Signature Dish
See How Authentic Jägerschnitzel is Made at Old Stein Inn
Clip: Season 1 Episode 11 | 7m 39sVideo has Closed Captions
Seth Tillman heads to the Old Stein Inn for a traditional German jägerschnitzel.
Seth Tillman heads to the Old Stein Inn in Edgewater, MD for traditional German food. There, Chef Dirk Dressen shows Seth how to make jägerschnitzel, a crispy fried pork cutlet. Together, they prepare the pork tenderloin schnitzel, pounding it thin and breading it with flour, egg, and Japanese panko breadcrumbs. The schnitzel is cooked to perfection in a butter and oil mixture.
Problems with Closed Captions? Closed Captioning Feedback
Problems with Closed Captions? Closed Captioning Feedback
Signature Dish is a local public television program presented by WETA
Signature Dish
See How Authentic Jägerschnitzel is Made at Old Stein Inn
Clip: Season 1 Episode 11 | 7m 39sVideo has Closed Captions
Seth Tillman heads to the Old Stein Inn in Edgewater, MD for traditional German food. There, Chef Dirk Dressen shows Seth how to make jägerschnitzel, a crispy fried pork cutlet. Together, they prepare the pork tenderloin schnitzel, pounding it thin and breading it with flour, egg, and Japanese panko breadcrumbs. The schnitzel is cooked to perfection in a butter and oil mixture.
Problems with Closed Captions? Closed Captioning Feedback
How to Watch Signature Dish
Signature Dish is available to stream on pbs.org and the free PBS App, available on iPhone, Apple TV, Android TV, Android smartphones, Amazon Fire TV, Amazon Fire Tablet, Roku, Samsung Smart TV, and Vizio.
Providing Support for PBS.org
Learn Moreabout PBS online sponsorshipSETH: Chef, nice to meet you.
DIRK: Hello, Seth.
It's very nice to meet you.
SETH: It smells great in this kitchen.
Uh, what are you making today?
DIRK: I'm going to show you, today, how to make like a traditional German jagerschnitzel.
SETH: Well, I've had plenty of schnitzel before, but I don't know about jagerschnitzel.
Uh, what is that?
DIRK: Well, the jagerschnitzel means, like, the hunter schnitzel.
You go in the forest and shoot some deer or wild boar.
You use, like, the bones and everything to make a demi-glace.
And, the fresh ingredients like the herbs, the mushrooms, some cream from your cows.
SETH: All right.
So, this is just a rustic, kind of, country German dish right here?
DIRK: Yes.
It absolutely is.
SETH: So, how do you get started here?
DIRK: I will turn, uh, on the fire now and put in some butter, you know.
Butter is like the most important thing in German kitchen.
Then you add some seasonal mushrooms, some onions, and a little bit more butter on it.
Butter is always good for you.
SETH: I love butter.
DIRK: And, so, you will add some pepper, some salt.
I'm so sorry the hood is coming on.
(laughs).
You know, but it's a kitchen right here.
SETH: Hey, we're cooking.
We're cooking.
DIRK: So, then you add your own demi-glace.
Uh.
SETH: I can tell how nicely reduced that stock is.
It's already so syrupy in this pan right here.
DIRK: It is.
And the demi-glace takes like, really, two days to cook this.
SETH: Really let those flavors get nice and concentrated.
DIRK: Absolutely.
And, then, you add, like, the herbs.
You can add, like, oregano, add rosemary, some, uh, chives, you know, to make it look, uh, nice.
Um, then, just like butter, very important in the German kitchen, you will add some heavy cream.
SETH: Of course.
DIRK: And, at the end, bring it to a boil.
So, Seth.
That's, that's your whole deal about the jager sauce.
Now, if you don't mind, we go over there and beat up some schnitzels.
SETH: Beat up some schnitzel.
All right.
Uh, so is this pork right here?
DIRK: Yeah.
It's pork tenderloin.
We just have to give it some salt and pepper on it, on both sides.
And, then we have to beat it up a little bit.
SETH: You want that nice, kind of, uniform, uh, thickness throughout.
DIRK: Yeah.
SETH: Nice and thin.
DIRK: Yeah.
Absolutely.
You know what, it has, it has to, uh, be a schnitzel and not a steak.
SETH: So, in the old days for the jagerschnitzel, I mean, they'd be going into the forest to hunt for the boars to make this dish, right?
DIRK: Oh, yeah, absolutely.
They did, you know.
I mean, uh, back in the days, uh, we didn't have pork, have pigs and cows at home.
So, we just went to the forest.
That's how we created the word jagerschnitzel.
But, by now, I'm glad I can buy it and don't have any extra hours to go in the forest at night.
SETH: Save you a trip.
That's nice.
DIRK: Absolutely, yeah.
SETH: So, how do you, uh, how do you pound this thing then?
DIRK: You just start on one side, turn it around.
SETH: You are not messing around.
DIRK: So, in Germany we say you beat it down from $9 to $18, you know on the sides.
All right Seth, you saw how I did it, so maybe you want to give it, uh, a shot.
SETH: All right.
DIRK: Here's the hammer.
Just go and do it.
SETH: Hammer of Thor.
All right.
So, we're gonna use the, uh, the flat side here.
DIRK: Yes, you do the flat side.
SETH: I don't know.
DIRK: Just do the, do it.
SETH: I'll go to town on it.
Oh my.
Good stress relief right here.
DIRK: Yeah.
Absolutely it is.
SETH: I haven't gotten it quite to $18 yet.
I got a few more, few more, uh, strikes to go here.
DIRK: Yep.
My boss is not paying you the extra hours until you finish.
But, you're doing just fine.
SETH: All right.
DIRK: Great.
SETH: I think we got one we can serve up at the restaurant here.
DIRK: Absolutely.
The last steps is, like, to bread it.
You want to put it in flour, wave it off, put it in egg.
And, then you put it in, the, uh, Japanese panko bread crumbs.
And, then, we are ready to cook it.
So, the next step is cooking the schnitzel in butter and oil.
And you will cook it for, like, four minutes and flip it around.
The next step you do is, do the side dishes.
The red cabbage is basically caramelized sugar and salt.
And the spaetzle is like every noodle.
You just have, uh, eggs and flour and water.
So, after we plate it, the final step is ladle the jager sauce on the schnitzel.
And, then, we will sprinkle on our garnishes.
And then we will be all set.
SETH: Mike, Dirk, thank you so much for letting me come back into the kitchen.
This looks incredible, but you guys are not messing around with this beer here.
MIKE: Oh, we're so happy to have you, uh, Seth.
We definitely don't mess around with German beers.
We source great beers from Germany.
Beers you won't get anywhere else.
SETH: Cheers to that.
Or should I say... MIKE: Prost!
SETH: Prost?
MIKE: It is the German way of saying it.
SETH: Prost.
DIRK: Prost.
SETH: Prost.
DIRK: Prost.
SETH: Let's drink.
Oh, good.
I know the schnitzel is going to be the perfect accompaniment to that.
MIKE: Oh, let's dig in.
SETH: All right.
Got to make sure I get some of that sauce in this first bite, too.
MIKE: Oh, Dirk does a great job.
What do you think?
SETH: That is delicious.
That sauce, it's got such a nice richness, and the mushrooms are so perfectly cooked.
That's really wonderful.
DIRK: Thank you, sir.
MIKE: Great, Seth.
DIRK: Thank you very much.
SETH: I like with the panko that you were able to get that nice, crispy crust, but it still stays so nice and juicy and flavorful on the inside.
DIRK: Why I put the sauce in the middle is that you can have a look, always on the crust, on the panko, you have, like, a mix of the texture of the sauce in the middle and the crusty, crunchy panko with the really tender cooked meat.
SETH: What are some of these other sides that go with it?
DIRK: Well, it's like the spaetzle, it's like German kind of noodles.
And, of course, your red cabbage.
You know, the most, uh, famous, uh, side dish, uh, in Germany.
MIKE: Next to sauerkraut.
DIRK: Next to sauerkraut.
It's like, uh, uh, family secret, so I can't tell the recipe.
(laughs).
SETH: I just love, also, the hearty portions.
The beer, this plate of jagerschnitzel, this giant pretzel.
I just like how you guys aren't skimping on the experience.
MIKE: Right.
That's actually, we have a German word for it.
It's called Gemütlichkeit, which means a comfortable, homey place that you bring family and friends.
And, that's we're, uh, about at the Old Stein Inn.
Glad you got to experience it, Seth.
SETH: It's Oktoberfest everyday.
Well, thank you guys, again.
Uh, shall we raise our glass?
MIKE: Absolutely.
♪ Ein Prosit, ein Prosit ♪ ♪ Der Gemütlichkeit ♪ ♪ Ein Prosit, ein Prosit ♪ ♪ Der Gemütlichkeit ♪ (laughs).
SETH: Prost to that.
MIKE: Prost.
DIRK: Cheers to that.
But now you have to drink it all.
(laughs).
French Taste Starts in the Garden at L’Auberge Chez François
Video has Closed Captions
Seth Tillman visits L’Auberge Chez François in Great Falls, Virginia. (5m 44s)
The Sicilian Flatbread at Piccolina is Stuffed with Flavor
Video has Closed Captions
Piccolina Chef Amy shares the secret behind her Scacce, a delicious thin flatbread. (6m 23s)
Providing Support for PBS.org
Learn Moreabout PBS online sponsorshipSignature Dish is a local public television program presented by WETA