Schnitzel Skillet with Mushroom Gravy
Breaded pork over a mushroom cream gravy, cooked on a car-camping skillet.
- calories
- 780
- weight
- 9 oz
- cal / oz
- 87
- protein
- 42 g
- serves
- 4, scales
- prep
- 15 min
- cook
- 40 min
- total time
- 55 min
- water
- 180 ml cold
- cost
- $$
Calorie and protein figures are my own estimates, good enough for planning a food bag and not meant as precise nutrition data.
- Dinner
- Campfire coals
- Liquid fuel
- Car camping
- Basecamp
- Real dishes
- Pre-mix at home
- Needs a cooler
- Actual cooking
Ingredients
| Pork loin chops | 4 | pounded to 1/4 inch at home, then frozen flat in the cooler |
|---|---|---|
| All-purpose flour | 1 cup plus 2 tbsp | the 2 tbsp are for the gravy |
| Breadcrumbs | 2 cups | |
| Powdered egg | enough for 2 eggs | about 2 tbsp powder plus 4 tbsp water |
| Butter | 4 tbsp | divided |
| Cremini mushrooms | 4 oz | sliced at home |
| Powdered heavy cream | 1/3 cup | reconstituted with 1/2 cup water; shelf-stable UHT cream also works |
| Sour cream powder | 1 tbsp | or 2 tbsp real sour cream from the cooler |
| Dijon mustard | 1 tbsp | squeeze packets travel well |
| Worcestershire sauce | 1 tsp | |
| Sherry | 1/4 cup | a small flask is plenty |
| Cayenne pepper | 1/2 tsp | split between breading and gravy |
| Salt and pepper | 1 tsp each | |
| Vegetable oil | 1 cup | for frying; pour off and pack out when cool |
| Lemon | 1 | cut into wedges |
Method
- Get a bed of coals or a steady low flame. Set the skillet over it with 2 tbsp butter and cook the sliced mushrooms 8 minutes, until they give up their water and start to brown. Move them to a plate.
- Melt the rest of the butter in the same skillet and stir in 2 tbsp flour. Cook it a minute so it stops tasting raw.
- Whisk in the sherry, Worcestershire, Dijon, cayenne, and the reconstituted cream and sour cream. Simmer until it coats the spoon, return the mushrooms, and pour the gravy into a mug or bowl. Wipe the skillet.
- Mix the powdered egg with water in one bowl. Put the remaining flour, salt, pepper, and cayenne in a second. Breadcrumbs in a third.
- Flour each chop, then egg, then crumbs. Press the crumbs on hard or they fall off in the oil.
- Heat the oil in the skillet until a crumb sizzles on contact. Fry two chops at a time, 3 minutes a side, until deep brown. Rest them on a paper towel.
- Pour the gravy back over, or serve it alongside so the crust stays crisp. Squeeze lemon over the top.
This is a two-pan recipe pushed into one skillet, in order. Gravy first, then wipe and fry, because frying oil in a pan you then want to make a roux in is a mess. The gravy sits fine off heat for the ten minutes the chops take.
The camp changes are all about the fridge you don’t have. Eggs become egg powder, heavy cream and sour cream become their powdered versions, and the pork goes into the cooler frozen so it doubles as ice. Everything else was already shelf-stable. Pound the chops thin at home: quarter-inch meat cooks through before the crust burns, which is the whole trick over a fire you can’t turn down.
Packing
Pound and freeze the chops flat at home; they thaw over a day in the cooler and act as ice until then. Flour, breadcrumbs, salt, pepper, and cayenne go in one bag; egg powder, cream powder, and sour cream powder in another. Sherry in a small flask, Dijon in packets.
Variations
- Chicken cutlets fry the same way and cost less.
- No sherry: a splash of apple cider vinegar and a little water gets close.
- Skip the deep fry and shallow-fry in 1/4 inch of oil. Less crust, much less oil to pack out.
https://www.lodgecastiron.com/blogs/recipe/pork-schnitzel-with-mushroom-gravy