, beef, or turkey. Schnitzel originated as wiener schnitzel and is very similar to other breaded meat dishes.

<i>Milanesa</i> South American variation of an Italian dish

The milanesa is a variation of the Lombard veal Milanese, or the Austrian Wiener schnitzel, where generic types of breaded cutlet preparations are known as a milanesa.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rissole</span> European dish of meat covered in pastry

A rissole is a small patty enclosed in pastry or rolled in breadcrumbs, usually baked or deep fried. The filling has savory ingredients, most often minced meat, fish or cheese, and is served as an entrée, main course, or side dish.

Cutlet refers to:

  1. a thin slice of meat from the leg or ribs of mutton, veal, pork, or chicken
  2. a dish made of such slice, often breaded
  3. a croquette or cutlet-shaped patty made of ground meat
  4. a kind of fish cut where the fish is sliced perpendicular to the spine, rather than parallel ; often synonymous with steak
  5. a prawn or shrimp with its head and outer shell removed, leaving only the flesh and tail
  6. a mash of vegetables fried with bread
<span class="mw-page-title-main">Czech cuisine</span> Culinary traditions of the Czech Republic

Czech cuisine has both influenced and been influenced by the cuisines of surrounding countries and nations. Many of the cakes and pastries that are popular in Central Europe originated within the Czech lands. Contemporary Czech cuisine is more meat-based than in previous periods; the current abundance of farmable meat has enriched its presence in regional cuisine. Traditionally, meat has been reserved for once-weekly consumption, typically on weekends.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chicken Maryland</span> Fried chicken dish with cream sauce

Chicken Maryland or Maryland chicken is a historic dish associated with the U.S. state of Maryland, but has other meanings from other nations. In its home base, the food dish consists of fried chicken served with a cream gravy. It is traditionally garnished with bananas, which were historically one of Baltimore's leading imports.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Israeli cuisine</span> Culinary traditions of Israel

Israeli cuisine primarily comprises dishes brought from the Jewish diaspora, and has more recently been defined by the development of a notable fusion cuisine characterized by the mixing of Jewish cuisine and Arab cuisine. It also blends together the culinary traditions of the various diaspora groups, namely those of Middle Eastern Jews with roots in Southwest Asia and North Africa, Sephardi Jews from Iberia, and Ashkenazi Jews from Central and Eastern Europe.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chicken parmesan</span> Italian-American dish

Chicken parmesan or chicken parmigiana is a dish that consists of breaded chicken breast covered in tomato sauce and mozzarella, Parmesan, or provolone. Ham or bacon is sometimes added.

McDonald's Corporation is the world's largest chain of fast food restaurants, serving around 68 million customers daily in 119 countries. McDonald's traces its origins to a 1940 restaurant in San Bernardino, California, United Kingdom. After expanding within the United States, McDonald's became an internat ional corporation in 1967, when it opened a location in Richmond, British Columbia, Canada. By the end of the 1970s, McDonald's restaurants existed in five of the Earth's seven continents; an African location came in 1992 in Casablanca, Morocco.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Croquette</span> Small breaded, deep-fried food

A croquette is a deep-fried roll originating in French cuisine, consisting of a thick binder combined with a filling, which is then breaded. It is served as a side dish, a snack, or fast food worldwide.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Meatball</span> Dish of ground meat rolled into a ball

A meatball is ground meat (mince) rolled into a ball, sometimes along with other ingredients, such as bread crumbs, minced onion, eggs, butter, and seasoning. Meatballs are cooked by frying, baking, steaming, or braising in sauce. There are many types of meatballs using different types of meats and spices. The term is sometimes extended to meatless versions based on legumes, vegetables or fish; the latter are also commonly known as fish balls.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Manchurian (dish)</span> Deep-fried savory dish in Indo-Chinese cuisine

Manchurian is a class of Indian Chinese dishes made by roughly chopping and deep-frying ingredients such as chicken, cauliflower (gobi), prawns, fish, mutton, and paneer, and then sautéeing them in a sauce flavored with soy sauce. Manchurian is the result of the adaptation of Chinese cooking and seasoning techniques to suit Indian tastes. It has become a staple of Indian Chinese cuisine.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Breaded cutlet</span> Meat in breading or batter

Breaded cutlet or braised cutlet is a dish made from coating a cutlet of meat with breading or batter and either frying or baking it.

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Corn Schnitzel". NikiB. Retrieved 12 September 2021.
  2. 1 2 3 Halfin, Jessica. "Israeli Corn Schnitzel, a Guilty Pleasure Off the Kids' Menu". Hadassah Magazine. Retrieved 12 September 2021.
  3. 1 2 3 Krott, Racheli. Winning Recipe. Shekel Brands & FOODY.

See also