The designation Wiener Schnitzel first appeared in the 19th century, with the first known mention in a cookbook from 1831. In the popular southern German cookbook by Katharina Prato, it was mentioned as eingebröselte Kalbsschnitzchen (roughly, 'breaded veal cutlets').
According to a tale, field marshal Joseph Radetzky von Radetz brought the recipe from Italy to Vienna in 1857. In 2007, linguist Heinz Dieter Pohl could prove that this story had been invented. According to Pohl, the dish is first mentioned in connection with Radetzky in 1869 in an Italian gastronomy book (Guida gastronomica d'Italia), which was published in German in 1871 as Italien tafelt, and it is claimed that the story instead concerned the cotoletta alla milanese. Before this time, the story was unknown in Austria. The Radetzky legend is however based on this book, which claims that a Count Attems, an adjutant to the emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria gave a notice from Radetzky about the situation in Lombardy and mentioned a tasty veal steak in a margin note. After Radetzky had returned, the emperor personally requested the recipe from him.
Pohl relates this anecdote with the words: "This story is scientifically meaningless, it does not cite any sources and it is not mentioned […] in the literature about Radetzky. No such Count Attems appears in any biographical work about the Austrian monarchy, which would have corresponded to this time and position."
Pohl doubts that Wiener schnitzel came from Italy at all, with the basis that in the other "imported dishes" in Austrian cuisine, the original concept is mentioned, even if in Germanised form, such as in goulash or Palatschinke (that is, pancake), and the schnitzel does not appear even in specialised cookbooks about Italian cuisine.
Pohl hints that there had been other dishes in Austrian cuisine, before the Schnitzel, that were breaded and deep fried, such as the popular Backhendl, which was first mentioned in a cookbook from 1719. The Schnitzel was then mentioned in the 19th century as Wiener Schnitzel analogically to the Wiener Backhendl.
Documents in the Milan archive of Saint Ambrose dated 1148 use the Latin name lumbolos cum panitio,[9] which can be translated as "little chops with breadcrumbs". This can be a hint that a dish similar to the cotoletta alla milanese already existed at that time.
In 1887, E. F. Knight wrote of a Wienerschnitzel ordered in a Rotterdam cafe, "as far as I could make out, the lowest layer of a Wienerschnitzel consists of juicy veal steaks and slices of lemon peel; the next layer is composed of sardines; then come sliced gherkins, capers, and diverse mysteries; a delicate sauce flavours the whole, and the result is a gastronomic dream."
PREPARATION
Whereas the original Austrian Wienerschnitzel only includes lemon and parsley as garnishes, in the Nordic countries it is typically also garnished with a slice of anchovy and capers.
The dish is prepared from veal slices, butterfly cut, about 4 millimetres (0.16 in) thin and lightly pounded flat, slightly salted, and rolled in milk, flour, whipped eggs, and bread crumbs. The bread crumbs must not be pressed into the meat, so that they stay dry and can be "souffléd". Finally the Schnitzel is fried in a good proportion of lard or clarified butter at a temperature from 160 to 170 °C[12] until it is golden yellow. The Schnitzel must swim in the fat, otherwise it will not cook evenly: the fat cools too much and intrudes into the bread crumbs, moistening them. During the frying the Schnitzel is repeatedly slightly tossed around the pan. Also during the frying, fat can be scooped from the pan with a spoon and poured onto the meat. The Schnitzel is cooked after it turns golden yellow or brown.
The dish is traditionally served in Austria with Butterhead lettuce tossed with a sweetened vinaigrette dressing, optionally with chopped chives or onions), potato salad, cucumber salad, or parsley potatoes. Currently[when?] it is also served with rice, french fries or roasted potatoes. In earlier days, the garnish consisted of capers and anchovies,nowadays a lemon slice and parsley are more common.
SIMILAR DISHES
Pork schnitzel variation stuffed with fried mushrooms and onions (Fuhrmann Schnitzel vom Schwein), served with mashed potato and side salad
A popular variation is made with pork instead of veal, because pork is cheaper.

Have any of my fellow Texas Germans heard of a pastry called "Kuhländler Huxtkichlen" or just "Huxtkichlen" for short?
Huxtkichlen are a special pastry that comes from the Kuhländchen region of northern Moravia and Austrian-Silesia. In the Kuhländchen dialect, Huxtkichle means “kleine Hochzeitskuchen” or “small wedding cake” in English. It is also known as “Kolatschen” in German. However, you probably know it by the Czech name “kolache”.
I was thrilled to find a German recipe for "Kuhländler Huxtkichlen" on the Alte Heimat Kuhländchen web site, because its existence there confirms a long held belief of mine that my German-speaking ancestors knew this pastry in the old country and didn’t just learn it from the Czech immigrants. Most of my German-speaking ancestors immigrated to Texas from the Kuhländchen region in the 1880s. They settled in communities around Schulenburg, Weimar, High Hill, Swiss Alp and Ammannsville where there were large German and Czech populations. We always knew this pastry by the Czech name “kolache”, but it was just as common to be baked in a German-speaking household as a Czech-speaking household.
The German recipe I found is only slightly different from my own kolache recipe. I translated the German recipe into English using American measurements and readily available ingredients so that I could try it out. The main differences are that it called for adding grated lemon peel and raisins to the dough. Another difference is that the cottage cheese filling was folded inside the pastry instead of being on top.
Another traditional filling for the Kuhländchen Huxtkichlen is “powidl”, also known as “Pflaumenschmiere”, which in English literally means "plum smear". This filling is made by taking pitted plums and no other ingredients, and cooking them very slowly at low heat (under the boiling point), stirring occasionally, until all of the liquid is gone. I understand that this can take two or more hours to be done correctly. It can then be sealed in canning jars. I haven't seen this filling before in Texas, but that must be why prunes are a common filling for kolaches in Texas.
Updated with recipe below:
Kuhländchen Huxtkichlen, also know as kolaches:
Ingredients for the yeast dough:
4 cups flour
8 Tbsp. (1 stick) butter
1/3 cup sugar
2 egg yolks (or can substitute 1 egg)
1 package of dry yeast (2 ¼ tsp.)
1 cup (8 oz.) lukewarm milk
pinch of salt
lemon peel (I used 1 Tbsp. fresh)
vanilla sugar (I use 1 tsp. vanilla extract)
1/2 cup water
Cottage Cheese filling:
2 cups (16 ounces) cottage cheese
1/4 cup sugar
2 egg yolks (egg whites make it too wet!)
2 Tbsp Cream of Wheat or all purpose flour to thicken
Cinnamon, vanilla or lemon peel (if desired)
rum raisins (optional – I do not use)
Streusel topping:
1 cup flour
2/3 cup sugar
1 stick (8 Tablespoons) soft butter
Instructions:
Stir the butter with sugar and egg yolk.
Add flour, milk and remaining ingredients and beat well to form a smooth dough.
The dough shouldn't be too firm. It should be sticky! (Note: The original recipe came out too firm when I made it. Since the original recipe did not have water in it, I added ½ cup water to the recipe.)
Let the dough rise well (1 ½ hours – or overnight in the refrigerator).
Pull off portions about the size of a table tennis or golf ball. Dip the dough ball in melted butter and then press onto the baking pan lined with parchment paper. I like to have the raw dough pieces touch slightly in the pan so that they will rise higher.
Use a tablespoon to press an indention into each dough ball. Fill with 1 tablespoon of desired filling, such as cottage cheese, sweetened poppy seeds, sweetened nut mixture or fruit preserves.
Sprinkle Streusel over the Kichlen.

Bake at 375 F for 20 minutes. Adjust temperature and time for your oven.