Steirischer Backhendlsalat

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Heavy-bottomed frying pan (28cm)
• •Wire cooling rack
• •Meat mallet or rolling pin
• •Three shallow dishes for breading station
• •Salad spinner
• •Wide, shallow bowl for potato salad

Instructions

1. 1

   Cook the potatoes

   Put the potatoes in a pot of cold salted water, bring to a boil, and cook until a knife slides through without resistance, about twenty to twenty-five minutes depending on size. You want them tender but not falling apart. Drain them and let them sit just long enough that you can handle them. Peel while still warm and slice into rounds about half a centimeter thick. Warm potatoes absorb the dressing. Cold potatoes just sit there wearing it on the outside. This is the single most important thing about Austrian potato salad.

   Use festkochende (waxy) potatoes. In the UK, that's Charlotte or Maris Peer. In the US, Yukon Gold. Floury potatoes will crumble into mush the moment you slice them and your salad will look like it lost a fight.
2. 2

   Dress the warm potatoes

   Lay the warm potato slices in a wide, shallow bowl. Scatter the finely diced onion over them. Heat the beef broth until it's properly hot, not warm, hot. Whisk together the Apfelessig, mustard, pinch of sugar, a good amount of salt, pepper, and the neutral oil. Pour the hot broth over the potatoes first and let it soak in for two minutes. Then pour the vinegar dressing over. Toss very gently with your hands or a soft spatula. You're not making a stir-fry. Let the dressed potatoes sit at room temperature while you prepare everything else. They need at least fifteen minutes to absorb the dressing and develop that glossy, creamy quality that Austrian Erdäpfelsalat is known for.

   Gretel always said the broth must be hot when it hits the potatoes. The heat opens the starch on the surface and the potato drinks the broth in. If the broth is lukewarm, it just pools at the bottom of the bowl.
3. 3

   Prepare the chicken

   Place each chicken breast between two sheets of cling film and pound gently with a rolling pin or meat mallet until they're an even thickness, about one centimeter throughout. You're not making Schnitzel-thin here. You want the chicken thick enough to stay juicy inside while the crust turns golden. Season both sides generously with salt and pepper.

4. 4

   Bread the chicken

   Set up three shallow dishes. Flour in the first, beaten egg in the second, fine breadcrumbs in the third. Dredge each chicken breast in flour, shake off the excess (this matters, excess flour makes the coating gummy), dip through the egg, letting any extra drip off, then press into the breadcrumbs. Coat both sides evenly but don't pack the crumbs tight. You want a loose, shaggy coating that will puff and turn wavy in the hot fat, just like a proper Wiener Schnitzel.

   One dry hand, one wet hand. Use your right hand for flour and crumbs, your left for the egg. Otherwise you end up breading your fingers instead of the chicken and the whole operation turns into a mess.
5. 5

   Fry the chicken

   Heat clarified butter or neutral oil in a wide, heavy pan. You need enough fat that the chicken floats in at least a centimeter of it. If the chicken sits on the dry bottom of the pan, the crust won't puff and you'll get flat, greasy breading instead of golden, wavy breading. Test the oil by dropping in a small piece of bread. It should sizzle immediately and turn golden in about thirty seconds. Slide in the chicken breasts, no more than two at a time so you don't crowd the pan and drop the temperature. Fry for three to four minutes per side until deep golden brown and cooked through. Spoon hot fat over the top while frying if the oil doesn't quite cover the surface. Lift onto a wire rack, not paper towels. Paper towels trap moisture against the crust and you lose that crunch within minutes.

   Clarified butter gives the best flavor, the way it does for Wiener Schnitzel. But a neutral oil like sunflower works well and is more forgiving if your heat control isn't perfect. Don't use olive oil. Its smoke point is too low and its flavor competes with the Kernöl.
6. 6

   Prepare the Vogerlsalat

   Wash the Vogerlsalat gently in cold water. These tiny rosettes trap grit in their roots, so dunk them properly and lift them out of the water rather than pouring the water off. Dry them in a salad spinner or on a clean tea towel. In a small bowl, whisk together the white wine vinegar, a pinch of salt, and one tablespoon of the Kernöl. Toss the Vogerlsalat in this dressing just before you're ready to plate. Don't dress it early. It wilts fast.

7. 7

   Assemble and serve

   Spoon the warm dressed potatoes onto the center of each plate. Arrange the dressed Vogerlsalat around and on top. Slice the hot chicken breasts into thick diagonal strips and lay them over the salad, letting some strips lean against the potatoes. Drizzle the remaining Kernöl generously over everything: the chicken, the greens, the potatoes. The oil should pool in dark green ribbons across the plate. Scatter roasted pumpkin seeds over the top. Add a lemon wedge to each plate for anyone who wants a squeeze of brightness over the chicken. Serve immediately while the chicken is still crackling and the potatoes are still warm. Mahlzeit!

   Kernöl is never, ever heated. It turns bitter and loses its extraordinary nutty flavor the moment it hits a hot pan. Always drizzle it cold, at the very end, straight from the bottle. This is not a rule you can bend.

Chef Tips

• •Buy real Steirisches Kürbiskernöl g.g.A. The protected geographical indication matters. Cheap imitations made from roasted pumpkin seeds elsewhere taste flat and oily. The real thing is thick, intensely nutty, and so dark it looks black in the bottle. Tilt a spoonful toward the light and you'll see deep garnet red at the edges. That's how you know it's genuine.
• •The potato salad must be made with warm beef broth, never mayonnaise. I have to say this because the confusion is everywhere. Austrian Erdäpfelsalat is a broth-and-vinegar salad. It should be glossy and creamy from the starch the potatoes release, not from anything out of a jar. If your potato salad looks dry, you didn't use enough broth or it wasn't hot enough.
• •Vogerlsalat (known as lamb's lettuce, mâche, or corn salad outside Austria) is the correct green for this dish. Its earthy, slightly peppery flavor stands up to the Kernöl in a way that regular lettuce simply can't. If you can't find it, use young watercress or a peppery rocket as a second choice, but know that you're making a substitution.
• •Slice the chicken while it's still hot and lay it over the salad immediately. The warmth from the chicken slightly wilts the greens directly underneath it, and that little bit of wilt where hot meets cool is part of what makes this salad work.

Advance Preparation

• •The Erdäpfelsalat can be made up to two hours ahead and kept at room temperature. It actually improves as the potatoes absorb the dressing. Don't refrigerate it. Cold potato salad tastes flat.
• •The chicken must be fried and served immediately. Breaded chicken that sits loses its crunch within ten minutes and there's no getting it back.
• •Wash and dry the Vogerlsalat ahead of time and store it wrapped in a damp tea towel in the fridge. Dress it only at the moment of plating.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 420g)