• Two skinless chicken breasts – I take them off a whole chicken and make crispy skin to snack on as I’m cooking
• About 150g flour
• Two eggs
• About 180g panko breadcrumbs
• Salt
• Black pepper
• White pepper
• Neutral oil or other high smoke point fat (lard, dripping, goose fat are all very good)
• One shallot, finely sliced
• One garlic clove, finely diced
• ¼ of a jalapeno, no seeds, very finely diced
• 100ml sherry vinegar
• Four tablespoons brown sugar

Combine the shallot, garlic, jalapeno, vinegar, sugar and some salt in a bowl. Stir together until the salt and sugar have dissolved and set aside.

Butterfly the chicken breasts by carefully cutting into the thickest part and opening it out like a book. Cover them with parchment and carefully beat them until they are thinner and about 1.5x the surface area. Remove the paper, generously season and set aside for 15 minutes as you prepare everything else.

Fill the high sided non-stick pan about 1/3 of the way with oil or fat. Heat over high as you assemble your knees. Take three plates. Combine flour, a little salt and lots of both peppers on one. Combine breadcrumbs and a little salt on another. Beat the eggs on the final one. One at a time, push the chicken firmly into the flour first, on both sides. Dredge in the eggs, then again push firmly into the breadcrumbs. Shake gently to get any loose bits off, then fry for four minutes per side. The oil is hot enough to fry in when a tester breadcrumb immediately fizzes.

As you cook, gently baste hot oil over the uncovered side. This will reduce debris and give a more even brown across the schnitzel. Remove onto a rack over the sink.

Dress with the shallots etc. Serve with a simple salad.